Happiness Experiment (Part 1 of 5)

Have you ever wondered if party rockers are truly happy? A recent study on the subject yielded results that might surprise you.
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Video by: Ben Coonley
Cast: Laurie Santos (Narrator), Sarah Hailey (Maria), Justine Kolata (Maria's friend)
Adapted from a study titled "The Ordinary Concept of Happiness (and others like it)" by Jonathan Phillips, Luke Misenheimer, and Joshua Knobe
Source: http://pantheon.yale.edu/~jp677/Lovea...

The study illustrated in this video is just one example of a new movement called Experimental Philosophy (or "x-phi" for short). Experimental philosophers go after philosophical questions by taking the unusual approach of getting up out of their armchairs and going out to the streets to conduct empirical studies. If you want to learn more about experimental philosophy, here's one place to start: http://pantheon.yale.edu/~jk762/Exper...

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[Brenna Sampaio]

stockphoto? why?????????????????

[ubermonkey]

This is an interesting experiment, but I wonder about something that may be biasing the results, if these are the actual videos used in the study: simply that Maria is incredibly beautiful, at least to me. I have to wonder how my attraction to her is affecting my judgments about her happiness. Would using a subject of average beauty produce the same results?

[BrooklynFeralCat]

Answer: For the simple reason that these scenarios involving the two Marias are based on "stock" types and ideas, not real persons. The stockphoto watermarks remind us that we are assessing broad caricatures informed by and inscribed by normative cultural values.

[Icreatemore]

This is really really interesting. It ask a great question...I don't remember it but at the time it seemed great. the interactive ability just blows my ancient mind.

[dschimnosky]

I wonder how much the responses would change if you simply switched Party Maria spending time with friends and Mother Maria not.

[illidan333]

more video please

[johnlucas1]

@ubermonkey A person's physical appearance bias everybody's view of that person. If someone has sleepy eyes, they may be happy & content but people see them as depressed. If someone has a crease between their eyebrows, they may be OK but people see them as angry. Some people know how to fake a smile for the untrained eye & fool people into thinking they're happy. And then these people commit suicide or homicide the next day. Just goes to show that you can't make a proper judgment on looks alone.

[johnlucas1]

@whoistheroach Yeah, the actress' facial expression influenced my vote. In both scenarios. I could see scenarios where supermom accomplishes tasks but feels miserable in reflection despite having a comfortable homelife & scenarios where party girl runs wild in the fast lane but feels just as miserable when she reflects despite the glitz & glamour. Each time I picked #1 'Strongly Disagree' for 'Maria is Happy' & #7 'Strongly Agree' for 'Maria is Unhappy'. I kept looking at "Maria's" eyes.

[robertman]

It's the symbol of experimental philosophy, opposing armchair philosophy.

[Tracy Edmunds]

Why are the chairs on fire? The fire spreads throughout the series of videos and by the last scene the host looks like she's about to be toast.

[RyanPig]

That's not really a dumb question, because it's the biggest debate about the field itself. Some take it as just social science about issues of philosophic import. Philosophers like Knobe take the layman's intuitions on certain concepts seriously, that they offer insight into big questions like "What is happiness?"