Happiness is... well, nobody's really sure

Explaining exactly what's going on in our brains when we experience joy remains frustratingly out of reach

- DR DEAN BURNETT

March once again saw the publication of the annual World Happiness Report. The latest international rankings put Finland at number one and several other Nordic countries in the top 10.

As always, there are those who question the validity and meaning of the data in this report, including lots of Finnish people. After all, these rankings are based on a single question asking people to evaluate the quality of their life on a 0-10 scale. It’s not the most rigorous research approach.

But, if it isn’t the right way to measure happiness, what is? This is a thornier issue than you might expect because, despite everyone recognising it and actively seeking it out, it’s hard to say, scientifically, what happiness actually is.

You might think it’s obvious: happiness is an emotion, right? Sure, but emotions are similarly hard to define, beyond invoking terms like ‘feelings’. Indeed, most dictionaries define happiness as “the feeling of being happy”. This has the bizarre quality of being correct while containing no useful information whatsoever.

Definitions of happy are slightly more varied. Most reference pleasure in some form. Few people would argue that happiness involves pleasure. It follows, then, that happiness is the emotion you feel when experiencing pleasure.