Learning: what does it have to do with Happiness?
Learning: what does it have to do with Happiness?
Learning may be more fundamental to happiness than one might initially think.
What do you think of when you think of learning? Have we evolved as a species in the way that we learn? Or could we be experiencing a crisis in learning as we advance in the realm of science and technology?
At a conference on professional life coaching and personal growth, a major theme persisted, emphasizing that it’s not so much what we learn but more the process of learning that matters in the pursuit for happiness. It would make sense to first define happiness. For different people, happiness means different things. According to Merriam-Webster, happiness is a noun referring to a state of well-being and contentment (i.e. joy) or a pleasurable, satisfying experience.
Interestingly enough, scientists have demonstrated in the laboratory that the part of the brain long agreed upon as the ‘pleasure center’ is activated during associative learning in rats (Young et al., 1998). Specifically, rats are trained to associate two neutral stimuli, a flashing light and a tone. The tone was subsequently paired with a mild footshock using standard aversive conditioning procedures. The procedure can be likened to what Pavlov demonstrated with salivation becoming the conditioned effect of the bell ringing once the sound of the bell was associated with the presentation of the delicious piece of meat. Thus, conditioning is a very basic kind of learning. In fact, I would be so bold as to suggest that associative learning is the fundamental process underlying all learning.
What Young et al. (1998) showed in their study is that learning, by itself, is rewarding. Being that the neurochemical correlate to reward is the release of dopamine in the mesolimbic dopamine system and observing such release when learning had occurred suggests that not only is there pleasure in learning, but the pleasure is designed to motivate learning. Both rats and humans experience pleasure when learning occurs. Indeed, it doesn’t even matter what the subject is learning. It can be the association between two stimuli that are in and of itself neutral and quite boring such as a flashing light and a tone. Though it’s worthwhile to note that the scientists had to first associate the tone with a mild footshock, suggesting the potential importance of the emotional system to facilitate the learning process.
Going back to the definition of happiness being an experience of pleasure, one can begin to see exactly what learning has to do with happiness. There is pleasure in learning. It makes perfect sense. Why wouldn’t we be biologically set up to find pleasure in learning? We would be in a lot of trouble if learning were absolutely un-enjoyable. Can you imagine?
So what do our moods and emotions have to do with learning? The relationship between emotions and learning is clearly seen in many modern educational systems. Did you know that, according to a UNICEF study, 60% of a child’s ability to learn is impacted by emotion? According to this study, when a child has the experience of being loved and reports being happy, they are able to learn and remember 60% more material than a child who does not have the experience of love and happiness. How interesting is it, then, that so many schools claim there are not enough resources to maintain a proper educational system? Many schools insist that children’s education suffers because of the lack of funds for supplies and technology when what they really need is love and compassion. Sadly, our children often become emotionally malnourished in modern educational systems.
Philosophers, some as prominent as Freud and Jung, have suggested that a shift in the emotional domain makes learning take off exponentially. Witnessing the crisis in learning that is happening in modern day America, it’s not difficult to see how this might be true. Indeed, when the environments of our schools do not welcome the full expression of a child’s emotional experience, there is disconnect not only from the emotions but also from the teachers and the objectives they are there to learn. This sense of disconnection carries into adulthood. One must wonder if this sense of disconnection breeds a different kind of learning, the kind that relentlessly acquires more and more knowledge, pushing the envelope of technology, leaving behind the ability to be intimately and fully connected with the experience of life.
Bottom line: Love, compassion, and being connected to our emotions impact the learning process in a way that promotes happiness. There is wisdom in our emotions that goes beyond the rational mind. It’s time we honor that wisdom and dissolve the crisis of the western mind.
Young, A.M., R.G. Ahier, et al. (1998). “Increased extracellular dopamine in the nucleus accumbens of the rat during associative learning of neutral stimuli.” Neuroscience 83(4): 1175-83.
