BOATS AGAINST THE CURRENT: AMERICAN PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.(READING EMOTION)

[...]our goal becomes figuring out how they come to feel as they do and why Beattie asks what she asks of them. First published in The New Yorker (Jan. 20, 1975), Beatties "Dwarf House" begins with MacDonald's visit to his brother at the institution where James resides. There to answer for their mother if James is happy, MacDonald asks, "Are you happy? ... Because if you're happy I'll leave you alone" (35). Using data from multiple surveys administered to diverse respondents, Nettle makes a compelling case that most people see themselves as happy and expect greater happiness to come, but report a lower sense of happiness if they perceive others to have greater happiness (49-52). Because those with fewer economic resources did not report significantly lower happiness rates than those with more resources, Nettle's data rejects the idea of marketing and buying our way to maximum happiness.