Kahneman & Deaton (2010) present a surprising finding about the relationship between income and the happiness of the two selves.According to the finding, income over and above $75,000/yr. has a significant impact on the happiness of therememberingself, but little to no impact on the impact of theexperiencingself.
Kahneman & Deaton present evidence showing that a person who makes $300,000/yr. is likely to report a significantly higher level of overall satisfaction with their life (i.e., a happier remembering self) than a person who makes only $100,000/year.They aren’t, however, any more likely to have a happyexperiencingself.They aren’t, in other words, any more likely to experience pleasant emotions on a moment-to-moment basis throughout their lives.
What is the significance of this finding?Despite not experiencing more pleasant emotions from moment-to-moment than people who make only $100,000/yr., people who make $300,000/yr. report being significantly more satisfied with their lives.Does this show that they are mistaken about how happy theyreallyare?Are they exaggerating their overall level of happiness?Or is there, perhaps, something more to happiness than the positive emotions that a person experiences from moment to moment?And what is this “something”? Defend your answer.
In thinking about this question, it may be helpful to keep in mind that it’s not only income that has been observed to have a different impact on the happiness of the remembering self than the happiness of the experiencing self.Diener, Kahneman & Helliwell (2010) report that the same is also true of marriage, education, health, and having children.All have a significantly more positive impact on overall life evaluation than on the moment-to-moment experience of positive emotions.(500 words maximum)