The Oil Drum

50 comments on The SUV disease spreads

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odograph on October 4, 2005 - 12:35pm

I know I've dropped this quote before, but it is worth remembering that energy use does not correlate well with happiness:

The researchers for World Values Survey described the desire for material goods as "a happiness suppressant".

"They say happiness levels have remained virtually the same in industrialised countries since World War II, although incomes have risen considerably.

The exception is Denmark, where people have become more satisfied with life over the last three decades."

- more here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3157570.stm

- Newsweek version here:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5456869/site/newsweek/

I like the mention of Denmark, because they are famous for their bicycling ;-)

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Yankee on October 4, 2005 - 12:45pm

Indeed, but try explaining that to Joe SUV Driver: "Hey Joe, I don't think you're happier just because you drive an SUV." It may actually be true if you factor in all other aspects of his life, but I fear that there really is some sense in which people are fiercely protective of their SUVs and believe that their lives are improved because of them.

Still, Bartlett's point is the same as the one you're making. In his highly anecdotal version, the Europeans are just as happy as we American gas guzzlers are.

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Adam on October 4, 2005 - 5:47pm

The problem is that although high energy use doesn't make people happy, energy shortages do make people unhappy. (In that respect, energy is a bit like money.) So all those SUV drivers are going to be extremely upset once they can't affod to fill up.

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odograph on October 4, 2005 - 9:06pm

A new happiness article came out a few days ago:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2099-1793873_1,00.html

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odograph on October 4, 2005 - 9:46pm

It even has the mention of "four-wheel-drive:"

Modern humans, stuck with an ancient brain, are like rats on a wheel. We can't stop running, because we're always looking over our shoulders and comparing our achievements with our neighbours'. At 20, we think we'd be happy with a house and a car. But if we get them, we start dreaming of a second home in Italy and a turbo-charged four-wheel-drive.

This is called the "hedonic treadmill" by happiness scholars. It causes us to rapidly and inevitably adapt to good things by taking them for granted. The more possessions and accomplishments we have, the more we need to boost our level of happiness. It makes sense that the brain of a species that has dominated others would evolve to strive to be best.

[...]

At the Royal Institution, Nettle explained how brain chemistry foils our pursuit of happiness in the modern world: "The things that you desire are not the things that you end up liking. The mechanisms of desire are insatiable. There are things that we really like and tire of less quickly -- having good friends, the beauty of the natural world, spirituality. But our economic system plays into the psychology of wanting, and the psychology of liking gets drowned out."