The Happiness Industry Read online

12Dana Liebelson, ‘Meet the Data Brokers Who Help Corporations Sell Your Digital Life’, Mother Jones, November/December 2013.

  13Adam Kramer, Jamie Guillory and Jeffrey Hancock, ‘Experimental Evidence of Massive-Scale Emotional Contagion Through Social Networks’, Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences 111: 24, 2014.

  14Robinson Meyer, ‘Everything We Know About Facebook’s Secret Mood Manipulation Experiment’, theatlantic.com, 28 June 2014.

  15Ernesto Ramirez, ‘How to Measure Mood Using Quantified Self Tools’, quantifiedself.com, 17 January 2013.

  16Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert, ‘A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind’, Science 330: 6006, 2010.

  17Mount Sinai Medical Center, ‘Neuroimaging May Offer New Way to Diagnose Bipolar Disorder’, sciencedaily.com, 5 June, 2013; Lucy McKeon, ‘The Neuroscience of Happiness’, salon.com, 28 January 2012.

  18Steve Lohr, ‘Huge New Development Project Becomes a Data Science Lab’, bits.blogs.nytimes.com, 14 April 2014.

  19Shiv Malik, ‘Jobseekers Made to Carry Out Bogus Psychometric Tests’, theguardian.com, 30 April 2013.

  20Randy Rieland, ‘Think You’re Doing a Good Job? Not If the Algorithms Say You’re Not’, smithsonianmag.com, 27 August, 2013.

  21Cass Sunstein, ‘Shopping Made Psychic’, nytimes.com, 20 August 2014.

  22Rian Boden, ‘Alfa-Bank Uses Activity Trackers to Offer Higher Interest Rates to Customers Who Exercise’, nfcworld.com, 30 May 2014.

  23‘Moscow Subway Station Lets Passengers Pay Fare in Squats’, forbes.com, 14 November 2013.

  8 Critical Animals

  1Lizzie Davies and Simon Rogers, ‘Wellbeing Index Points Way to Bliss: Live on a Remote Island, and Don’t Work’, theguardian.com, 24 July 2012.

  2Cari Nierenberg, ‘A Green Scene Sparks Our Creativity’, bodyodd.nbcnews.com, 28 March 2012.

  3In Spring 2011, the British Psychological Society published an open letter, authored by clinical psychologists, criticizing the DSM-V.

  4See Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, The Spirit Level.

  5One calculation produced by the British happiness economist Andrew Oswald suggests that an unemployed person would need benefits of £250,000 a year to compensate them for the negative psychological impact of unemployment.

  6Sally Dickerson and Margaret Kemeny, ‘Acute Stressors and Cortisol Responses: A Theoretical Integration and Synthesis of Laboratory Research’, Psychological Bulletin 130: 3, 2004; Robert Karasek and Tores Theorell, Healthy Work: Stress, Productivity, and the Reconstruction of Working Life, New York: Basic Books, 1992.

  7Ronald McQuaid et al., ‘Fit for Work: Health and Wellbeing of Employees in Employee Owned Businesses’, employeeownership.co.uk, 2012.

  8David Stuckler and Sanjay Basu, The Body Economic: Why Austerity Kills, New York: HarperCollins, 2013.

  9See the CIPD Absence Management Annual Survey, cipd.co.uk, 2013.

  10Tim Kasser and Aaron Ahuvia, ‘Materialistic Values and Well-Being in Business Students’, European Journal of Social Psychology 32: 1, 2002.

  11Miriam Tatzel, M. ‘“Money Worlds” and Well-Being: An Integration of Money Dispositions, Materialism and Price-Related Behavior’, Journal of Economic Psychology 23: 1, 2002.

  12Rik Pieters, ‘Bidirectional Dynamics of Materialism and Loneliness: Not Just a Vicious Cycle’, Journal of Consumer Research 40: 3, 2013.

  13Andrew Abela, ‘Marketing and Consumerism: A Response to O’Shaughnessy and O’Shaughnessy’, European Journal of Marketing, 40: 1/2, 2006, 5-16.

  14S. M. Amadae, Rationalizing Capitalist Democracy: The Cold War Origins of Rational Choice Liberalism, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.

  15Nafeez Ahmed, ‘Pentagon Preparing for Mass Civil Breakdown’, theguardian.com, 12 June 2014.

  16These fees were quoted to the author by the speaker bureaus’ of Ariely and Thaler.

  17On this point, see the work of the Wittgensteinian philosopher, Peter Hacker, including Max Bennett and Peter Hacker, Philosophical Foundations of Neuroscience, Hoboken: Wiley, 2003; and his unpublished paper, ‘The Relevance of Wittgenstein’s Philosophy of Psychology to the Psychological Sciences’.

  18‘Strikingly, neuroscience ascribes to the brain much the same range of properties that Cartesians ascribe to the mind.’ Bennett and Hacker, Philosophical Foundations of Neuroscience, 111.

  19Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, Oxford: Blackwell, 2001, book 1, para 384.

  20Rom Harré and Paul Secord, The Explanation of Social Behaviour, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1972.

  21John Cromby, ‘The Greatest Gift? Happiness, Governance and Psychology’, Social and Personality Psychology Compass 5: 11, 2011.

  22Richard Bentall, Doctoring the Mind: Why Psychiatric Treatments Fail, London: Allen Lane/Penguin, 2009, xvii.

  23Les Back, The Art of Listening, Oxford: Berg, 2007, 7.

  24Harré and Secord, The Explanation of Social Behaviour, 107.

  25See Horwitz and Wakefield, The Loss of Sadness; Mark Rapley, Joanna Moncrieff and Jacqui Dillon, eds. De-Medicalizing Misery: Psychiatry, Psychology and the Human Condition, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

  26Raymond Williams, The Long Revolution, Cardigan: Parthian Books, 2011, 358. I am grateful to Jeremy Gilbert for pointing this out to me.

  27Will Davies and Ruth Yeoman, ‘Becoming a Public Service Mutual: Understanding Transition and Change’, Oxford Centre for Mutual & Employee-owned Business, 2013; Will Davies, ‘Reinventing the Firm’, demos.co.uk, 2013.

  28Denis Campbell,’UK Needs Four-Day Week to Combat Stress, Says Top Doctor’, theguardian.com, 1 July 2014.

  29Philosophically, the assertion that rival measures or value spheres should remain isolated from each other is an argument associated with Michael Walzer, Spheres of Justice, New York: Basic Books, 1983.

  Index

  A4e, 110, 111, 112

  Abrams, Mark, 99, 101

  Accenture, 119

  Achor, Shawn, 114

  Activity Savings Account, 240

  Ad Slam contest, 275

  addiction, 204, 207

  Adorno, Theodor, 99

  advertising, 73, 85, 86, 93, 95–6, 100, 101, 102–3, 186, 188, 189, 215, 253, 256, 262, 275

  advertising-free spaces, 275

  affect scales/questionnaires, 241

  Affectiva, 72

  affective computing, 222, 237

  Affective Computing research centre (MIT), 221

  Airbnb, 188

  Aldridge, Beren, 246, 247, 248, 250

  Alfa-Bank, 240

  algorithms, 6, 204, 220, 221, 226, 237, 239, 261

  altruism, 131, 182, 191, 195, 211, 243

  American Psychiatric Association (APA), 167, 168, 169, 171, 172, 173, 174, 177, 178, 271

  American Psychological Association, 87

  amitriptyline, 164

  Anderson, Chris, 185

  Andrejevic, Mark, 260

  antidepressants, 143, 163, 164, 166, 175

  anti-psychiatry movement, 168

  Apple, 37, 135, 159

  apps, 3, 5, 26, 64, 135, 221, 228, 230, 232, 274

  Ariely, Dan, 238, 257

  Aristotle, 5, 20

  Ashton, John, 274

  Atos, 110, 112, 113

  attitudinal research, 100, 147

  Ayd, Frank, 164

  Back, Les, 269

  Bain, Alexander, 48

  Barclays Bank, 178

  Basu, Sanjay, 252

  Beating the Blues, 222

  Beck, Aaron, 165, 175

  Beck Depression Inventory, 165, 175

  Becker, Gary, 149, 151, 160

  behaviour, 31–2, 262. See also verbal behaviour

  behavioural activation courses, 111

  behavioural economics, 182–3, 184, 189, 210, 214, 219, 256, 257

  Behavioural Insights Unit (Britain), 88

  behavioural monitoring, 38

  behavioural psychology, 97, 234

  behaviourism, 87�
�92, 93, 96, 97, 100, 101, 102, 232, 233, 234, 236, 237, 255, 258, 259, 264, 266, 267, 268

  Beihang University, 196

  Beijing, advertising-free spaces, 275

  ‘On Being Sane in Insane Places’, 168

  Bentall, Richard, 268

  Bentham, Jeremy

  aim of, 56

  and Chicago School of economics, 150

  childhood, 14–15

  as developer of utilitarianism, 13

  distrust of language, 19, 32, 104

  on emotion, 74

  followers of, 232

  as godfather of public sector outsourcing, 35

  on happiness, 113

  influence of, 48

  as lawyer, 15

  on measuring subjective feelings, 241

  on measuring utility, 46

  on minds as mathematical calculators, 56

  on money, 57, 114

  as monist, 33

  on pain, 19–20

  on pain and pleasure as measurable, 262, 263

  as philosopher, 14, 16, 26, 48

  on politics, 18, 23–6, 32, 37, 76–7, 155

  on psychic optimization, 177

  on psychology, 29, 230, 267

  on punishment, 16, 19, 23, 179, 183, 239

  and scientific politics, 77, 88

  on sexual freedoms, 15

  shaping of, 178

  as technocrat/technician, 14, 16, 48

  as theorist, 54

  tyranny of sounds, 22, 32, 97, 147, 225, 261

  Benthamism/Benthamites, 20, 22, 26, 48, 55, 64, 76, 84, 104, 145, 177, 183, 257, 261, 267, 276

  Bethlehem Steel, 118

  big data, 219–20, 222, 223, 226, 233, 237, 260

  blackboard economics, 155, 158

  Blair, Tony, 140, 141

  Blink (Gladwell), 72

  bodily-monitoring devices, 137

  Booth, Charles, 98

  Bourke, Joanna, 19

  brain research, 255, 256

  British Airways, 10

  British Office for National Statistics, 245

  Brookings Institute, 98

  Brown, Gordon, 140, 192

  Buddhism, 2, 38, 265

  burn-out, 106, 113, 116, 133

  Bush, George, Sr., 255

  businesses

  American psychology and, 85

  craze for psychological analysis in, 97

  democratic business structures, 272

  as obsessed with being social, 187

  power relations within, 273

  as producing, managing, and influencing social relationships, 190

  as professionally managed, 82

  relationships of with universities, 82

  thank-yous to customers, 186–7

  buy button, 73, 256

  buzz, 189

  Cacioppo, John, 193–4

  Cameron, David, 191

  Cantril, Hadley, 99, 101, 146, 147

  capitalism, 8–10, 25, 50, 51–2, 57, 58, 59, 103, 105, 107, 108, 116, 123, 210, 250

  care farming, 246, 248

  Carnegie Foundation, 97

  CBS, 99

  CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy), 2, 35, 111, 124, 165, 222, 258

  celebrity endorsements/celebrities, 1, 95, 190

  Cheltenham Literature Festival (Britain), 36

  Chicago School of economics, 149, 150, 153, 154–5, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 167, 177, 179, 223

  chief happiness officers, 4, 113

  choice, science of, 237

  Christakis, Nicholas, 192, 194, 196, 203

  Cialdini, Robert, 238, 257

  Clausius, Rudolf, 115

  Clean City Law (São Paolo), 275

  clinical psychology, 250, 254

  Coase, Ronald, 153–8

  Coase’s Theorem, 158, 159, 161

  Coca-Cola, 187

  cocaine, 68

  cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), 2, 35, 111, 124, 165, 222, 258

  Cold War, 256

  Commercial Alert, 275

  community psychology, 250, 254

  competition and competitive culture, effects of, 141–3

  competitive-depressive society, 148

  complaints/complaining, 107, 133, 165, 269–70

  conservation of energy, principle of, 28–9, 30, 115

  consumer culture, 100, 104

  consumer intelligence, 217

  consumer neuroscientists, 74

  consumer profiling, 216

  consumer psychology, 74, 85

  consumer voice, 102

  consumerist philosophy, 76

  consumption, as driven by emotions, 72

  contagion, 189, 193, 196, 212, 225, 257

  co-operation, 119, 125, 224, 271, 272

  Cornell University, 257

  Corporate Athlete Course, 112

  cortisol, 133, 252

  Crary, Jonathan, 79

  Cromby, John, 267

  Cumulated Index Medicus, 43

  Curtis, Ian, 120

  Damasio, Antonio, 72

  Dartmouth College, 227

  Darwin, Charles, 59

  Darwinists, 84

  data analytics, 102, 119, 223, 227, 230, 237

  data collection, 218

  data euphoria, 238

  data mining, 220, 233, 260, 261

  data science/scientists, 219, 230, 237

  Davos meetings, 1–3

  day reconstruction method, 64, 229

  decision research, 256

  Decision Science Research Group (UC Berkeley), 182

  decision-making, 17, 68, 85, 182, 224, 235, 237, 242, 243, 248, 252, 256

  Decline of the West (Spengler), 121

  deliberation, 88, 102, 260, 268, 272, 273

  Denny’s, 187

  Department of Veterans Affairs (US), 227

  depression, 141, 142–3, 164, 165, 166, 171, 175, 176, 178, 194, 208, 231

  Depression Anxiety Stress Scales, 175

  depressive-competitive disorder, 179

  Descartes, René, 27, 30

  Descartes’ Error (Damasio), 72

  desire, science of, 74, 96

  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders V (DSM-V), 177, 178, 204

  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders II (DSM-II), 167, 168, 171, 172, 174

  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders III (DSM-III), 173–4, 176, 204, 271, 290–291n30

  dialogue, 125, 132, 136, 225

  digital monitoring/tracking, 135, 260

  Director, Aaron, 149, 153, 156, 157, 160

  Director, Rose, 149

  disempowerment, 243, 250

  dopamine, 66–7, 68

  Du Bois, W. E. B., 98

  du Plessis, Erik, 74

  dualism, 27, 28, 30, 265

  Durkheim, Émile, 200, 227

  Durkheim Project, 227

  eBay, 160

  e-commerce, 96

  economic inequality, 252, 254

  economics

  as basis for broad public agreement, 63–4

  behavioural economics, 182–3, 184, 189, 210, 214, 219, 256, 257

  blackboard economics, 155, 158

  Chicago School of. See Chicago School of economics

  divorce of from psychology, 61, 69

  evolution of discipline of, 54

  exceptional status attributed to, 26

  function of, according to Coase, 156

  happiness economics, 5, 74, 229, 252

  as mathematical problem, 51

  neo-classical economists/economics, 113, 123, 181

  as phenomenon of the mind, 59

  pop-economics, 152

  reunion of with psychology, 64, 182

  subjective sensation and, 55

  as winner take all, 160

  economies

  classical political economy, 49–50, 57

  knowledge-based economy, 136

  political economy, 50, 56

  sharing economy, 188

  social economy, 190

  Edgeworth,
Francis, 60, 84

  Eisenhower, Dwight David, 255

  Ello, 213

  emotion

  definition, 75

  as market research industry’s preferred version of happiness/pleasure, 74

  emotional contagion, 225

  empiricism, 27, 30, 152, 269

  employee engagement, 106–9, 113, 126

  employee fitness-tracking programmes, 240

  employee-owned businesses, advantages of, 272

  end of theory, 237

  Enlightenment, 7, 19, 23, 27, 47, 85, 251

  ennui, costs of, 108

  enthusiasm, 251

  entropy, law of, 115

  ergonomics, 50, 116, 137

  Essay on Government (Priestley), 13

  European Commission, 255

  European Management Forum, 1

  evidence-based policy-making, 17

  existentialism, 38

  experience medicine, 126

  experienced utility, measurement of, 64

  experimental psychology, 81

  Exxon Valdez oil spill, 62–3

  eye tracking, 72, 97

  eyes, focus on by Wundt, 79–81

  Facebook, 10, 74, 100, 189, 204, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 213, 220, 221, 224, 225, 238, 239, 257, 269

  face-reading software, 222

  facial coding, 76, 97

  facial scanning/face-scanning technology, 72, 222, 276

  farm experiences, benefits of, 246

  fatigue, businesses’ concern about, 50, 116, 120

  Fatigue Laboratory (Harvard Business School), 120, 122

  FearFighter, 222

  Fechner, Gustav

  as coining pleasure principle, 29

  distrust of language, 32

  dualism of, 28, 30, 265

  on energy, 29, 115

  as influenced by Hegel, 30

  as monist, 33

  as new age thinker, 28

  parallels in English psychology to, 48

  psychophysical methods of, 60

  psychophysical parallelism, 259

  as representing relationships between mind and world as numerical ratio, 35

  on solving mind–body problem using mathematics, 27, 28

  on theory of psychology, 29

  weight-lifting experiments of, 30–1, 38, 49, 50, 59, 78

  Federal Drug, Food and Cosmetic Act (US) (1938), 170

  feedback loops/feedback mechanisms, 95, 103, 230, 276

  feelings, adjustment of, 31–2

  Ferriss, Tim, 112

  fit notes, 112

  Fitbit, 240

  fitness-tracking ticket machine, 240

  fMRI, 32, 231, 237, 241, 261, 262

  focus groups, 102, 125

  Foucault, Michel, 280n22

  FP7 research (European Commission), 255

  Freakonomics (Levitt and Dubner), 152

  free markets, 19, 49, 57, 69, 140, 154, 181, 185, 274