Keywords

happiness, cultural values

Abstract

Csikszentmihalyi (1999) has reminded us that social scientists cannot shrink from challenging the validity of our most cherished values, including the fundamental nature of happiness. He cites research affirming that material wealth does not correlate with happiness and then presents data correlating happiness with the experience of flow. However, in making this leap Csikszentmihalyi confuses correlation with causation. Because losing oneself in a project, relationship, or dream is followed by a very positive condition does not mean that the experience itself caused happiness. It is equally likely that losing one self is the causative factor. In looking at his data through the common Western values of individualism, rationalism, and the Protestant work ethic, Csikszentmihalyi may be overlooking the substance of happiness that has been frequently described in other cultures as the absence of the "self" via "being" in a state of intimate connectivity with others. From this perspective, the lack of relationship between materialism and happiness is explained without invoking the construct of flow: Any value that emphasizes the self obviates connectivity with others.