PoH quiz 3 9/17/25

What is the difference between synthetic and natural happiness? Is one better than the other? Why or why not? (TED talk)

natural = when we get what we want

synthetic = what we make when we don’t get what we want

They are both real and long lasting so equally as good. Society makes us believe natural is better because of economics.

How might the psychological immune system undermine or support efforts to change someone’s mindset about happiness or life satisfaction? (Ted talk)

Support: It can teach them that negative life events do not mean that it’s the end of the world and that they can still have a life in which they are very happy. It can also show them that negative life events are not as bad for you as people think and that they have the ability to create their own happiness sometimes unconsciously

What is impact bias? (Ted talk)

People often overestimate how happy or unhappy future events will make them

What is the relationship between freedom and synthetic vs. natural happiness? (Ted talk)

freedom is natural’s friend while it is synthetic’s enemy because sometimes being trapped or accepting outcomes teaches you to be happy

How does Ariely’s (why we lie) findings about moral balancing relate to Gilbert’s concept of the psychological immune system?

Moral codes effect how we view our own behaviors and so we go through an unconscious process which helps us change our views of the world so we can feel better about the world which we find ourselves in

What are the 2 motivations the have to do with why we lie?

• gaining benefits from dishonesty

• maintaining positive positive self-image as an honest person

What is dishonesty influenced by?

psychological distance, social modeling (others doing it), moral reminders, distress

In general, do people prioritize having social connections, or being right?

having social connections is seen as more important, people will shift their views in order to gain social approval

What is more effective when changing someone’s mind: listing the positives of your side or listing the negatives of their side? Facts/logic or connection/kindness?

listing the positives of your side, you need to befriend them and be kind to them

What happens when you repeat ideas (even bad ones)? How do you make bad ideas fade?

the beliefs strengthen for repeated ideas, even if you’re complaining about them. To make bad ideas fade you must reduce the amount you talk about them

How does Clear’s argument about social belonging and belief persistence complicate efforts to promote happiness through education or factual corrections?

Clear encourages people to talk about bad ideas less, in order to make them go away. But, how are people supposed to know what bad ideas are, if no one talks about them? What if they think they are good ideas? Will people tell them otherwise?

It also feels unethical to promote siding with other people in order to promote social approval and instead of embracing your true beliefs

What are the 2 causes of impact bias?

focalism = overestimate how much we will think about the event in the future and underestimate the influence other events will cause

failure to recognize how quickly people will make sense of unexpected events once they happen

What is representativeness heuristic? Availability heuristic? Anchoring heuritstic?

R: judging by similarity

Av: judging by ease of recall

Anch: relying too heavily on initial information

What do biases impact?

judgement about randomness, sample size, predictability, confidence in decisions