Answer

Happiness and hypothesis

Introduction

            The happiness and hypothesis book written by Jonathan Haidt, has several great ideas which reflects on happiness as practiced by ancient generation like Plato, Buddha among others. The book tends to examine the practices and relates those to present-day by extracting useful lessons and applies them to the modern world. Key to the book is the concepts of virtue, fulfillment, happiness and the meaning of life. Jonathan considers several ways of dividing being into two parts and relating them (Nettle, 2006). For example, he divides mind and body, left brain and right brain, old brain and new brain, and controlled and automatic. He puts more emphasis on the latter, which are reasoned processes vs. implicit processes. I have identified two main ideas from this book that is, hypocrisy and reciprocity

Reciprocity

            Every man in the society possesses a supposedly bad behavior of retaliating, which is sometimes dormant in the mind or actively expressed through action. Today, our society is full of evil and bad manners to the extent that a day cannot pass without one person faulting another. Although retaliation is usually used to portray negative action like vengeance, in this context, it will take both positions, which are negative and positive. People in the society have developed a habit of paying good deed with good and bad with bad, contrary to the principle of turn the other chick- quoted by Jesus, in the New Testament. For example, if you take a walk around the city, you will realize that some great one another when they meet, others hug one another and some even throw outs at each other.

            Here is a simple test to prove that people like reciprocating if not mimicking others. Pick on two strangers rooming in the street: to the first one, smile at him or her and to the second one, just pass him silently. I surely tell you the truth; the former will smile back at you while the latter will also pass you silently. This behavior is always pronounced even in relationships, where partners try to mimic one another. For example, if one partner gives a gift to the other, he will also buy her a gift. This mimic behavior is extended to even copying how others walk, talk, laugh and many more.

            This human weakness has been used by marketers to enhance their marketing strategies and win more customers. For example, a sales person can decide to give you free gift or even give you discount on their products, knowing that at the end the reciprocating instinct in you will urge you to pay back through buying his products. In many instances, advertized goods usually come with a free gift- which is not actually free, but a decoy or gimmick of trapping customers. The prices usually shoot after the period of advertisement. The better individuals understand the behavior of reciprocating, the better they will be in control of the behavior and consequently avoid being misused or manipulated by others who are not genuine.

Hypocrisy

            The suggestion by Jonathan Haidt in his book happiness and hypothesis that human beings are hypocrites is a fact. This is usually driven by our selfish need to feel secure. For instance, the rider of the elephant goes to a greater length of even acting as the lawyer of the elephant. It is the conscious part of our brain, which usually explains our intention in reality. The weakness of human being is that they tend to put more emphasis on the positive effects they bring to a situation while forgetting to consider the negative impacts they cause in the same situation. This effect can be seen on how people interact with one another. For instance, in a relationship, partners will always think they are better than their mates. Many people after taking a decision on a matter usually go for evidence to support their decision. When the evidence gathered is in line with the decision they made, for example, buying a house, they go a head with the plan. However, the problem comes when the evidence collected does not support their decision. In such cases, people do not admit that they made mistake, something that clearly support the fact that they are usually focusing on the positive development, which is not always the case in our society. People have made wrong decisions on religion, political alignment, and relationship among others, but they find it so hard to admit that they made a wrong decision. Instead they prefer living in fantasy, rather than admitting their weakness. Therefore it is important to involve a third party when making decision, especially those that are personal. Finally, in order to live a happy life, individuals must view their contribution to the society in two ways, the positive and the negatives as well as admitting when wrong.

Conclusion

            Just like Jonathan Haidt puts it, doing the right thing especially when we find it difficult to do so will generate nice feeling within us. The more we accurately judge our deeds, the lesser we become disappointed in life.