Richard Layard stated that ‘happiness comes from outside and within’ Essay

Happiness is described as a positive feeling that ranges from Joy to contentment. Everybody would like to be happy. It is believed that concourse who ar happy atomic number 18 more successful, productive, have better relationships and better health. We would like to check these feelings when we have them. Richard Layard uses the terms outside and indoors to describe where blessedness comes from. out of doors factors include influences like relationships, amicable identities and culture. Within looks at influences such as biology, thoughts and feelings. So the outside relates to social influences and within relates to personal factors inner the individual. This essay aims to find evidence of these multiple influences in order to explain Richard Layards statement. First it leave alone address within, next it will look at the outside, finishing with a conclusion.A key biologic factor of felicity is linked to a healthy lifestyle and eating the sort out food. Exercising and e ating right increases the bodys level of endorphins, which naturally gives us a boost. true foods stimulate the production of the neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin regulates mood, appetite and sleep, and is what produces the feelings of happiness and satisfaction within us. If we have secondary levels of serotonin we feel depressed and anxious. Judith Wurtman (1996) (cited in starting psychology 2011) found a connection between humbled levels of serotonin and a diet low in carbohydrates. People on game fat, high protein, low carbohydrate diets reported feelings of depression anger and tension which were unusually high. Foods that stimulate serotonin contain a chemical called tryptophan. Foods like fish, nuts, beans, eggs, oats and chocolate all contain this mood boosting chemical. So what we put in our bodies asshole affect our level of happiness. When Layard states happiness comes from within he is drawing on these biological factors.But are some of us born with a genetic predisposition to be happier than others? Richard Davidson et al. (2000) (cited in starting psychology 2011) used an EEG to measure where the mavin is active when we are happy. It found that happy community award more practise in the front of the brain on the lefthand-side than the right and vice versa when people are unhappy. Some people naturally use one side of their brain more than the other, utilise the left side more means you are likely to show higher levels of happiness irrespective of your experiences. This theory was tested on babies and toddlers. Both left hand-sided babies and toddlers showed less distress when separated from their mothers and were better at new situations than babies and toddlers who were right hand-sided. This shows some level of happiness is genetically inherited again a within factor of biological evidence to support Layards theory.Davidson teamed up with Jon Kabat-Zin to see if mediation had any instal on the right and left front brain activi ty. They carried out an experiment on a meeting of high pressure workers. The group was divided into two and one group was taught how to meditate, the other was t honest-to-goodness they would start later. 8 weeks later the group who learned to meditate were profoundly happier, coped better with stress and had greater immunity when wedded a flu vaccination than the group who had not yet started. It likewise showed that their level of brain activity had shifted to the left. So although the brain and how it works is fundamental in how happiness is produced you can effectively train your brain to work in a different way by altering its plasticity. (Starting Psychology 2011)All these biological factors contri thate to our level of happiness and is what Layard meant by within influences. These are not the only influences on our happiness relationships and environment play a bad role too.Richard Layards (2005) research into happiness identified a list of seven factors that promote w ellbeing. The list states family and close relationships are the number one factors for happiness as they are emotionally sustaining. This tells us that the outside influences of relationships that Layard refers to are essential. (Starting Psychology 2011). Relationships start in the womb and handle throughout life. Early relationships influence the emotional development of children and a securely attached child is confident, has high self-esteem and knows it is loved and valued, creating happiness. The findings from Mary Ainsworth (1978) (citedin Starting Psychology 2011) when she observed one year old babies in her experiment the Strange situation confirms this claim. Children played in a room and their reactions were recorded when the stir left and a stranger entered. Securely attached children were happy to explore and play whilst the parent was present, but became distressed when left. They were easily comforted when the parent returned, however when a stranger entered the ch ild could not be comforted and resisted the stranger. Insecurely attached children were less confident in exploring, were indifferent to the presence or absence of the parent and indecisive about whether they wanted comforting or not.A recent UNICEF report (2007) showed how significant relationships with family and friends are in producing happiness in children. This report was about childrens wellbeing in vingt-et-un developed countries, and the UK found itself at the bottom of the list, behind poorer countries. The reason for this ranking seemed to be poor role relationships with family, friends and peers. It emerged that being loved and supported by family and friends was the most important elements for a happy childhood. (Starting Psychology 2011).In adulthood people who manage good communication are happier than others. Robert Lane (2000) also argued we gain happiness from peoples affection and acceptance of us and it is this feeling of being valued that influences our mood. When we are with people we exchange positive non-verbal communication. Our body language promotes friendly interaction which leads to laughter and happiness. Also several large studies have shown a link between expressing gratitude and high feelings of happiness according to Seligman (2005). When we thank someone we not only make the person feel good it increases our mood. All these examples show evidence of what Layard meant by Outside influences on our happiness. (Starting Psychology 2011).In conclusion many contributing factors make us happy. These few examples are biological and social influences confirming Richard Layards opinion that happiness comes from outside and within It seems that a gang of influences are essential in contributing to our overall happiness, there aremany other factors that also play a part in our happiness, but it is clear from this evidence that a persons biological state and close personal relationships directly affect levels of happiness.