If We Are So Rich, Why Aren't We Happy?Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly
doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.54.10.821pmid: N/A
Ever since systematic thought has been recorded, the question of what makes men and women happy has been of central concern. Answers to this question have ranged from the materialist extreme of searching for happiness in external conditions to the spiritual extreme claiming that happiness is the result of a mental attitude. Psychologists have recently rediscovered this topic. Research supports both the materialist and the mentalist positions, although the latter produces the stronger findings. The article focuses in particular on one dimension of happiness: the flow experience, or the state of total involvement in an activity that requires complete concentration.
Does Cigarette Smoking Cause Stress?Parrott, Andy C.
doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.54.10.817pmid: N/A
Smokers often report that cigarettes help relieve feelings of stress. However, the stress levels of adult smokers are slightly higher than those of nonsmokers, adolescent smokers report increasing levels of stress as they develop regular patterns of smoking, and smoking cessation leads to reduced stress. Far from acting as an aid for mood control, nicotine dependency seems to exacerbate stress. This is confirmed in the daily mood patterns described by smokers, with normal moods during smoking and worsening moods between cigarettes. Thus, the apparent relaxant effect of smoking only reflects the reversal of the tension and irritability that develop during nicotine depletion. Dependent smokers need nicotine to remain feeling normal. The message that tobacco use does not alleviate stress but actually increases it needs to be far more widely known. It could help those adult smokers who wish to quit and might prevent some schoolchildren from starting.
The Role of Value in the World of PsychologyKendler, Howard H.
doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.54.10.828pmid: N/A
The mechanistic view of Newtonian science was interpreted by German holism to consist of barren facts and purposeless theories. The assumption that the whole determines the operation of its parts enables holism to provide moral value and existential meaning to human existence. Whereas a positivist view of science assumes that facts cannot logically yield moral values that are right for humankind, holism contends that human values can be revealed in a scientific manner. The same epistemological process that allows holism and humanistic psychology to generate a psychologically demanded morality has also justified Nazi and Communist ideology. The logic of the fact/value dichotomy and the inevitable ascendancy of moral pluralism prevent scientific psychology from serving a democratic society as a pipeline to moral truth or to a positive conception of mental health. Psychological research can estimate the consequences of competing social policies and thus assist a democracy in making informed choices.