The Rough Guide to Psychology An Introduction to Human Behaviour and the Mind (Rough Guides)

THE ROUGH GUIDE TO PSYCHOLOGY

has argued that happiness is an unwise aspiration. In an essay for the
Guardian newspaper published in 2010, he pointed out that happiness
for many people can be prompted by immoral acts or desires. On the
other hand, he argued, unhappiness, or more specifically frustration –
can motivate us to correct injustices and losses. “What we are lacking
when we are unhappy is not always happiness, any more than what
an alcoholic is lacking is a drink”, he wrote. “And proposing a right to
the pursuit of happiness may seduce us, by a kind of word-magic, into
thinking that happiness is just the thing.”