What Happiness Is Essay

Reading Response Two In the short essay of “What Happiness Is” by Eduardo Porter, he gives explicit details pertaining to the complex word, happiness. In its own term, happiness is defined as, the state of being happy. According to Porter’s findings on happiness, he says that psychologists and economists believe this: “Most psychologists and economists who study happiness agree that what they prefer to call “subjective well-beings” comprises three parts: satisfaction meant to capture how people judge their lives measured up against their aspirations; positive feelings like joy; and the absence of negative feelings like anger” (457).Porter suggests that this does exist and that because it does it helps individuals through certain times, like: hardships, economy, family, country, sickness, and even death. He is saying that because happiness exists, individuals are able to overcome obstacles in their life, and are able to live longer and healthier.

Porter does focus on the main issues and key abstract views of the word happiness.He covers important issues, by giving detail; he talks about the views of psychologists and economists’ views. “ In 1980s a new discipline called Prospect Theory—also known as behavioral economics—deployed the tools of psychology to analyze economic behavior” (458). He talks about doing something good but having a bad aspect in its part. An example would be like energy resource.

Energy is something good that everyone wants because it helps them power their vehicles, houses, and other essentials.Although, energy comes with carbon emissions and it comes with polluting the air. There are other energy uses but they also have their own attack against them. The main point is that although there are tons of ways to complain and be sad, individuals over achieve and surpass this because of the word and the feeling of happiness. It is something that varies on achievement but to Porter it is something that exists.In my opinion, I like this essay very much.

It is very informing and the information is set into place just right. The way Eduardo Porter put this essay together and the information that he provided were very much helpful. Throughout the reading I felt like I could follow, along and kept me interested, but towards the end, it was just the slightest bit less interesting.

Besides that it was a great essay, well put together, and really well explained.