It is important to be able to measure happiness because it can help you make better decisions. This is as true for individuals as for governments.
So argues an engineering lecturer at the Institute of Technology Sligo, Brian Mulligan, who last night delivered a lecture entitled The Science of Happiness. It took place as part of Science Week Ireland, which continues through this coming weekend.
The notion of happiness seems amorphous and subjective but scientists have discovered ways to measure it, Mr Mulligan stated.
The self-help books tell you to laugh, exercise, plant something or count your blessings as a way to improve happiness. "Where has this advice come from? In fact this advice is based on scientific research," he said.
Scanning brain activity is one method of objectively measuring happiness.
Others include surveys and psychological studies. These suggest that being married makes most people happy but being married with children makes them less so.
People with more education and religious people are happier, but unemployment has "a terrible effect on happiness", he said.
Perhaps surprisingly, studies that allowed a person to assess their own level of happiness tended to match up quite well with assessments of that person's happiness made by people acquainted with them.
Mr Mulligan had "mixed feelings" about this type of measure, however. "Self-reporting is found to be fairly reliable but I think it measures a bit high," he said.
"The economics of happiness is even more important," he believes.
Governments have a role in helping citizens to be happier. Economic decision-making by the state exerts a powerful influence on happiness.
This is seen at a personal level if a person decides to take out a costlier mortgage to buy a bigger house or borrow for a bigger car. The assumption is that having the bigger home or car will make you happier.
"But if you look at the research it will indicate you won't be happier with the big car or house but may be less happy because of the financial pressure," Mr Mulligan said.
