THE FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS PARADOX

By Prof. Raj

It was a warm and sultry afternoon in mid-September when my cousin, who was fresh off the boat from India, and I strolled into a salad bar in Austin, TX.

“How does the salad bar concept work?,” asked my cousin.

“Well, you just load your plate with the things that you want to eat,” I said, pointing to the various items on display on the bar, “and once you are done, you carry your plate to the person sitting at the checkout counter and pay $5.99 per pound. Then you join me and start eating.”

My cousin looked at the items in the salad bar. It was a typical salad bar with many vegetarian options (onions, tomatoes, lettuce, olives, chickpeas) and some non-vegetarian ones (bacon crumbles, ham pieces, grilled chicken).

“You mean, I pay $5.99 per pound regardless of what I put on my plate?,” asked my cousin, his eyes bulging. He wasn’t used to the salad bar concept.

“Yes, it’s $5.99 per pound regardless of what you put on your plate,” I confirmed, “but today you don’t pay—the meal’s on me.”

I knew exactly what my cousin was thinking. He, like many people, was price-sensitive. He recognized that, pound for pound, the non-vegetarian items were more expensive than the vegetarian ones. This would tempt him to load his plate with the non-vegetarian items. But doing so would come at a cost to his enjoyment of the salad. He didn’t eat bacon and he didn’t care for grilled chicken; he liked his chicken marinated and cooked or fried, not grilled. And I knew that he loved chick-peas.

So, what would he do? Would he choose to maximize value-for-money and go for more of the grilled chicken, or would he choose to maximize enjoyment of the salad and go for more of the chickpeas?

The suspense was killing me, but thankfully, I didn’t have to wait for long. He loaded his plate with much more of the grilled chicken than the chickpeas.

Value for money had trumped enjoyment.

As my cousin sat at the table, I turned to him and said, without a hint of sarcasm—well, maybe just a tiny hint of it—, “I hope you enjoy your salad.”

My cousin had exhibited what I call the Fundamental Happiness Paradox. The paradox refers to the idea that, although happiness is one people’s most important goals, people often act in ways that sabotages their own happiness. My colleagues and I have documented the paradox across a variety of contexts, and I am unhappy (sorry, couldn’t resist the chance to pun) to report that the tendency to sabotage one’s own happiness is.