Quote:
Originally Posted by shcisamax
Maybe what is being defined as carefree is really not carefree and a happy disposition but more of a person who is simply not really a "thoughtful" person... Someone who goes through life without thinking things through , or evading things, does not really equate to being a happy person. A happy person is a full person, filled with both sorrow and joy, but arrives at the optimistic edge rather than the burdened edge. What the description above appears to be person who is not carefree but evading reality on some level. That may be the flaw in the argument. Not sure if I have fully explained my point. Hopefully someone understands and can expound.
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Well, I don't understand what you are trying to accomplish. Perhaps it might help if I explain how these people were labeled as happy. When the study started in 1922 the study subjects were about 11 and 12 years old. There were several hundred of them (1,500). They interviewed each one and asked questions, as I remember. They also interviewed the child's teachers and parents. This is how they arrived at the conclusion of whether or not the child was a happy child or something else. I doubt it was based on whether or not the child was a "full person" who could arrive at an "optimistic edge". I think you're making it too complicated.
Then every so many years they would reinterview the person to see how their life was progressing.