HAPPINESS: What studies on twins show us about nature --- Parts 2 & 3

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Written by Ian E. Macindoe

Review of

HAPPINESS: What studies on twins show us about nature,

nurture, and the happiness set-point

by

David Lykken

[Golden Books, 1999; ISBN 1-58238-004-x]

Parts 2 & 3

In reviewing Part 1 of this book I outlined the author’s contention, based primarily on the psychological studies of twins, that our general persistent level of happiness — our happiness ‘set point’ — is determined by our genetic make up. The author, however, is at pains to point out that our subjective daily experience of happiness (or feelings of subjective wellbeing) can be influenced by how we conduct ourselves.

Part 2 (Happiness Makers) deals with how our set point level of subjective wellbeing can be affected, for better or worse, by what we do and what we strive for.

Lykken makes a distinction between ‘effectance’ and ‘entertainment’. Effectance is the human motivation to impact the world, particularly in a productive and useful way. Genes for such a capacity are likely to be passed on to later generations, for it is the ancestors who were strong in effectance who were likely to survive, prevail and produce progeny over the centuries. A measure of this human tendency has been developed as the Achievement scale of the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire. People who score highly on this scale are ambitious, hard working, and set high standards for themselves.

Entertainment, on the other hand, is usually a relief from work, but must be experienced as enjoyable before it can be truly regarded as entertaining. In any case, these two ways of behaving, if applied judiciously in one’s life, can assist us in ‘bouncing along’ above our happiness set point. The analogy of a ‘happiness lake’ is used to make the concept easier to comprehend: while each of us may have an average depth for our own happiness lakes, largely determined by our brain chemistry that we can do little about, we can exert our own efforts that create waves on which we ride along ‘higher than we would if we let our genetic steersman call all the shots’.

Part of the strategy for achieving positive ‘waves’ is to consciously develop our ability to become ‘epicures of experience’: to find, develop and enjoy those pastimes that appeal to us (whether that be gardening, carpentry, cooking, moderate use of chemicals such as cocktails, parenting, or countless other constructive avenues). Another important ingredient is to enjoy, or at least feel fulfilled by or satisfied with, one’s everyday work.

There is a voluminous body of research showing that the best performance on a complex or creative task, whether in academics or in the workplace, is produced by people motivated by intrinsic interest in the task rather than by contingent rewards (p. 105).

It is important, of course, that the work engaged in should be well within the capacity of the individual who attempts it, otherwise the positive feelings of doing a job well will be overtaken by the frustration and anxiety of grappling with matters for which one is ill equipped. Constructive activity and the exercise of skills are among the most dependable sources of human happiness, says Lykken, and when we are totally absorbed by such activities we may be said to ‘be in flow’ (that is, to be unselfconsciously focussed, and carrying out a skilled task in which we are fully absorbed; like a concert pianist concentrating on tonality and feeling while the fingers ‘automatically’ find the correct keys to strike).

Part 3 (Happy Families) covers parenting, babies, children and pets. Within normal levels of parenting (excluding abuse and neglect) parents may be interchangeable to a large degree without significantly affecting what sort of person any child turns out to be. Children raised together in the same family do not tend to become more alike as they become adults. The way children turn out depends greatly on two sets of factors (and parents are not one of them). The first is genetic makeup; the second is their peer experiences (neighbourhood friends, school buddies, and so on).

Lykken cites the work of Judith Rich Harris as the most persuasive researcher to assert the dominant influence of peer experience. In her book The Nurture Assumption Harris

‘manages to relegate to the myths of folk psychology most of what developmental psychologists believe about the importance of parenting. Harris’s arguments have compelled me to conclude that, apart from genetic contributions, most parents … have a negligible lasting effect on their children’s adult personality and behaviour patterns (p. 118).

Despite this, Lykken tries to show in Part 3 of his book that ‘parents can make a real difference’ and that ‘skilful parents … have happier children than less skilful parents’ (p. 118). To begin with, Lykken is probably correct in thinking that most parents would be happier in themselves if they were more skilled in matters of discipline with their children. Since potential childhood candidates for antisocial personalities make up about 25% of children, you and your family are likely to be happier if such outcomes are avoided. It makes sense to think that parents and children who enjoy each other’s company over the years will comprise happier households than if there are unhappy relationships. And Lykken presents data from the Minnesota Twin/Family Study to support this supposition (pp. 122-3). Children will be happier (at least while at home) if parents are happier, and vice versa.

A great deal of the chapters on ‘happy babies’ and ‘happy children’ revolves around Professor Lykken’s accounts of child rearing that he and his wife, Harriet, accomplished in the shepparding of their own three boys through to adulthood. While this makes for entertaining and often insightful story telling, it is light on scientific evidence. However, he does examine the work of others, notably that of Gerald Patterson at the Oregon Social Learning Centre, to illustrate the dangers of non-skilful parenting; and this eventually leads to a discussion of unsocialised adults, in particular the psychopathic personality, which is a topic on which Lykken is a leading world exponent. His account of psychopathy and its prevention, and the important distinction to be made from the sociopath, are some of the most telling pages in Lykken’s book.

Parts 3, 4 and 5 cover further aspects of happiness.

Ian Macindoe