A Dark Side of Happiness? How, When, and Why Happiness Is Not Always Good

Abstract

Happiness is generally considered a source of good outcomes. Research has highlighted the ways in which happiness facilitates the pursuit of important goals, contributes to vital social bonds, broadens people's scope of attention, and increases well-being and psychological health. However, is happiness always a good thing? This review suggests that the pursuit and experience of happiness might sometimes lead to negative outcomes. We focus on four questions regarding this purported "dark side" of happiness. First, is there a wrong degree of happiness? Second, is there a wrong time for happiness? Third, are there wrong ways to pursue happiness? Fourth, are there wrong types of happiness? Cumulatively, these lines of research suggest that although happiness is often highly beneficial, it may not be beneficial at every level, in every context, for every reason, and in every variety.

Combining oxytocin administration and positive emotion inductions: Examining social perception and analytical performance

“…Specifically, whereas in the placebo condition, the pride and warmth inductions appeared to be beneficial and benign, respectively, when paired with OT administration, the pride induction was no longer beneficial and warmth became detrimental. Thus, in line with evidence that high levels of positive emotions (Gruber et al, 2011) and higher dosages of administered OT (Cardoso et al, , 2014 can have diminishing returns or even negative consequences, we found that combining OT administration with positive emotions inductions results in a similar pattern, with potential negative consequences for analytical thinking.…”

“…However, research is accumulating to suggest that OT administration can be less beneficial or even detrimental in some contexts (e.g., Campbell, 2008;Shamay-Tsoory et al, 2009;De Dreu et al, 2010) and when administered at higher concentrations (e.g., Cardoso et al, 2013). Similarly, it has been argued that high levels of positive emotions can be detrimental in some contexts (Gruber et al, 2011;Oishi et al, 2006). The current study examined whether combining acute increases in OT and positive emotions together would result in a similar, potentially detrimental, pattern.…”

“…Indeed, there are studies that underscore the limits of beneficial effects of very high levels of positive emotion (see Gruber et al, 2011;Oishi et al, 2006). For example, while moderate levels of positive emotion can promote creativity, very high levels do not (Davis, 2008).…”

True happiness: The role of morality in the folk concept of happiness.

“…The past years have witnessed impressive advances in empirical research on happiness (e.g., Fredrickson, 2001;Gruber, Mauss & Tamir, 2011;Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000).…”

Atypical right hemispheric functioning in the euthymic state of bipolar affective disorder

“…Although mania can occur as a consequence of more positive and/or less negative emotions Gruber et al, 2011), studies of symptomatic BD suggest a state-dependent imbalance in positive and negative emotions, which probably relates to atypical functional hemispheric asymmetries. However, the causality of the relationship between (atypical) functional hemispheric asymmetries and emotional states is still unclear.…”