Self-Actualization Not Happiness

I am reading “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman, and he suggests that happiness or a good mood might actually impair logic:

“…when in a good mood, people become more intuitive and more creative but also less vigilant and more prone to logical errors.” (p.68)

He provides other examples where even being forced to smile by holding a pencil horizontally in their mouth makes people more impressionable.

Increasing happiness too much arguably produces less dynamic cognition depending on your current balance of intuitive or logical thinking. Though people focused heavily on logic could probably benefit by being intuitive more often.

Self-actualization or fulfilling one’s potential, though more ambiguous, is a richer goal than happiness.

Moral Dimensions of the Liberal Conservative Spectrum

http://www.psypost.org/2010/07/difference-moral-foundation-liberal-conservative-1060

It’s all making sense to me now.

The moral foundation theory developed by Graham and his colleagues consists of five main moral foundations:

Harm – caring for and not hurting others,

Fairness – equality and reciprocity,

Ingroup – loyalty to one’s group,

Authority – respect for leadership, and

Purity – the sanctity of social norms and customs.

Liberals elevate harm and fairness above the others, conservatives consider all equally.

If these dimensions seem odd, there is some evidence that this is a good model of morality

http://moralfoundations.org/mft-mail/GHN.supplement.final.pdf