Explorations of the Mind: Well-Being

I'm interested in how would the evolutionary psychologists interpret this.

They may agree with Kahneman's discussion of the adaptation curve. It's theorized that we outlived our humanoid relatives because of our capacity to adapt to change.

so life in the past was better I suppose?

Unless you are a *student* of this nonsense, in which case you are likely to buy into it for the obvious reason that it serves your self interests, then you will likely see through it for what it really is, worthless statistical gibberish. If you are a *student* in this field, then you will likely applaud the man's pure acumen, his raw intelligence, his brilliance in description and his physical beauty and expert grooming, oh, and his voice that rings like music in your ears.

Life satisfaction
Self actualization
Gross national happiness
ALL COMPLETE BULLSHIT!
What if the only way to make me happy is the destruction of the establishment? Do you
A) allow me to destroy it.
B) change my mind so all I want to do is buy stuff and be a slave to wages.
C) Put me in Jail/ Kill me/ remove me from societly
D) give me democratic choice in the matter
Daniel Kahneman- B
US foreign policy- C
Noam Chomsky- D
And by the way, its not the real Nobel Prize- it means even less

well, money does not equal happiness.

The reason people are not happy is because we are living in a consumerist nation. Where do we try to gain happiness from in this culture? Well, shopping, television and video games. In american society people have forgotten how to LIVE. How to be creative and to experience the joy of a community living. There is too much alienation in today's world and it can really make a person feel empty and unhappy.

with all due respect: - but "psychology" is just the endless recycling and rediscoveries of the banalities of common sense-

Well said. The scary thing is that psychologists are respected as 'experts' on human behavior, giving these people incredible and undeserved influence over the public in general and many people in particular.