What does inner harmony look like?

[Music] Hi, I’m Dr. Tamar Gendler, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Professor of Philosophy, Psychology, and Cognitive Science at Yale University. In this video, I’ll be exploring the idea that a certain kind of inner harmony is the foundation of a happy life. Maya has been considering the idea that unhappiness is often the result of inner conflict. She has learned that her mind has different parts, with different functions. When they work at cross purposes, unhappiness is often the result. What does a mind in harmony look like? Plato compared a soul in harmony to a healthy body, where all the parts are doing their jobs. If your heart isn’t performing its function properly, you’re in trouble. The same goes for all your other parts. When your organs aren’t doing what they should, that’s usually bad news for your health. Likewise, Plato thought, in a well-functioning soul, all the parts are doing what they’re supposed to do. Following this metaphor, then, understanding the idea of inner harmony requires knowing what functions the different parts of the mind are supposed to perform. Then we can see how harmony supports happiness. Sophie reminds Maya that contemporary psychologists divide the mind into two systems. System 1 produces immediate, automatic and often unconscious thoughts and behaviors. It processes information with lightning speed, enabling us to perform vital tasks like recognizing faces, detecting danger, and making split-second decisions with little effort. System 2 is conscious, deliberate, and methodical. It’s how we plan, make deliberate decisions, and assess evidence. It works slowly, requires our attention, and requires sustained effort. But the effort is worth it. With System 2 we can reflect on our circumstances, evaluate how things are going, and decide to change course. In other words, System 2 can reason. System 1 can’t. It’s no good at contextualizing information, and it can’t slow down and change course. So it might produce responses that don’t fit the circumstances, sometimes to entertaining effect: think of the thrill you get when you’rewatching a horror movie that you know perfectly well is make-believe. Other times, System 1 pushes us to act against our own long-term interests. Psychologist Walter Mischel studied how well children were able to delay gratification. He put a marshmallow in front of them and left the room. If they could wait until the experimenter returned, they could have two marshmallows instead of just one. But if they ate it earlier, that was all they got. On average, kids in the original experiment lasted four minutes before eating the marshmallow. But if the marshmallow was hidden from view, they were able to wait nearly twelve minutes. That’s a threefold increase in willpower, just by changing what they were able to see! That’s because the marshmallow activates System 1’s treat detector. It sees the marshmallow and can’t stop yelling: YUMMY TREAT! EAT! EAT! System 2 says, “No: we’ll get a better reward if we wait.” But sober reasoning about future rewards doesn’t stand much of a chance against a hyped-up treat detection module. When the marshmallow is hidden, System 1 stops noticing it and moves on to other things. It’s much easier for System 2 to run the show when the treat detector is turned off. he marshmallow test is an example of a kind of choice we face every day: whether to indulge now, or to delay gratification for a better reward in the future. Researchers found that shorter waiting times in the marshmallow task are correlated with a number of other outcomes: lower scores on standardized tests, higher rates of substance abuse, worse strategies for coping with stress, and a number of other long-term disadvantages. Which is better for our happiness? Delaying gratification for a greater future reward? Or doing what feels best in the moment? Maya thinks that if something is really in her long-term interest, it’s clearly better to do that. Even if she has less fun in the moment, she knows it will be worth it. So it looks like System 2’s job is to see the bigger picture, interpret what’s going on, and decide what’s best for us to do. As Plato said, reason’s role is to steer us in the right direction. Maya’s starting to see how a harmonious soul can be the foundation of a truly happy life. But something about the marshmallow experiment still puzzles her. If System 2 can’t resist System 1, how can we put it in charge? It seems like hiding the marshmallows is a better strategy than expecting reason to rule! Sophie smiles. That’s right: reason doesn’t rule by shouting orders at the rest of the soul. System 1 just doesn’t work that way. It is outside System 2’s direct control. Rather, System 1’s responses are shaped through repetition and association. It learns through habituation. And as Aristotle said, it’s impossible to change by argument what has long been absorbed through habit. System 1’s habits are automatic and effortless. And System 1 doesn’t listen to reason. So, maybe putting reason in charge looks like this: First, we think carefully about what’s in our long-term interests. Then, we figure out how to advance those interests. That means understanding how our minds work, and figuring out how to get and stay on the right path. System 1’s habits are powerful tools for shaping our thoughts and actions. If we can form good habits that further our long-term interests, we will be able to stay on the right path — effortlessly. But, Maya wonders, how do you form better habits? Well, Sophie says, at first you need to act deliberately in a way that goes against your current habits. But if you can keep at it, System 1 will gradually absorb what you’re trying to teach it. As it does, you’ll come to resemble the kind of person you were aiming to be. Aristotle said, “We become builders by building, harpists by playing the harp, just by doing just actions, temperate by doing temperate actions, brave by doing brave actions.” In other words: if you want to become something, you should act as if that was what you already were. To be happy, then, you should start by building the habits of a happy person. Are good habits the key to happiness? What do you think? [Music]