Happiness Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Happiness - Research Paper Example In addition, the modern world fills our heads full of numerous distractions, many of which claim happiness can only be achieved after one has accomplished this material good or that status in life. In America, for example, people learn that happiness is what occurs when we have finally managed to claim ownership of a luxury car, a fine house and a stunning wardrobe to show off the tremendous body we’ve maintained, perhaps with the help of a personal trainer or skilled plastic surgeon. â€Å"To fulfill their dreams, Americans claim they need an annual income of $102,000† (Myers, 2000). According to Bolt (2004) and others, almost three-quarters of college freshmen feel being ‘very well-off financially’ to be a ‘very important’ or ‘essential’ goal in life (Bolt, 2004: 124). Other studies seem to indicate that our concept of happiness continues to change through life, so that what might have made us happy in the past will likely lose i ts ability to make us happy in the future (Diener & Diener, 2009). Although definitions of happiness and how to attain it may shift over time, research seems to link gaining happiness very strongly with the concept of adhering to a strongly identified sense of moral behavior. Within this discussion, it is important to understand that the concept of moral behavior as it is considered by philosophers does not merely constitute a choice between right and wrong behavior. The term â€Å"morality† is defined as a â€Å"moral quality or character; rightness or wrongness, as of an action† (Neufeldt & Goralnik, 1994: 882) and it is closely associated with the term â€Å"ethics† which is â€Å"the study of standards of conduct and moral judgment.† Even this much of an explanation is unclear, though, as terms such as â€Å"standards of conduct,† â€Å"moral judgment† and â€Å"moral character† have yet to be defined on a concrete level. These terms are potentially defined differently depending upon