This has been hitting the news a lot over here. I'll probably write more about this as I read/think more about it. I'm just free-writing my ideas now so don't consider this my definitive position, and of course I welcome any constructive thoughts and criticisms you have.Here's the story thus far. GDP is a flawed measure of societal progress; but, it used to be fantastic. When a country's basic needs are less well met, GDP is a great indication of how well people are doing. When a country is rich, things beyond survival come into play, which GDP doesn't pick up.
I am Warren Davies, a freelance writer and former psychology student.
By the way I know the banner has nothing whatsoever to do with positive psychology!! I wanted a personalised one though, maybe I'll change it later. Photo credit goes to: Keven…
One of the most common forms of self-medication in capitalist societies surely has to be retail therapy. Is there really a problem that can't be solved by a new pair of shoes, or the latest iWhatever? Interestingly, one of the problems people might be trying to overcome is the fear of death.The insecurity and anxiety caused by the fear of death has some interesting effects on people. When people are reminded of their inevitable demise, they become more rooted in their outlook on life, this is called Terror Management Theory. For example, we start to see people with similar values and beliefs more positively, and people with different beliefs more negatively than we ordinarily would (1). We also become more reluctant to use cultural symbols like flags in improper ways (2).
I just watched Nic Marks of the New Economics Foundation's recent TED talk, which I hope I can embed below. Marks and I both appear have a problem with the amount of media attention that the financial industry gets. For me, I don't like the contradiction where science writing has to be dumbed down because "people don't get science," but the finance section of a newspaper is filled with so much jargon that few people have a clue what it means. He has a slightly different problem - why is it there at all?
Does money make you happy? Economists think so - the concept of 'utility' assumes that economic activity represents people consuming in ways that best supports their happiness. And yet, high sales of Backstreet Boys CDs prove that this cannot be true. What's going on here?Happiness is a difficult thing to study scientifically
Not long ago, many scientists had the belief that after the age of about three, the brain was pretty much fixed in function. You could imprint new memories and learn new skills, but that was about it. There was an opposing belief too, that said the brain was a 'blank slate' upon which the various human parameters were written almost ad lib as life went on - an idea, of course, that Steven Pinker refuted in his famous book of the same name (Pinker, 2002).
