Happiness: we all want it, but we don’t have a precise idea of what it is and how to achieve it. We think it is matter for philosophers and thinkers. There are studies, however, that go in an unexpected direction: applying the principles of mathematics to happiness. This is what neuroscientists at Yale University and University College London are doing: “Our goal is to develop mathematical equations that explain how humans make decisions, describe the factors that determine feelings such as happiness, and understand the relationship between happiness and decisions we make “.
A new approach. Can there really be a happiness equation? The point is not to obtain a Pythagorean theorem of happiness but to use a scientific approach to learn its secrets. This is not the first time this has happened: a few years ago, he had tried Mo Gawdat, an engineer who was at the top of Google. He had used his engineering talent and his logic and skills problem solving to get a formula for happiness. He had done it through personal processing. Scientists from New Haven and London, on the other hand, are looking for the equation of happiness by asking all of us to cooperate.
Thanks to The Happiness Project, all you have to do is download an app for free from Google Play or the App Store and start playing. Less than five minutes are enough to contribute to the research – explain the authors of the project – clarifying how the basis of their idea is the difficulty of rationalizing a state of mind so complex and different for each of us: “Happiness is really complicated:” it can change quickly and it’s different for everyone. We’re trying to capture this subjectivity and get a more complete view of what it is. “
The meaning of the games in the app. Each of the app’s four games, as we play, scrutinizes our behavior to discover a particular aspect of happiness. In the game of minnows, neuroscientists observe how, when we have to decide whether or not to do a certain thing, our decision is often not only about the thing to do but also the commitment it takes to get it. Will happiness depend on the effort put into it? If so, to what extent? Scientists don’t know: by playing catch minnows, we’ll all know.
The approach is similar for other games as well: “For decisions big and small in life, we often face a dilemma: do we choose an option that is risky but could be highly rewarding or one that is safe but less rewarding? We want to know if how happy we feel while good and bad things happen to us can explain why some people take more risks than others, “say the scholars in presenting another game from their collective experiment.
Research results and expectations. The authors, emphasizing its collaborative nature, describe the experiment as a “citizen science” project in which all citizens are an active part also in the learning phase of the results, committing themselves to make them public in real time: “We bring neuroscience experiments out of the lab and put them on your smartphone. Each game provides data that will be used in real scientific research. We will publish the results of our studies in scientific journals and you will always be able to read our findings online, “the researchers promise.
As a result, however, do not expect a “formula” to E = mc2. “There will never be” – the scientists assure – also claiming the uniqueness and value of their experiment in the new approach with which “science can help explain the different factors that count for happiness in each of us”.
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