I was drawn to this article in the Times for a number of reasons. It details a study carried out by Harvard psychologists about happiness; it seems like perfect timing since we're just about to study emotion. And what struck me as super interesting is how they conducted the survey: the psychologists polled people about how happy they were feeling at random times via the iPhone. Groundbreaking cross-sectional psychological survey? Yeah, apparently there's an app for that.
From the results of the study, the people that reported the lowest levels of happiness were consistently those who were daydreaming. Surprised? Why do you think daydreaming connects to reported unhappiness?
There's no use in denying that our minds tend to travel elsewhere when we're sitting in the same desks day after day...we all daydream at least some of the time. So consider where your mind goes: what do you typically think about when you wander off? Is daydreaming a pleasant escape, or does your mind rivet to the things you have to do and what you're stressed about? Do you see a personal correlation between what you daydream about and how it can affect your mood? Ultimately, do you think your mood is negatively impacted when your mind wanders?
Just a few other questions to consider -- what are your thoughts on using the digital iPhone app as a research method? Will technology alter our tried-and-true scientific methods in the future, like (just throwing this random idea out there) case studies via webcam? Do you think it's a reliable method if the subjects aren't picked & polled by the researchers...but is it any less reliable than other surveys? What other factors may have wrestled with the reliability of this survey?
First, I thought that maybe using the IPhone app as a research method can be flawed to an extent. Even though the researchers are polling people at random, how do we know whether people being polled are responding at that exact moment they received the questions or if they waiting till after they were done with the activity? That could tend to lead to skewed results.
ReplyDeleteTechnology can tend to alter our methods in the future like using webcams, etc. People could get so distracted from the technology that they aren’t focusing so much on the actual research questions/ actions. Something that could wrestle with the reliability of this survey is that how do we know the actual owner of the phone is answering…could it be a friend, family member, acquaintance? If the subjects aren’t picked and polled by researchers then how are researchers supposed to get and collect data.
The app on the Iphone is showing us how technology is such a key part of our life and almost becoming a necessity. What is the world coming too? I feel that people who are daydreaming have low levels of happiness because they are usually in an environment like a certain class they don’t like or at an extracurricular activity they dislike and because of that they would rather not focus on whatever the teacher/ coach, etc. is doing. Daydreaming is like an outlet for people to “venture off to” when they want to avoid what’s in front of them.
When I daydream, because yes I know we have all daydreamed in school before or really anywhere, I tend to think my daydreaming is affected by where I am, the weather, the people I am around. For instance, if I am sitting in a class and it’s a bright sunny day outside, I would tend to daydream about being at a beach and wanting to be outside rather than in school or another example is if it’s a really gloomy, raining (thunder and lightning) kind of day and everything is just going wrong, I may or you may day dream about the worse things happening to you, your house, etc. I think what I day dream about all depends on my mood, how my day starts, how things are in school like if I have a lot of tests then it may go either way like day dreaming about how many things I have to do or daydream about how relieved I will be once I do/ study/ take everything. I think, for me, it all depends.
One thing that really struck me in this article was that even if you are doing something enjoyable that does not mean that you day dreams will be pleasant. I found that so strange! I really thought that the more enjoyable the activity the more pleasant the day dream would be. Also I was surprised that people who day dream report to be more unhappy than those who stay on task. I always considered day dreaming, as thinking about something good you have planned. But, then I read Mariel’s comment and she made a good point. She said you are more likely to day dream when you are doing an unexciting activity, like sitting in a boring class or something. She said it is an outlet where you can free your mind from the boring class or dull conversation.
ReplyDeletePersonally when I day dream I always think of happy things. But when I am in a bad mood my day dreams are definitely affected. I do think that my day dreaming is affected by the weather too. Because in the beginning of the week when the weather was really bad I was planning on going for a run outside and then I saw how gross it was, and that changed the day dream I head in my head for my run.
As for the app on the Iphone, I think that is crazy! What has it come to that we are now doing studies on our telephones? I do not think that these studies are reliable because the subjects are not picked by the researchers and we do not know if the poll was completed after the activity or if it was completed right away. This could definitely lead to altered results. Making me think that the Iphones are such a good tool to conduct studies on.
There are so many different things to address in this article! Firstly, I am actually not at all surprised that those with the lowest levels of happiness were those who daydreamed more often. When we learned about sleep, we also learned that 8 in 10 dreams involve negative content. I don’t really daydream much, so I’m no expert on the topic; however, if the content of daydreams are in any way similar to the content of dreams we have during REM sleep, it would make sense that the negative daydream could affect mood. For example, if, like REM dreams, we daydream about repeated failures, rejections, experiences of misfortune, etc. it is likely that those unhappy occurrences will in turn make us unhappy individuals. On rare occasions that my mind does wander off into space, I tend to think about all the tasks that I need to complete, such as studying, homework, or going to the gym. When I daydream, the only thing that I accomplish form it is stressing myself out. (Maybe that’s why I try to avoid doing it.) If I’m anything like the rest of the population, it is true that daydreaming really does worsen a mood. Over-thinking something rarely produces positive results.
ReplyDeleteAlthough many things would have to be done to ensure that the experiment or survey is valid, standardized, and reliable, I think using the iPhone app as a research method is a great idea. If new advances in technology can help researchers to conduct experiments and better understand the correlation between two things, why not take advantage of our handy dandy little toys? Polls have been conducted via the internet for quite some time now, so the fact that we are advancing to things such as cell phones really comes as no surprise. As long as the results will not be skewed or inaccurate by using these new methods of research, I think it could really be beneficial.
I was actually really surprised reading this article. I have my moments when I indulge in daydreams of overly optimistic things--something really fantastic happens to me or I see someone I wasn't expecting to see--and it's like a TV show happening in my head. But I also have the "What do I have to do after this....and then after that...and then after that..." daydreams too. I guess I can see how either type of daydream can contribute to a person reporting feelings of unhappiness or a lack of satisfaction with their actual activities or lives. Dreaming about crazy good things can re-affirm that these things aren't actually happening in real life, and obviously drifting off to thoughts of all the problems you need to remedy or deal with re-affirms that these problems do exist for you in real life. But I still find it depressing that most daydreams are correlated to negative or unhappy feelings, because in my own life and my own experiences, I don't always see it like that.
ReplyDeleteI think it's crazy that an iPod app can be used in this way to facilitate psychological research. The benefit is that it is able to take random samples at random intervals. But I am wary for a few reasons. For one thing, how random can the sample really be if it's picking from the population of the world that can actually afford or has access to this technology. This is cutting out huge chunks of impoverished regions or less-technically-advanced people. For another thing, there is no way to guarantee accuracy. Some participants may not take this research seriously and could potentially make up false answers and skew the results dramatically.
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ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article, I was not very surprised by the findings that daydreaming connects to reported unhappiness. While sometimes we daydream about happy thoughts, when you really think about it, most of the thoughts that our minds wander to are negative emotions. I know for me personally, when something is really bothering me or I am stressed about something, I can never completely focus on a separate task that is at hand. For example, if I am extremely stressed about a fight I just had with my parents, being able to focus all day in school is very difficult. This is because our mind wanders to worrying about this fight which results in an inability to retain what a teacher is teaching about. This is probably why the results of this experiment were such. Sometimes, however, people can daydream about happy things, especially when they are excited about something to happen. This could put a different spin on the results.
ReplyDeleteI was shocked that this experiment was done over an iPod app. It is really crazy what this world is coming to when dealing with technology. This could be a positive use because the sampling of people is so random and widespread which allows the results to be more realistic. The only thing with this is that not everyone has an iPhone so this use of technology is still leaving out certain people.
I think that it is crazy that they used an iPhone application to conduct this particular study! Even though this method is very modernized, the data is probably skewed. When you think of the type of people who have the iPhone, who do you think of? To me, most wealthy families have them. Therefore, I think it is safe to say that there is a cultural bias in this study. It clearly doesn't represent the poorer people who cannot afford the iPhone. Also, another thing that could go wrong with this application is that how do you know if what a person is reporting is really what happened? I know many iPhone applications can be used on an iTouch as well. When I first read this article, I was thinking about how there could be some mischievous young boys out there who are making this data up! How do the conductors of the study know this isn't happening?
ReplyDeleteIt didn't come to a shock to me that the lowest levels of happiness were those who daydreamed more often. People can day dream pretty much in two ways: daydreaming about something amazing they want or daydreaming about something negative that has happened to them. I feel that daydreaming like this causes disappointment which leads to unhappiness. When a person "wakes up" from their day dream and realize that amazing thing they were dreaming about hasn't happened to them yet, they will most likely become disappointed. When a person daydreams about something negative, such as a failure, they will be reminded of that horrific time which will cause them to become upset. People who daydream either want something better in their life than what they already have or are dwelling on the past. It would be absurd to say all daydreaming is bad, however, most day dreaming does not result in happiness, which was proved by this study.
I can definitely understand why the people who daydream report having the lowest levels of happiness. From personal experience I know that I am often prone to daydreaming during classes that seem to never end. Usually when I daydream it is about school, homework, tests, projects, and what I have to do. Lately my daydreams have been about prom, and these stress me out to the maximum. People who daydream can never be happy in the present moment. They are always wondering and thinking about the next thing, and never enjoying the moment. Sometimes daydreams can in fact be positive and happy, but these do not usually happen at IHA. When I consciously make an effort to think about the beach and summer, I found myself more relaxed and at ease, but these times are not often at IHA. The topic of my daydreams always affects my moods. When I daydream about pleasant things, I find myself happy and at ease. When I daydream about the things stressing me out, I find myself completely panicked and worrying. As far as using technology for research, this is definitely a time related concept. Years ago psychologists would have never imagined using such technology to conduct their research. It may not be reliable because usually when people are on their phones they are doing a million different things and talking to a variety of people.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the question about daydreaming and happiness—I have to say that I feel like daydreaming would promote happiness… Or at least that’s how I feel. Whenever my mind starts wandering it is usually good thought or something that makes me happy. I can understand that it could be connected with unhappiness, but I still think that it is predominantly happy thoughts. The reason it could lead people to being unhappy is because once they snap out of their daydream they will realize how miserable their life really is….
ReplyDeleteThose thoughts lead me into Gabby’s next question. When I daydream or wander off (whether it be at school or on a long car trip) I do not usually think about stressful things that need to get done. (Lately it has been stressful because I am always thinking about prom!) I do see a correlation on how daydreaming can impact my mood, because after I think/daydream about something happy I am usually in good spirits, but when I think about something that stresses me out, I begin to take it out on other people. One time I randomly freaked out on my brother because I became stressed.
Im really not sure how I feel about there being an iPhone app for research. It seems to me that people could become very impulsive if they have this app right at their fingertips. Once people become impulsive they do not think rationally, and I feel like this could have a pretty large impact on research. When scientists conduct studies they are looking for accurate research, and collecting it through an application on the iPhone does not seem like a great way to receive data. I also feel like this survey would not be accurate because only the youth would know how to work the iPhone/ the application for the research. I know for sure every grandparent would get too frustrated dealing with the IPhone and some of our parents would too. This would lead only a part of the population to respond to the research and then it would not be accurate.
I definitely find the fact that this study was conducted by iPhone to diminish its reliability. Like some of you have said, just considering the type of person who has an iPhone limits your participant pool to a group with a higher socioeconomic status than the average. It also limits the age group you're working with, as more young people use iPhones than do older people. Further, there is no way for researchers to ensure that participants were not diagnosed with any mood disorder that would affect their happiness and thus skew results. I do agree that in the future, technology's involvement in research will become a growing issue, as it can be helpful because of the accessibility it allows, but also somewhat unreliable.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the relationship between daydreaming and happiness, I could definitely see how worries cause stress and thus less happiness. Daydreaming doesn't always involve worrying, but it does often involve thinking about things we wish we had -- and then reminding ourselves that we don't actually have these things could surely cause unhappiness. I guess it does affect me in this way personally -- when I spend too much time thinking about what could be, what could have been, what I need to do, etc. I do start to get overwhelmed. Further, I think that excessive daydreaming correlates with not being able to effectively deal with one's own life, which relates to unhappiness. What I wonder, though, is about which is really the cause and which is the effect between daydreaming and unhappiness. Though the study asserts that daydreaming is the cause of unhappiness, I think it occurs the other way around as well. I would hypothesize that unhappy people are more likely to daydream because they don't like the way their lives are and are wishing for something different. This could lead people to be even more upset that their lives are not the way they picture; thus, daydreaming could then perpetuate a cycle of unhappiness.
I’m not sure how I feel about using an iPod app as a research method. On one hand, it can probably reach many people, and people from all over the country and the world, and results can be generated quickly. It is basically a step up from polls done on the internet, but I think it has it’s down sides as well. I think the results might be skewed, depending on what the study was about, because you are only including people who have an iPod or iPhone. This can exclude a poorer demographic, people who cannot afford an iPod/iPhone. Also if you were doing a study about technology, you will only be studying those people who use technology to make their lives easier and will not get the opinion of the people who think technology is “rotting our brains”, ruining communication skills, etc. It is also difficult to determine who is actually answering the questions (while not many people, in my experience, let their friends/family go onto their email and respond to messages,many people let their friends and family look at their cell phones,borrow their cell phones, and answer texts for them) and (because people carry their cell phones with them everywhere) if there is another person reading over your shoulder causing you to pick a more socially acceptable answer.
ReplyDeleteI can definitely see how daydreaming can cause unhappiness. People often daydream when they are bored or not really enjoying the activity at hand. Many people focus on all the things they have to accomplish today when their minds wander, which can make them stressed and therefore unhappy. I think people whose daydreams take them to happy places are still not as happy as people living in the moment because when these people were asked to respond to the survey they were brought out of their pleasant daydream and back to the reality they were trying to escape from.
I can definitely understand how daydreaming is related to unhappiness. How many times have we gone over a fight or confrontation in our heads, and think about all of the things we could have done differently/other possible outcomes? I feel like when we daydream it's usually because we're unhappy with something going on in our lives, and we try to make it right with different fantasies. But once you come out of the fantasy, you're back to real life and nothing has changed. This could be a possible catalyst for unhappiness.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I think daydreaming could be good or bad, depending on what exactly you're thinking about. It could be good if you're mulling over a big decision and are considering all of the different options. However, it could affect you negatively if you're thinking about unrealistic goals. I think the effect changes based on what exactly you're daydreaming about.
I think it's amazing that technology has advanced so much that you can conduct psychological research through an iPhone. However, I think there could be some problems with this. The problem with texting/only using the iPhone that you don't know tone or the person's body language. Using webcams could be a better option because you can hear their tone, but you could still miss little things in the person's body language because you're only looking at them from the shoulders up. I think the best research would be done in person rather than through technology.
As a professional daydreamer, I see where this article is coming from. Daydreams usually consist of far fetched scenarios, which, while fueling creativity, can set unreasonably high expectations. Let's face it, nothing in our minds will ever be outdone by real life experiences. we're idealists, we're dreamers. Of course our dreams will be fantastic in comparison to the imperfect reality we live in
ReplyDelete"the location of the body is much less important than the location of the mind, and that the former has surprisingly little influence on the latter. The heart goes where the head takes it, and neither cares much about the whereabouts of the feet."
I really liked this line. I love the emphasis on the power of the mind and the idea that no matter where we are or what condition we are in we can find ways to be happy. You don't have to be on a beach in the Caribbean to relax.
I think the focusing on activities makes up happier theory makes so much sense. What stresses humans out are the uncertainties of tomorrow, the complexity of existence and the certainty of death. Having idle hands typically leads to thinking about all these things. But by focusing on an enjoyable activity we escape the dangers of a wandering mind and we live life in the moment.
I'll have to be honest, I wasn't too surprised when this article said that daydreaming can be connected with higher levels of unhappiness. I think when we are unhappy or preoccupied with something, it's really hard to concentrate on one specific topic. I know, for example, when I'm in a class that seems never-ending, I start daydreaming about everything I have to do. As a teenager, especially a girl that goes to IHA, I think we're all pressured to be involved in a million clubs and other activities, which can definitely be stressful. Having all of those things, on top of college is a lot to worry about and prioritize, so daydreaming seems almost inevitable.
ReplyDeleteI feel like when busy weeks approach and there is so much piled on your plate, you are super stressed and your brain isn't sure what it should concentrate on; not to mention for how long. Like, maybe our capacity during these hectic weeks cannot accommodate hour and fifteen minute classes, but can only hold themselves for forty five minutes or so.
Of course, I think our personal motivation plays a lot into how often we daydream. If we are involved in something that really means a lot to us or taking a course that we are genuinely interested in, I think it is a lot easier to hold our focus because we have an inner drive to learn more or continue our participation (supporting the drive-reduction theory).
Firstly, I just getting the iPhone myself think it's a great evolution of the survey technique. I think that people of this generation will be more honest behind their phone, as our society has proven on many different occasions between cyber bullying and break ups and "Mean Girl" drama. I don't think web cams will really work for experiments and it isn't really necessary because actions don't change much. Words however are carefully premeditated.
ReplyDeleteRegarding daydreaming, I think it most definitely effects our emotions and personality for the day. Two situations: the first one is when you are sitting in class thinking about something exciting you are going to be doing later that day. This positively affects your mood because it is uplifting to your spirits. The second one is thinking about what you could be doing instead of what you actually are. This type of daydreaming is negative to a person's emotions because the longing for something better is depressing to anyone.
I found the idea of doing legitimate scientific research on an iPhone fascinating. I know that I use my phone for just about everything, and I rely on it for constant connectedness, however I am very hesitant to consider it a valid research tool. The internet is a realm of faceless freedom, which can be good and bad depending on how you look at it as well as the situation. However, I do not trust that the results of a poll would not be skewed. First of all, many people lie about their age especially on the internet, so it would be almost impossible to achieve an accurate label for your population. Also, the incentives for a certain study could contribute to/skew the results. I think that webcams could be extremely useful in behavioral studies, however, especially in studying young children who are unaware that they are being filmed. This would allow for a less intrusive and more natural measure of observation.
ReplyDeleteAs for daydreaming, I could have predicted the correlation between that and unhappiness. As many have mentioned, the first instance you think about for daydreaming is the bored student in class. While what you're daydreaming about may be filled with happy thoughts, daydreaming implies that your current situation isn't satisfying you enough to hold your attention to be conscious of your current state.