The primary focus of the science of happiness is prospection, which is the ability to look into the future and understand what will make us happy.
This means that rather than solely focusing on past experiences or current feelings, the science of happiness aims to understand how we can use our ability to imagine the future to make better choices that will lead to increased well-being. It explores how we can anticipate what will bring us joy and fulfillment.
Here’s a breakdown of key aspects:
- Anticipating Future Happiness: The core idea involves understanding how our expectations about future events influence our current emotions and how well we can predict our reactions to these events.
- Making Informed Choices: It suggests we can use this knowledge to make more informed choices about our lives. By thinking about future experiences, we can plan to avoid sources of unhappiness and pursue sources of joy.
- Understanding Bias: Part of prospection also involves recognizing and mitigating potential biases we might have in predicting our future feelings. These biases often lead to poor choices about our well-being.
This forward-looking approach differentiates the science of happiness from other fields that might focus on current states of well-being or past events. Instead, it emphasizes our agency in shaping our future happiness through thoughtful anticipation.
