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136-523: Amusement is considered an " epistemological " emotion because humor occurs when one experiences a cognitive shift from one knowledge structure about a target to another, such as hearing the punchline of a joke. Emotions perceived overtime are focused on the daily dynamics of life as augment or blunt. The pleasant surprise that happens from learning this new information leads to a state of amusement which people often express through smiling, laughter or chuckling. Current studies have not yet reached consensus on

272-508: A relation between a knower and a known proposition , in the case above between the person Ravi and the proposition "kangaroos hop". It is use-independent since it is not tied to one specific purpose. It is a mental representation that relies on concepts and ideas to depict reality. Because of its theoretical nature, it is often held that only relatively sophisticated creatures, such as humans, possess propositional knowledge. Propositional knowledge contrasts with non-propositional knowledge in

408-412: A series of thought experiments that aimed to show that some justified true beliefs do not amount to knowledge. In one of them, a person is unaware of all the fake barns in their area. By coincidence, they stop in front of the only real barn and form a justified true belief that it is a real barn. Many epistemologists agree that this is not knowledge because the justification is not directly relevant to

544-442: A belief is information that favors or supports it. Epistemologists understand evidence primarily in terms of mental states, for example, as sensory impressions or as other propositions that a person knows. But in a wider sense, it can also include physical objects, like bloodstains examined by forensic analysts or financial records studied by investigative journalists. Evidence is often understood in terms of probability : evidence for

680-473: A belief is justified if the individual's evidence supports the belief and they hold the belief on the basis of this evidence. Reliabilism is an externalist theory asserting that a reliable connection between belief and truth is required for justification. Some reliabilists explain this in terms of reliable processes. According to this view, a belief is justified if it is produced by a reliable belief-formation process, like perception. A belief-formation process

816-612: A belief makes it more likely that the belief is true. A defeater is evidence against a belief or evidence that undermines another piece of evidence. For instance, witness testimony connecting a suspect to a crime is evidence for their guilt while an alibi is a defeater. Evidentialists analyze justification in terms of evidence by saying that to be justified, a belief needs to rest on adequate evidence. The presence of evidence usually affects doubt and certainty , which are subjective attitudes toward propositions that differ regarding their level of confidence. Doubt involves questioning

952-592: A belief, known as propositional justification , but also in whether the person holds the belief because or based on this reason, known as doxastic justification . For example, if a person has sufficient reason to believe that a neighborhood is dangerous but forms this belief based on superstition then they have propositional justification but lack doxastic justification. Sources of justification are ways or cognitive capacities through which people acquire justification. Often-discussed sources include perception , introspection , memory , reason , and testimony , but there

1088-463: A collectivist culture may be prone to having a fear of rejection (see also social control for more). A contributing influence to life satisfaction is that of family life and household circumstances. Family life satisfaction is a pertinent topic as everyone's family influences them in some way and most strive to have high levels of satisfaction in life as well as within their own family. Family life satisfaction has been shown in studies to be enhanced by

1224-414: A common view, this means that the person has sufficient reasons for holding this belief because they have information that supports it. Another view states that a belief is justified if it is formed by a reliable belief formation process, such as perception. The terms reasonable , warranted , and supported are closely related to the idea of justification and are sometimes used as synonyms. Justification

1360-603: A completely different level of satisfaction than someone who is constantly admiring the beauty of their surroundings. People who are engaged with more stress on average can contribute to higher levels of self-report life satisfaction as long as they understand how to deal with their stress positively. Recent research in the hospitality industry has found that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly exacerbated mental health problems among hotel employees, leading to increased absenteeism and decreased life satisfaction. This study highlights

1496-482: A cue word while being timed. Thirty cue words, including five words classified as 'positive' (e.g., funny, lucky, passionate, happy, hopeful), five as 'negative' (unsuccessful, unhappy, sad, abandoned, gloomy), and five as 'neutral' (work, city, home, shoes, family), were presented orally in a fixed, alternating order to each member of a focus group. To ensure that the participants understood the instructions, examples were provided of both 'general' memories (e.g., summers in

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1632-573: A disease helps a doctor cure their patient, and knowledge of when a job interview starts helps a candidate arrive on time. The usefulness of a known fact depends on the circumstances. Knowledge of some facts may have little to no uses, like memorizing random phone numbers from an outdated phone book. Being able to assess the value of knowledge matters in choosing what information to acquire and transmit to others. It affects decisions like which subjects to teach at school and how to allocate funds to research projects. Of particular interest to epistemologists

1768-419: A familiarity through experience. Epistemologists study the concepts of belief , truth , and justification to understand the nature of knowledge. To discover how knowledge arises, they investigate sources of justification, such as perception , introspection , memory , reason , and testimony . The school of skepticism questions the human ability to attain knowledge while fallibilism says that knowledge

1904-410: A family member affected as well. Seasonal affective disorder is hypothesized to be caused by diminishing exposure to environmental light, which can lead to changes in levels of the neurotransmitter chemical serotonin. Diminishing active serotonin levels increases depressive symptoms. There are currently a few treatment therapies in order to help with seasonal affective disorder. The first line of therapy

2040-452: A generally negative outlook. An individual's mood and outlook on life greatly influence their perception of their life satisfaction. Two correlating emotions that may influence how people perceive their lives are hope and optimism . Both of these emotions consist of cognitive processes that are usually oriented towards the perception and reaching of goals. Additionally, optimism is linked to higher life satisfaction, whereas pessimism

2176-461: A good life. Therefore, despite having a strong preference for longer periods of happiness, there are systematic errors that divert us from engaging in coherent and consistent behavior, and in reflecting on our life-satisfaction level. This is fundamental to a narrative trap where the neglection effect undermines experience in its contribution towards well-being, while socially salient narratives drive our decision and behavior. Researchers had agreed on

2312-446: A greater impact on life satisfaction for those who see the high-financial status as essential than those who do not. Further, people who reached their goal of achieving high earnings are on average more satisfied than those who failed to reach their expectations. We have a limited amount of attention, and its allocation is fundamental in determining our overall happiness. Incorporated under the umbrella term “ Affective forecasting ”, it

2448-452: A letter, a newspaper, and a blog. Rationality is closely related to justification and the terms rational belief and justified belief are sometimes used as synonyms. However, rationality has a wider scope that encompasses both a theoretical side, covering beliefs, and a practical side, covering decisions , intentions , and actions . There are different conceptions about what it means for something to be rational. According to one view,

2584-464: A longitudinal study completed at the Department of Psychology and Sports Science at Universitaet Erlangen-Neurnberg, they followed 1200 individuals who graduated with master's degrees at different German Universities. Participants were given a survey after their final exam in 1999, and then received further surveys in the years 2001, 2004, 2008, and 2011. The results of this study concluded that there

2720-451: A lower life satisfaction level than their non-materialistic counterparts. The same is true of people who value money over helping other people; this is because the money they have can buy them the assets they deem valuable. Materialistic people are less satisfied with life because they constantly want more and more belongings, and once those belongings are obtained, they lose value, which in turn causes these people to want more belongings, and

2856-573: A marital partner, as happiness can be an attractive personality trait. In addition, even if there is a causation effect such that marriage causes higher life satisfaction, social exclusion and stigma experienced by single individuals may be those responsible for higher levels of life satisfaction among married couples, rather than marriage itself. In cultures where arranged marriages are common, studies comparing arranged and non-arranged marriages show no significant differences in life satisfaction. This applies to comparisons between different groups in

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2992-450: A meditative state. However, scientific studies of these benefits are limited and have methodological issues. Epistemological Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge . Also called theory of knowledge , it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowledge in the form of skills, and knowledge by acquaintance as

3128-416: A mental state is rational if it is based on or responsive to good reasons. Another view emphasizes the role of coherence, stating that rationality requires that the different mental states of a person are consistent and support each other. A slightly different approach holds that rationality is about achieving certain goals. Two goals of theoretical rationality are accuracy and comprehensiveness, meaning that

3264-524: A monogamous marriage and have kids), and 3) responsible (to act altruistically with a pure selfless motive; to prioritize good health and to act with free will to be held accountable). Validating narrative traps' effect on life satisfaction, it has been found that factors such as income and education attainment explain satisfaction in relative terms. For example, it was found that despite being more educated in absolute terms, people were less satisfied if others around them improves education more. This implies that

3400-475: A part in how someone considers their own life. People who take pride in themselves by staying mentally and physically fit have higher levels of life satisfaction purely due to the content of their day. These values come together in determining how somebody sees themselves in light of others. Defining culture by reference to deeply engrained societal values and beliefs. Culture affects the subjective well-being . Well-being includes both general life satisfaction, and

3536-410: A person already has, asserting that a person should only change their beliefs if they have a good reason to. One motivation for adopting epistemic conservatism is that the cognitive resources of humans are limited, meaning that it is not feasible to constantly reexamine every belief. Pragmatist epistemology is a form of fallibilism that emphasizes the close relation between knowing and acting. It sees

3672-744: A person has as few false beliefs and as many true beliefs as possible. Epistemic norms are criteria to assess the cognitive quality of beliefs, like their justification and rationality. Epistemologists distinguish between deontic norms, which are prescriptions about what people should believe or which beliefs are correct, and axiological norms, which identify the goals and values of beliefs. Epistemic norms are closely related to intellectual or epistemic virtues , which are character traits like open-mindedness and conscientiousness . Epistemic virtues help individuals form true beliefs and acquire knowledge. They contrast with epistemic vices and act as foundational concepts of virtue epistemology . Evidence for

3808-419: A person knows depends on the subjective criteria or social conventions used to assess epistemic status. The debate between empiricism and rationalism centers on the origins of human knowledge. Empiricism emphasizes that sense experience is the primary source of all knowledge. Some empiricists express this view by stating that the mind is a blank slate that only develops ideas about the external world through

3944-472: A positive correlation with life satisfaction, but the causality is still under debate. Many studies do not consider whether self-selection could be a factor affecting the relationship between marriage and life satisfaction. There is evidence to suggest that happier individuals are more likely to marry, which means that part of the reason for the positive correlation is that people select into marriage. People who are perceived as happy may be more likely to attract

4080-408: A positive experience that increases their arousal, such as a faster heartbeat and increased sweat production, they cognitively seek out a label for that feeling. They will land on amusement if that experience resembles other amusement experiences they have had. The origin of the study of emotional expression is often attributed to Charles Darwin . In 1872, Darwin published his book The Expression of

4216-507: A posteriori knowledge. A priori knowledge is knowledge of non-empirical facts and does not depend on evidence from sensory experience. It belongs to fields such as mathematics and logic , like knowing that 2 + 2 = 4 {\displaystyle 2+2=4} . The contrast between a posteriori and a priori knowledge plays a central role in the debate between empiricists and rationalists on whether all knowledge depends on sensory experience. A closely related contrast

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4352-401: A significant predictor of the way that one views their external environment. There are several influences this can have on their world view, both generally and more specifically, such as the way they interact with others, the way they behave, and the way they view the world around them—all of which affect their life satisfaction. Someone who tends to see the world in a more negative light may have

4488-464: A single-parent family home had significantly lower life satisfaction than that of adolescents in a two-parent home. An adolescent's age is extremely important in terms of life satisfaction coming from their family. In a research study by Pollmann-Schult (2014) on 13,093 Germans, it was found that when finances and time costs are held constant, parents are happier and show increased life satisfaction than non-parents. The researchers noted that their study

4624-438: A slight increase in temperature (thus improved experience at the end) than to have their hands in for 60 seconds without an increase in temperature in the end, implying that a decision is not aligned with experience. Questions on measuring life satisfaction are predominantly answered by the “Remembering self” (i.e., How was it, overall?) reflected on experienced utility, with respect to a subjective evaluation of what accounts for

4760-449: A therapeutic tool. Usually implemented in a group, laughter therapy uses a variety of gag jokes like red noses and magic tricks to encourage laughter - fake or real. Laughter causes the body's muscles to relax which increases blood flow and oxygen intake. Proposed benefits include: Stress management, relaxation, improved mental functions, improved digestion, and pain relief. Some suggest that laughter activates similar brain wave frequencies as

4896-412: A true or a false proposition. According to the correspondence theory of truth , to be true means to stand in the right relation to the world by accurately describing what it is like. This means that truth is objective: a belief is true if it corresponds to a fact . The coherence theory of truth says that a belief is true if it belongs to a coherent system of beliefs. A result of this view is that truth

5032-402: Is and what types of knowledge there are. It further investigates the sources of knowledge, like perception , inference , and testimony , to determine how knowledge is created. Another topic is the extent and limits of knowledge, confronting questions about what people can and cannot know. Other central concepts include belief , truth , justification , evidence , and reason . Epistemology

5168-408: Is a closely related process focused not on external physical objects but on internal mental states . For example, seeing a bus at a bus station belongs to perception while feeling tired belongs to introspection. Rationalists understand reason as a source of justification for non-empirical facts. It is often used to explain how people can know about mathematical, logical, and conceptual truths. Reason

5304-409: Is a comparative term, meaning that to know something involves distinguishing it from relevant alternatives. For example, if a person spots a bird in the garden, they may know that it is a sparrow rather than an eagle but they may not know that it is a sparrow rather than an indistinguishable sparrow hologram. Epistemic conservatism is a view about belief revision . It gives preference to the beliefs

5440-419: Is a correlation between career satisfaction and life satisfaction. Specifically the researchers found that "a person with high life satisfaction will also experience his or her career and work more positively than a person with lower life satisfaction." Having more money is not directly correlated to more happiness. It has also been found that the amount of money we have is more correlated with satisfaction than

5576-497: Is a distinct emotion that evolved to enhance a species’ survival. Collective laughter helps define an ingroup, helping people recognize those similar to them and feel included. It also helps identify outgroup members and enhance the barrier between the two. Laughter can provide network support as encouragement, or it can inform ingroup members that they are losing majority favor and to adjust their behavior to reassimilate. The theory of constructed emotion suggests that when humans have

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5712-726: Is a distinct signal of amusement and is recognizable across cultures. An amused facial expression typically has these characteristics: The expression of amusement is usually accompanied by genuine laughter. The experience of laughter changes the breathing pattern and often causes all the muscles to relax. As a positive, high arousal emotion, amusement falls in the same category as excitement and exhilaration. These emotions are highly valued in American culture where positive feelings that high in energy are seen as ideal. In contrast, East Asian cultures value positive, low arousal emotions such as contentment, calm and peacefulness. Emotion regulation

5848-413: Is a form of narrative-reaching), and cognitive dissonance . In contrast, it was argued that instead of willpower, genes, context, and luck plays a much larger role in explaining behavior. Fulfilling the social narratives is regarded as having a key influence on happiness, defined by Paul Dolan as ‘a flow of pleasure and purpose over time’. This implies that rather than allowing our natural tendency where

5984-565: Is a key part of subjective well-being . Many factors influence subjective well-being and life satisfaction. Socio-demographic factors include gender, age, marital status, income, and education. Psychosocial factors include health and illness, functional ability, activity level, and social relationships. People tend to gain life satisfaction as they get older. Meta-analyses using the Five Factor Model of Personality found that, among its "Big Five" personality traits, low neuroticism

6120-521: Is a special epistemic good that, unlike knowledge, is always intrinsically valuable. Wisdom is similar in this regard and is sometimes considered the highest epistemic good. It encompasses a reflective understanding with practical applications. It helps people grasp and evaluate complex situations and lead a good life. Philosophical skepticism questions the human ability to arrive at knowledge. Some skeptics limit their criticism to certain domains of knowledge. For example, religious skeptics say that it

6256-439: Is also responsible for inferential knowledge, in which one or several beliefs are used as premises to support another belief. Memory depends on information provided by other sources, which it retains and recalls, like remembering a phone number perceived earlier. Justification by testimony relies on information one person communicates to another person. This can happen by talking to each other but can also occur in other forms, like

6392-648: Is an important component of life satisfaction. Doing something meaningful in a productive capacity contributes to one's feeling of life satisfaction. This notion of accomplishment is related to a person's drive. The need for accomplishment is an essential part of becoming a fully functional person, and when someone feels accomplished in their career status they are more likely to be optimistic about their life and future; thus improving their life satisfaction. Research has shown that career satisfaction and life satisfaction are uniquely correlated with each other and that as career satisfaction increases, so does life satisfaction. In

6528-458: Is an oversimplification of much more complex psychological processes. Beliefs play a central role in various epistemological debates, which cover their status as a component of propositional knowledge, the question of whether people have control over and are responsible for their beliefs , and the issue of whether there are degrees of beliefs, called credences . As propositional attitudes, beliefs are true or false depending on whether they affirm

6664-470: Is argued that having attention problems such as mistaken beliefs and projections, whereby we make systematic errors in perceiving the reality and predicting the future's influence, creates the fundamental vulnerability to falling into narrative traps. In terms of mistaken projection, apart from 1) peak-end effect, and 2) focusing illusion , there are other types: 3) distinction bias (focus on dissimilarities of two choices yet fell to take into consideration of

6800-459: Is because at this age, many adolescents reach sexual maturation, which can encourage them to find verification and satisfaction in the idea of a sexual partnership. There are several factors that contribute to and influence one's self-reported levels of life satisfaction, including one's unique life events and experiences. These include both acute events (e.g., the death of a loved one) and chronic, daily experiences (e.g., ongoing family discord). In

6936-424: Is better because it is more stable. Another suggestion focuses on practical reasoning . It proposes that people put more trust in knowledge than in mere true beliefs when drawing conclusions and deciding what to do. A different response says that knowledge has intrinsic value, meaning that it is good in itself independent of its usefulness. Beliefs are mental states about what is the case, like believing that snow

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7072-403: Is between analytic and synthetic truths . A sentence is analytically true if its truth depends only on the meaning of the words it uses. For instance, the sentence "all bachelors are unmarried" is analytically true because the word "bachelor" already includes the meaning "unmarried". A sentence is synthetically true if its truth depends on additional facts. For example, the sentence "snow is white"

7208-511: Is called “a narrative trap.” Research had found clear discrepancies between experienced utility (i.e.. Hedonic experience related to an outcome) to decision utility (i.e.. Wantability inferred from choices) whereby the former is subject to the systematic influence of peak-end effect and duration neglect and is most frequently used to direct our actual decision. Validating this view, cold-hand experiment shows that people overwhelmingly prefer to have their hands in freezing water for 90 seconds with

7344-413: Is closely related to psychology , which describes the beliefs people hold, while epistemology studies the norms governing the evaluation of beliefs. It also intersects with fields such as decision theory , education , and anthropology . Early reflections on the nature, sources, and scope of knowledge are found in ancient Greek , Indian , and Chinese philosophy . The relation between reason and faith

7480-478: Is compatible with profoundly negative emotional states like depression. In a study carried out by Juan Pedro Serrano, José Miguel Latorre, Margaret Gatz, and Juan Montanes from the department of psychology at the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, researchers used life-review therapy with 43 older adults. The test they used was designed to measure participants' ability to recall a specific memory in response to

7616-439: Is correct. Some philosophers, such as Timothy Williamson , reject the basic assumption underlying the analysis of knowledge by arguing that propositional knowledge is a unique state that cannot be dissected into simpler components. The value of knowledge is the worth it holds by expanding understanding and guiding action. Knowledge can have instrumental value by helping a person achieve their goals. For example, knowledge of

7752-414: Is culture and context specific and may not generalize to other countries. Life satisfaction is also affected by parenthood and couples introducing children into their relationships. Research done by McLanahan & Adams (1987) provides evidence that adults with children can be less happy due to less life satisfaction, less marital satisfaction, more anxiety, and more depression. Marriage appears to have

7888-507: Is determined solely by mental states or also by external circumstances. Separate branches of epistemology are dedicated to knowledge found in specific fields, like scientific, mathematical, moral, and religious knowledge. Naturalized epistemology relies on empirical methods and discoveries, whereas formal epistemology uses formal tools from logic . Social epistemology investigates the communal aspect of knowledge and historical epistemology examines its historical conditions. Epistemology

8024-666: Is essential for a female to be happy and fulfilled”. From an evolutionary perspective, such inclination most likely stems from our strong innate drive of culture-learning, whereby we have evolved to trust and rely more on information embedded in our communities than in our own personal experiences or intuitions. While our ‘addiction to culture’ is shown to be an evolutionarily successful strategy, pursuing social narratives has mixed results in achieving happiness and life satisfaction in modern society. Overall, focusing too much on reaching social narratives may deviate people from engaging in what actually elevates their life satisfaction level. This

8160-425: Is geared towards one's own personal achievements and involves a strong sense of competition. People are expected to carry their own weight and rely on themselves. The United States is said to be one of the most individualistic countries, while Korea and Japan on the other hand are some of the most collectivistic countries. However, both have their flaws. An individualistic approach can lead to loneliness, while those in

8296-444: Is hypothetically attributed to the amount one can identify with those in one's age group over other age groups. In this same study, researchers found that satisfaction with family decreased. This could be because more rules and regulations are typically implemented by parental figures, and adolescents tend to demonize those in control of them. Additionally, the same study reports that life satisfaction in terms of sexuality increased. This

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8432-416: Is important for explaining the nature of illusions. Constructivism in epistemology is the theory that how people view the world is not a simple reflection of external reality but an invention or a social construction. This view emphasizes the creative role of interpretation while undermining objectivity since social constructions may differ from society to society. According to contrastivism , knowledge

8568-460: Is impossible to have certain knowledge about the existence of deities or other religious doctrines. Similarly, moral skeptics challenge the existence of moral knowledge and metaphysical skeptics say that humans cannot know ultimate reality. Global skepticism is the widest form of skepticism, asserting that there is no knowledge in any domain. In ancient philosophy , this view was accepted by academic skeptics while Pyrrhonian skeptics recommended

8704-443: Is itself a knowledge claim. Another objection says that the abstract reasoning leading to skepticism is not convincing enough to overrule common sense. Fallibilism is another response to skepticism. Fallibilists agree with skeptics that absolute certainty is impossible. Most fallibilists disagree with skeptics about the existence of knowledge, saying that there is knowledge since it does not require absolute certainty. They emphasize

8840-461: Is light therapy. Light therapy involves exposure to bright, fluorescent lighting that acts to mimic outdoor light, counteracting the presumed effects of SAD. Due to the shifts in one's neurochemical levels, antidepressants are another form of therapy. Other than light therapy and antidepressants, there are several alternatives that involve agomelatine, melatonin, psychological interventions, as well as diet and lifestyle changes. Research has found that

8976-423: Is never certain. Empiricists hold that all knowledge comes from sense experience, whereas rationalists believe that some knowledge does not depend on it. Coherentists argue that a belief is justified if it coheres with other beliefs. Foundationalists , by contrast, maintain that the justification of basic beliefs does not depend on other beliefs. Internalism and externalism disagree about whether justification

9112-438: Is no surprise that a higher life satisfaction level was reported in people who had social support, whether it be friends, family, or church. People who personally valued material items were found to be less satisfied overall in life as opposed to people who attached a higher amount of value in interpersonal relationships. In accordance with the findings above, it is also fair to say that the notion of how one values themselves plays

9248-469: Is no universal agreement to what extent they all provide valid justification. Perception relies on sensory organs to gain empirical information. There are various forms of perception corresponding to different physical stimuli, such as visual , auditory , haptic , olfactory , and gustatory perception. Perception is not merely the reception of sense impressions but an active process that selects, organizes, and interprets sensory signals . Introspection

9384-497: Is one of the main branches of philosophy besides fields like ethics , logic , and metaphysics . The term is also used in a slightly different sense to refer not to the branch of philosophy but to a particular position within that branch, as in Plato 's epistemology and Immanuel Kant 's epistemology. As a normative field of inquiry, epistemology explores how people should acquire beliefs. This way, it determines which beliefs fulfill

9520-497: Is one way in which people can learn to cope when faced with challenges and develop resilience. As a positive emotion, amusement contributes to the development of resilience in both children and adults. Positive emotions help people build social resources that foster their ability to cope during hard times. Increases in resilience lead to higher life satisfaction and general happiness. Rapidly growing in popularity, laughter therapy, or humor therapy, focuses on promoting laughter as

9656-552: Is partly heritable. One study found no significant differences between men and women in terms of the heritability of life satisfaction. Several studies have shown that self-esteem is a strong predictor of life satisfaction. Those with high levels of self-esteem are more likely to take a positive approach to dealing with day-to-day challenges and not be overwhelmed by them. Having higher self-esteem also leads to being more open about life and its opportunities. Those with diminished self-esteem tend to be more fearful, less social and hold

9792-543: Is related to symptoms of depression. According to Martin Seligman , the happier people are, the less they focus on the negative aspects of their lives. Happier people also have a greater tendency to like other people, which promotes a happier environment. This correlates to a higher level of the person's satisfaction with their life, due to the notion that constructiveness with others can positively influence life satisfaction. However, others have found that life satisfaction

9928-408: Is relative since it depends on other beliefs. Further theories of truth include pragmatist , semantic , pluralist , and deflationary theories . Truth plays a central role in epistemology as a goal of cognitive processes and a component of propositional knowledge. In epistemology, justification is a property of beliefs that fulfill certain norms about what a person should believe. According to

10064-407: Is relevant to many descriptive and normative disciplines, such as the other branches of philosophy and the sciences, by exploring the principles of how they may arrive at knowledge. The word epistemology comes from the ancient Greek terms ἐπιστήμη (episteme, meaning knowledge or understanding ) and λόγος (logos, meaning study of or reason ), literally, the study of knowledge. The word

10200-412: Is reliable if most of the beliefs it causes are true. A slightly different view focuses on beliefs rather than belief-formation processes, saying that a belief is justified if it is a reliable indicator of the fact it presents. This means that the belief tracks the fact: the person believes it because it is a fact but would not believe it otherwise. Virtue epistemology is another type of externalism and

10336-420: Is sometimes understood as a form of reliabilism. It says that a belief is justified if it manifests intellectual virtues. Intellectual virtues are capacities or traits that perform cognitive functions and help people form true beliefs. Suggested examples include faculties like vision, memory, and introspection. In the epistemology of perception, direct and indirect realists disagree about the connection between

10472-405: Is synthetically true because its truth depends on the color of snow in addition to the meanings of the words snow and white . A priori knowledge is primarily associated with analytic sentences while a posteriori knowledge is primarily associated with synthetic sentences. However, it is controversial whether this is true for all cases. Some philosophers, such as Willard Van Orman Quine , reject

10608-462: Is taken by radical skeptics , who argue that there is no knowledge at all. Epistemologists distinguish between different types of knowledge. Their primary interest is in knowledge of facts, called propositional knowledge . It is a theoretical knowledge that can be expressed in declarative sentences using a that-clause, like "Ravi knows that kangaroos hop". For this reason, it is also called knowledge-that . Epistemologists often understand it as

10744-503: Is that age and life satisfaction have a "U-shape," with life satisfaction declining towards middle age, and then rising as people get older. Other scholars have found that there is no general age trend in life satisfaction, arguing that Blanchflower and Oswald's work is misguided for including inappropriate control variables (which cannot affect how old someone is). The psychologists Yuval Palgi and Dov Shmotkin (2009) studied people who were primarily in their nineties. This subject group

10880-416: Is the dream argument . It starts from the observation that, while people are dreaming, they are usually unaware of this. This inability to distinguish between dream and regular experience is used to argue that there is no certain knowledge since a person can never be sure that they are not dreaming. Some critics assert that global skepticism is a self-refuting idea because denying the existence of knowledge

11016-414: Is the case if the beliefs are consistent and support each other. According to coherentism, justification is a holistic aspect determined by the whole system of beliefs, which resembles an interconnected web. The view of foundherentism is an intermediary position combining elements of both foundationalism and coherentism. It accepts the distinction between basic and non-basic beliefs while asserting that

11152-405: Is the question of whether knowledge is more valuable than a mere opinion that is true. Knowledge and true opinion often have a similar usefulness since both are accurate representations of reality. For example, if a person wants to go to Larissa , a true opinion about how to get there may help them in the same way as knowledge does. Plato already considered this problem and suggested that knowledge

11288-476: Is the term for how people attempt to influence - increasing, decreasing, maintaining, or changing - how, when, and where they experience emotion. Through changing how they think about a target of amusement, like a humorous video clip, people are able to increase and decrease how much amusement they feel, express in smiles and laughs, and experience in their bodies (e.g. increased heart rate and respiration). Choosing to increase or prolong experiences of positive emotion

11424-427: Is wet. According to foundationalism, basic beliefs are the foundation on which all other knowledge is built while non-basic beliefs constitute the superstructure resting on this foundation. Coherentists reject the distinction between basic and non-basic beliefs, saying that the justification of any belief depends on other beliefs. They assert that a belief must be in tune with other beliefs to amount to knowledge. This

11560-407: Is what distinguishes justified beliefs from superstition and lucky guesses. However, justification does not guarantee truth. For example, if a person has strong but misleading evidence, they may form a justified belief that is false. Epistemologists often identify justification as one component of knowledge. Usually, they are not only interested in whether a person has a sufficient reason to hold

11696-601: Is white or that God exists . In epistemology, they are often understood as subjective attitudes that affirm or deny a proposition , which can be expressed in a declarative sentence . For instance, to believe that snow is white is to affirm the proposition "snow is white". According to this view, beliefs are representations of what the world is like. They are kept in memory and can be retrieved when actively thinking about reality or when deciding how to act. A different view understands beliefs as behavioral patterns or dispositions to act rather than as representational items stored in

11832-543: The knowledge base of an expert system . Knowledge contrasts with ignorance , which is often simply defined as the absence of knowledge. Knowledge is usually accompanied by ignorance since people rarely have complete knowledge of a field, forcing them to rely on incomplete or uncertain information when making decisions. Even though many forms of ignorance can be mitigated through education and research, there are certain limits to human understanding that are responsible for inevitable ignorance. Some limitations are inherent in

11968-436: The suspension of belief to achieve a state of tranquility . Overall, not many epistemologists have explicitly defended global skepticism. The influence of this position derives mainly from attempts by other philosophers to show that their theory overcomes the challenge of skepticism. For example, René Descartes used methodological doubt to find facts that cannot be doubted. One consideration in favor of global skepticism

12104-539: The Emotions in Man and Animals , in which he extensively describes his observations of how people and animals display emotions on their faces and through sound. Darwin comments on amusement as an emotion of great joy during which a person is likely to laugh. He also notes that across all peoples humans can laugh until they are panting and tears roll down their cheeks. In the 1960s, Paul Ekman , an American psychologist, revived

12240-548: The ability of family members to jointly realize their family-related values in behavior. It is important to examine family life satisfaction from all members of the family from a "perceived" perspective and an "ideal" perspective. Greater life satisfaction within a family increases through communication and understanding each members' attitudes and perceptions. The family can make a significant contribution to an individual's life satisfaction. In an article by Carolyn S. Henry, adolescent life satisfaction has very different origins from

12376-591: The amount of money we make. Saving money and using it on valuable experiences has been found to be better than spending on material items. Daniel Kahneman has said that “life satisfaction is connected to a large degree to social yardsticks–achieving goals, meeting expectations.” Building on this view, Paul Dolan suggests that social yardsticks are an integral part of ‘social narratives’, defined as ‘meta-social preferences’, where people in general consciously or unconsciously thrive to fulfill. A classic example of social narrative would be: “getting married and having kids

12512-419: The belief following it and is supported by the belief preceding it. The disagreement between internalism and externalism is about the sources of justification. Internalists say that justification depends only on factors within the individual. Examples of such factors include perceptual experience, memories, and the possession of other beliefs. This view emphasizes the importance of the cognitive perspective of

12648-430: The belief in the right way. Another theory states that the belief is the product of a reliable belief formation process. Further approaches require that the person would not have the belief if it was false, that the belief is not inferred from a falsehood, that the justification cannot be undermined , or that the belief is infallible. There is no consensus on which of the proposed modifications and reconceptualizations

12784-681: The book Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment , Harvard lecturer Tal Ben-Shahar argues that happiness should be one's ultimate goal and the primary factor in evaluating alternative choices. As the subtitle implies, Happier recommends the pursuit of an immediate joyful experience in ways that contributes to more long-term, meaningful satisfaction. Ben-Shahar further argues that pursuing genuine self-motivated goals, rather than just instant pleasure or selflessness in service of long-delayed enjoyment, results in an optimal combination of short- and long-term happiness. Experiences are

12920-522: The circumstances under which they observed the cup. Evidentialism is an influential internalist view. It says that justification depends on the possession of evidence . In this context, evidence for a belief is any information in the individual's mind that supports the belief. For example, the perceptual experience of rain is evidence for the belief that it is raining. Evidentialists have suggested various other forms of evidence, including memories, intuitions, and other beliefs. According to evidentialism,

13056-440: The city) and 'specific' memories (e.g., the day I got married). For each cue word, participants were asked to share a memory evoked by that word. The memory had to be of an event that should have occurred only once, at a particular time and place, and lasted no longer than a day. If the person could not recall a memory within 30 seconds, then that cue instance was not counted. Two psychologists served as raters and independently scored

13192-601: The correlation between life satisfaction and the prevalence of positive effects is higher in individualistic cultures, whereas in collectivistic cultures affect and adhering to norms are equally important for life satisfaction. Most modern western societies, such as the US and European countries, tend towards individualism , while eastern societies like China and Japan, are directed towards collectivism . Collectivistic cultures emphasize family and social unity. They put others' needs before their individual desires. An individualistic culture

13328-715: The cycle continues. If these materialistic individuals do not have enough money to satisfy their cravings for more items, they become more dissatisfied. This has been referred to as a hedonic treadmill . Individuals reporting a high value on traditions and religion reported a higher level of life satisfaction. This is also true for reported routine churchgoers and people who pray frequently. Other individuals that reported higher levels of life satisfaction were people who valued creativity and people who valued respect for and from others – two more qualities seemingly not related to material goods. Because hard times come around and people often count on their peers and family to help them through, it

13464-400: The differences observed. Primarily within the winter months of the year, an onset of depression can affect one, called seasonal affective disorder (SAD). It is recurrent, beginning in the fall or winter months and remitting in the spring or summer. It is said that those who experience this disorder usually have a history of major depressive or bipolar disorder, which may be hereditary, having

13600-405: The distinction, saying that there are no analytic truths. The analysis of knowledge is the attempt to identify the essential components or conditions of all and only propositional knowledge states. According to the so-called traditional analysis , knowledge has three components: it is a belief that is justified and true. In the second half of the 20th century, this view was put into doubt by

13736-505: The exact purpose of amusement, though theories have been advanced in the fields of psychology , psychiatry , and sociology . In addition, the precise mechanism that causes a given element ( image , sound , behavior , etc.) to be perceived as more or less 'amusing' than another similar element to a particular individual is not clearly understood. Two different theoretical perspectives about emotion provide contrasting origins of amusement: The evolutionary perspective proposes that amusement

13872-413: The experience after the decision is made); 4) Impact bias (the tendency for people to overestimate the length or the intensity of future feeling states). Lying at the core of mistaken belief is our sense of volition (i.e. having freewill), acting on mechanisms such as fundamental attributional bias (where we judge others' motive as external will ourselves as internal), confirmation bias (which in itself

14008-411: The form of knowledge-how and knowledge by acquaintance . Knowledge-how is a practical ability or skill, like knowing how to read or how to prepare lasagna . It is usually tied to a specific goal and not mastered in the abstract without concrete practice. To know something by acquaintance means to be familiar with it as a result of experiental contact. Examples are knowing the city of Perth , knowing

14144-427: The human cognitive faculties themselves, such as the inability to know facts too complex for the human mind to conceive. Others depend on external circumstances when no access to the relevant information exists. Epistemologists disagree on how much people know, for example, whether fallible beliefs about everyday affairs can amount to knowledge or whether absolute certainty is required. The most stringent position

14280-472: The importance that attention plays in determining our emotional state. It is suggested that inputs' impact on output, such as life satisfaction, is mediated by the amount of attention being allocated upon input. Happiness is felt on things that we pay attention to, yet it is claimed that “nothing in life is as important as you think it is when you are thinking about it”, which is referred to as focusing illusion . For example, research had found that income has

14416-422: The important things in life more. On the other hand, a study finds that adolescents have a lower level of life satisfaction than their older counterparts. This could be because many decisions are imminent, and an adolescent could be facing them for the first time in their life. Although many adolescents have insecurities about many aspects of their lives, satisfaction with friends stayed at a consistent level. This

14552-417: The individual in the form of their mental states. It is commonly associated with the idea that the relevant factors are accessible, meaning that the individual can become aware of their reasons for holding a justified belief through introspection and reflection. Externalism rejects this view, saying that at least some relevant factors are external to the individual. This means that the cognitive perspective of

14688-405: The individual is less central while other factors, specifically the relation to truth, become more important. For instance, when considering the belief that a cup of coffee stands on the table, externalists are not only interested in the perceptual experience that led to this belief but also consider the quality of the person's eyesight, their ability to differentiate coffee from other beverages, and

14824-519: The individual's values—associated with better physical health, higher performance, and stronger social relationships. How satisfied you are with your life is important for your well-being. For some, it is family, for others, it is love, and for others, it may be money or other material items; either way, it varies from one person to another. Economic materialism can be considered a value. Previous research found that materialistic individuals were predominantly male and that materialistic people also reported

14960-405: The justification of non-basic beliefs depends on coherence with other beliefs. Infinitism presents another approach to the structure of knowledge. It agrees with coherentism that there are no basic beliefs while rejecting the view that beliefs can support each other in a circular manner . Instead, it argues that beliefs form infinite justification chains, in which each link of the chain supports

15096-431: The life satisfaction of adults. An adolescent's life satisfaction is heavily influenced by their family's dynamics and characteristics. Family bonding, family flexibility, and parental support are all huge factors in the adolescent's life satisfaction. The more bonding, flexibility, and support there is within a family the higher the adolescent's life satisfaction. Results of this study also revealed that adolescents living in

15232-440: The main topic in epistemology, some theorists focus on understanding rather than knowledge. Understanding is a more holistic notion that involves a wider grasp of a subject. To understand something, a person requires awareness of how different things are connected and why they are the way they are. For example, knowledge of isolated facts memorized from a textbook does not amount to understanding. According to one view, understanding

15368-457: The mind possesses inborn ideas which it can access without the help of the senses. Others hold that there is an additional cognitive faculty, sometimes called rational intuition , through which people acquire nonempirical knowledge. Some rationalists limit their discussion to the origin of concepts, saying that the mind relies on inborn categories to understand the world and organize experience. Foundationalists and coherentists disagree about

15504-409: The mind. This view says that to believe that there is mineral water in the fridge is nothing more than a group of dispositions related to mineral water and the fridge. Examples are the dispositions to answer questions about the presence of mineral water affirmatively and to go to the fridge when thirsty. Some theorists deny the existence of beliefs, saying that this concept borrowed from folk psychology

15640-417: The need to keep an open and inquisitive mind since doubt can never be fully excluded, even for well-established knowledge claims like thoroughly tested scientific theories. Epistemic relativism is a related view. It does not question the existence of knowledge in general but rejects the idea that there are universal epistemic standards or absolute principles that apply equally to everyone. This means that what

15776-426: The onset of SAD typically occurs between the ages of 20 and 30 years, but most affected people do not seek medical help. This could be due to the stigma of mental health issues. Many are afraid to state they are suffering and would rather hide it. This suggests that more education and acceptance might be needed to solve these issues. It is proposed that overall life satisfaction comes from within an individual based on

15912-407: The overall assessment of feelings and attitudes about one's life at a particular point in time, ranging from negative to positive evaluations. It encompasses various dimensions of well-being, including emotional, psychological, and social aspects. Life satisfaction is influenced by factors such as personal values, cultural background, economic conditions, and social relationships. Life satisfaction

16048-453: The perceiver and the perceived object. Direct realists say that this connection is direct, meaning that there is no difference between the object present in perceptual experience and the physical object causing this experience. According to indirect realism, the connection is indirect since there are mental entities, like ideas or sense data, that mediate between the perceiver and the external world. The contrast between direct and indirect realism

16184-418: The profound impact that global health crises can have on individuals' mental well-being and overall life satisfaction, particularly in high-stress work environments like hotels. A recent study analyzes time-dependent rhythms in happiness, comparing life satisfaction by weekdays (weekend neurosis), days of the month (negative effects towards the end of the month), and year with gender and education and outlining

16320-647: The pursuit of knowledge as an ongoing process guided by common sense and experience while always open to revision. Life satisfaction Life satisfaction is an evaluation of a person's quality of life . It is assessed in terms of mood, relationship satisfaction, achieved goals, self-concepts , and self-perceived ability to cope with their life. Life satisfaction involves a favorable attitude towards one's life—rather than an assessment of current feelings. Life satisfaction has been measured in relation to economic standing, degree of education , experiences, residence, and other factors. Life satisfaction refers to

16456-519: The relative balance of positive affect versus negative affect in daily life. Culture directs the attention to different sources of information for making life satisfaction judgments, thus affecting subjective well-being appraisal. Individualistic cultures direct attention to inner states and feelings (such as positive or negative effects), while in collectivistic cultures the attention is directed to outer sources (i.e., adhering to social norms or fulfilling one's duties). Indeed, Suh et al. (1998) found that

16592-514: The responses of each participant. Each memory was tagged either as 'specific'— if the recalled event lasted no more than one day—or, otherwise, as 'general'. The raters were not informed regarding the hypotheses of the study, the experimental (control) group's membership, nor the content of the pretest or post-test. The results of this study showed that with an increased specificity of memories, individuals showed decreased depression and hopelessness, as well as increased life satisfaction. A common view

16728-595: The same culture, as well as between groups in different countries with differing views on arranged marriages. Some research has suggested that those who gain higher levels of education also experience higher levels of life satisfaction. This could be because those who graduate from college and have higher education levels report working in fields and positions that are more meaningful, engaging, and secure than their lesser educated counterparts. Consequently, those who are employed in more secure and meaningful jobs are more likely to report achieving success. A satisfying career

16864-644: The sense data it receives from the sensory organs. According to them, the mind can arrive at various additional insights by comparing impressions, combining them, generalizing to arrive at more abstract ideas, and deducing new conclusions from them. Empiricists say that all these mental operations depend on material from the senses and do not function on their own. Even though rationalists usually accept sense experience as one source of knowledge, they also say that important forms of knowledge come directly from reason without sense experience, like knowledge of mathematical and logical truths. According to some rationalists,

17000-411: The standards or epistemic goals of knowledge and which ones fail, thereby providing an evaluation of beliefs. Descriptive fields of inquiry, like psychology and cognitive sociology , are also interested in beliefs and related cognitive processes. Unlike epistemology, they study the beliefs people have and how people acquire them instead of examining the evaluative norms of these processes. Epistemology

17136-407: The structure of knowledge. Foundationalism distinguishes between basic and non-basic beliefs. A belief is basic if it is justified directly, meaning that its validity does not depend on the support of other beliefs. A belief is non-basic if it is justified by another belief. For example, the belief that it rained last night is a non-basic belief if it is inferred from the observation that the street

17272-477: The study of emotional expression, proposing, like Darwin, that emotions were universally recognizable. His early work focused on six basic emotions: happiness , anger , sadness , fear , disgust , and surprise . By the 1990s, Ekman had expanded this list to include several additional emotions, one of which was amusement. Displays of amusement have been distinguished from related emotions like embarrassment and shame. More recent studies have confirmed that laughter

17408-421: The taste of tsampa , and knowing Marta Vieira da Silva personally. Another influential distinction is between a posteriori and a priori knowledge. A posteriori knowledge is knowledge of empirical facts based on sensory experience, like seeing that the sun is shining and smelling that a piece of meat has gone bad. Knowledge belonging to the empirical science and knowledge of everyday affairs belongs to

17544-409: The truth. More specifically, this and similar counterexamples involve some form of epistemic luck, that is, a cognitive success that results from fortuitous circumstances rather than competence. Following these thought experiments , philosophers proposed various alternative definitions of knowledge by modifying or expanding the traditional analysis. According to one view, the known fact has to cause

17680-400: The validity or truth of a proposition. Certainty, by contrast, is a strong affirmative conviction, meaning that the person is free of doubt that the proposition is true. In epistemology, doubt and certainty play central roles in attempts to find a secure foundation of all knowledge and in skeptical projects aiming to establish that no belief is immune to doubt. While propositional knowledge is

17816-405: The world. While this core sense is of particular interest to epistemologists, the term also has other meanings. Understood on a social level, knowledge is a characteristic of a group of people that share ideas, understanding, or culture in general. The term can also refer to information stored in documents, such as "knowledge housed in the library" or knowledge stored in computers in the form of

17952-430: The “Remembering self” to make most of the happiness decision, by recognizing and accepting social narrative traps relevant to self, we are better able to regulate our attention, thereby improving satisfaction at “Experiencing self” as well. Three major narrative traps are identified: 1) reaching (more happiness is achieved with greater income, a marker of success and intellectual validation), 2) related (people ought to have

18088-434: Was a central topic in the medieval period . The modern era was characterized by the contrasting perspectives of empiricism and rationalism. Epistemologists in the 20th century examined the components, structure, and value of knowledge while integrating insights from the natural sciences and linguistics . Epistemology is the philosophical study of knowledge . Also called theory of knowledge , it examines what knowledge

18224-490: Was found to have thought highly of their past and present. But generally, the group thought less of their future. These people were very satisfied with their lives up until the point they were surveyed but knew that the end was near (and so were not quite as hopeful for the future). Intelligence is also a factor because life satisfaction grows as people get older; as they grow older, they become wiser and more knowledgeable, so they begin to see that life will be better and understand

18360-454: Was only coined in the 19th century to label this field and conceive it as a distinct branch of philosophy. Knowledge is an awareness, familiarity, understanding, or skill. Its various forms all involve a cognitive success through which a person establishes epistemic contact with reality. Knowledge is typically understood as an aspect of individuals, generally as a cognitive mental state that helps them understand, interpret, and interact with

18496-582: Was the strongest predictor of life satisfaction, followed by high extraversion and conscientiousness. Other key factors include openness to experiences and socialization. Socially engaged people tend to be more satisfied with life. Apart from the Five Factor model, a person's chronotype correlates with life satisfaction; morning-oriented people ("larks") showed higher life satisfaction than evening-oriented individuals ("owls"). An individual's genes affect their life satisfaction, so life satisfaction

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