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Emily Brickus
Professor Beadle
English 115
Have you ever pondered the question of what creates genuine happiness in a person?
Everyone has had different experiences thus far in life, which undoubtedly leads to very different
personality types and different outlooks on life. Questioning what constitutes the happiness of
each individual person is a very convoluted idea. With so much contradicting research out there,
it can be extremely difficult to determine what it really comes down to. Perhaps there are several
truths, maybe there doesn’t need to be just one. The argument of nature vs nurture is a popular
one amongst theorists but what many fail to consider is that perhaps it’s both. The articles of
Graham Hill, David Brooks and Sonja Lyubomirsky all have solid arguments that answer these
questions, however Lyubomirsky’s article “How Happy Are You and Why?” most effectively
Though the article “Living with Less. A Lot Less” by Graham Hill establishes ethos
through research done at UCLA, he fails at thoroughly forming a sense of logos and pathos
through his personal experience. His logic is far past invalid because not everyone is the same as
him. Having less material items surrounding him might in fact make him happy, but that’s not
the case for everyone. His statement “It took 15 years, a great love and a lot of travel to get rid of
all the inessential things I had collected and live a bigger, better, richer life with less” is simply
not applicable to everyone (Hill 309). This strategy in seeking happiness may have worked for
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him but it is bold of him to assume that this will work for everyone. He claims that he
experienced pain even though he was surrounded by material objects but that’s clearly inevitable,
that’s to be expected. The logic and emotion severely lacks here. This doesn’t make the reader
want to apply what he’s saying to their own life because it’s a pretty unrealistic thing to ask.
Now, that’s not to say that someone couldn't be happier with less, but his argument lacks a sense
of logos in claiming that getting rid of what isn’t absolutely necessary will make Everyone
happy. This is a very specific and difficult thing to expect from a great amount of people and it’s
definitely not something that just anyone can do. Happiness is different for everyone and the
cause of an individual's happiness isn’t the same as anyone else's. As shallow as it may seem to
one person, another person’s happiness could easily be found in material things. Some might
argue that this isn’t genuine happiness, but who’s to say what genuine happiness really is? It’s
On the other side of it, Brooks has the opposite problem. He does an excellent job of
establishing logos and pathos, but fails to incorporate a good sense of ethos in his article “What
Suffering Does.” The recurring conversations he has with people supports his claim that the goal
in life for most people is to be happy, which he explains in a way that makes sense and provides
his argument with a strong sense of Logos. He uses devastating life examples to appeal to the
reader’s emotions such as the loss of a child which is an excellent usage of pathos. This was a
good strategy in making his point relatable to the reader however and putting things in
perspective emotionally and logistically. However, he doesn’t provide any statistics or data, he
doesn’t use a single outside source. When he makes the claim that “many people don’t come out
healed” when referring to instances of suffering, he doesn’t really back this up (Brooks 287). To
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create a better sense of ethos, he should have addressed the counterargument that sometimes
people do come out of suffering healed and that it’s not always the end of the world. Some might
claim that his degree in history, as well as his experience in journalism adds to his credibility, but
that’s very debatable. Looking at his background information it reads that he “has written a
regular opinion column” which ironically enough ruins his credibility because he doesn’t even
write about actual facts in his daily life, it’s all just his own opinions. It’s easy to make the claim
that a common goal for people in life is to be happy, which is why there are so many books about
it sold, but that doesn’t even support his attempted claim. His claim is that pain is necessary for
personal growth, which logistically makes sense however that’s completely irrelevant to the
desire of happiness. Furthermore, since his job is to write about his own opinions, it leaves his
argument questionable and takes away every sense of ethos from his examples. Ultimately he is
making an empty claim that many people could potentially resonate with, but that doesn’t change
Finally, there’s Lyubomirsky who most efficiently uses ethos, pathos and logos in her
article “How Happy Are You and Why?”. For starters, she is a professor of psychology at the
University of California, Riverside which already provides her claims with a sense of ethos.Her
usage of analytics and data shown in graphs supports her idea of where happiness actually comes
from. She includes a pie chart which classifies intentional activity as 40%, circumstances as 10%
and “happiness set point” which is a person’s natural happiness as 50%. Including these
percentages adds to her sense of ethos by providing the reader with specific numbers of what she
theorizes makes up a person’s amount of happiness. She effectively uses the tragic stories of
other people to appeal to the reader’s emotions and make it understood that happiness hardly has
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anything to do with their circumstances. She explains how some of the most happy people
actually come from the least ideal situations. This leads us to believe that a large portion of
happiness is genetic since it’s clearly not all circumstantial. She introduces this idea of a
“happiness set point” which takes into account these outside factors. She concludes with hope for
the reader and gives a sense of logos by claiming that “happiness can be found in how you
behave” which shows that changing certain behaviors can lead to a happier life (Lyubomirsky
196). Meaning that people can create their own happiness through their decisions which is a very
logical claim that resonates with a lot of people. Simple things such as yoga and self reflection
can really impact the mind in a healthy way and create a mindset that allows for genuine
happiness to grow. This article puts emphasis on how as individuals, different things make
different people happy. Along with this, people have the ability to change what some would
believe is their destiny. The human brain is so susceptible to change that it only makes sense for
it to be influenced by more than a singular occurrence. Everyone has the ability to rewire their
brain and basically trick themselves into being happy. Blaming everything simply on genetics or
their outlook on life. Lyubomirsky provides a sense of pathos by giving the reader hope in saying
that even though some situations are uncontrollable, how one reacts and allows a situation to
To conclude, there are a lot of factors to take into account when evaluating a person’s
happiness. There couldn’t possibly be a singular thing that defines such a huge aspect of who a
person is. Clearly not everyone's the same, so each person should be looked at individually when
evaluating such a wide spectrum of an emotion. Happiness and the way that it’s defined can only
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be done so on a case to case basis. The best article to read in determining what happiness really
comes down to is the one by Lyubomirsky. She understands these concepts and reassures the
reader that even though happiness is greatly made up by genetics, it’s not everything. Everyone
has the ability to increase their happiness through conscious decisions and should try their best to
do so.
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Works Cited
Brooks, David. “What Suffering Does.” Pursuing Happiness, edited by Matthew Parfitt and
Hill, Graham. “Living with Less. A Lot Less.” Pursuing Happiness, edited by Matthew Parfitt
Lyubomirsky, Sonja. “How Happy Are You and Why?” Pursuing Happiness, edited by Matthew