Grecia Jimenez

Zack DePiero
Writing 2
6 December 2015
Achieving Happiness
As readers, we are constantly exposed to different types of writing. We are
exposed to everything from news articles to horoscopes on tween magazines. We read
about the same themes from all sorts of different sources, and whether they are textbooks
or tween magazines, there is always something to learn from them. Most topics are
written about throughout different genres and for different disciplinesthese topics can
be applied and connected to many other topics depending on the discipline examining it.
Depending on the genre and the audience of a piece, the authors can approach the paper
in a variety of ways and have affordances that other authors might not havethese
affordances can affect anything from the effectiveness of the paper to the kind of
audience it will captivate. Happiness is one of these many topics that are constantly being
talked about and studied by different disciplines and throughout different genres. In order
to explore the economy and psychology disciplines approachesor movesto covering
the same topic, I examined two scholarly articles and an online article that all analyzed
happiness in different ways. Both scholarly articles discussed the effects of outside
stressors on happiness, while the online article debated the validity of the effects of
outside sources on happiness, which I happen to disagree with .
The first article I found is a Science Direct scholarly article analyzing the effects
of both climate and economics on happiness. This paper, which was published by Katrin

Rehdanz and David Maddison, from the center of Marine and Climate Research and the
department of Economics respectively, analyses a panel of 67 countries in an attempt
to explain differences in self-reported levels of wellbeing (112). Rehdanzs connections
between economic and climatic aspects of happiness allowed more room for analysis and
a more in depth examination of the aspects that affect happiness. However, the paper read
confusingly and was not very effective because the connection between climate and
economics was not fully explained, but rather separated into subcategories throughout the
paper. In the economic aspect, Rehdanz and Maddison provided the operational definition
of happiness, which according to them is not only subjective but also is an assessment
by the individual of all parts of his or her life, including circumstances and comparisons
to others, past experience and expectations of the future, so their evidence varied
throughout their subjects, which left room for error but also room for a more diverse
result (112). The paper separated the economic aspect from the climatic aspect of the
paper, but much like the economic aspect, the research was based off observational data
rather than numerical evidence. They used their own data (from Russia) as well as
miscellaneous Internet sources for some smaller countries, which maybe made their
paper less credible because of their lack of actual data collection (115). Rehdanz and
Maddisons scholarly article was filled with scholarly language but also included a simple
graph that proved that countries with warmer winter temperatures report higher levels of
happiness (116). This article viewed happiness from a scientific standpoint and made
connections throughout several disciplines, but did it in a way that was unconventional
and hard to understand.

The second scholarly piece I found, titled Does Perceived Emotional Intelligence
and Optimism/ pessimism Predict Psychological Well-being?, studied the connections
between self-esteem and happiness, which In addition to correlational analyses, [were]
examined a model by structural equation modeling (SEM) (463). Just by looking at the
introduction, those not familiar with psychology may be confused by the article and its
goals. The goal of the authors was to find a correlation between perceived emotional
intelligence, which was achieved because the article provide[d] support for the positive
association between EI and psychological dimensions of well-being: self-esteem, life
satisfaction and self-acceptance (464). It tested both the conceptual and operational
definitions of self-acceptance and found a positive correlation between both definitions
(as applied to their subjects) and happiness. This article also included a visual to represent
the paper but was harder to interpret than the visualization provided by the first scholarly
article that I examined (466). This article was filled with psychology jargon and was most
likely written for those involved in the discipline. In reality, this paper had all the
affordances of the previously examined article but was tailored for a more specific
audience, which made it effective for a small audience, but not an everyday reader.
Both of the scholarly articles were probably written for people involved in the
discipline the authors were a part of, however, the first scholarly article was much easier
to understand and therefore would most likely get its point across more easily. It is likely
that the authors of the first article did this on purpose, maybe to reach out to a larger
audience outside of the economics and marine and climate research disciplines. Perhaps
they didnt, but from a readers standpoint, making an article easier to understand could
be considered a move. Neither of the articles was written using persuasive language but

provided and ample amount of evidence that made their articles persuasive. Their
scientific standpoints allowed for a more in depth examination of the aspects that affect
happiness, rather than a simple and one-sided view of happiness as a concept.
The last genre I surveyed was a magazine article that I was able to access on the
magazines website. The article, titled The Pursuit of Happiness, was a seventeen-step
guide to improving happiness from the standpoint of the author, Mike Steere, and
directed towards a broad audience. This articlewritten for Outside magazine, which
covers gear, travel adventure, culture, and morementioned a 2012 study of identical
and fraternal twins conducted by a team of scientists from top universities around the
world, [which proved that] only about a third of our happiness level is determined by
genes (Steere). The author also included a 2013 UCLA study that delineated the positive
effects of happiness on health, then proceeded to claim that the way you live your life
ultimately determines your happiness and therefore your health. The article then
enumerated seventeen ways to be happier, including rising with the sun,which was
backed up by scientists from The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and doctors at
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Bostongetting dirty (a.k.a. doing things like
gardening), drinking water, listening to music, and more. These were all somehow backed
up with scientific studies or by surveys. The article also included funny, bubbly sentences
such as you know, like Ommm when referring to the sense of oneness that going to the
beach brings people, which was an excellent move to keep the article interesting and fun
to read. It also constantly referenced scientists in order to increase the persuasiveness of
the piece. The whole article emoted a friendly tone and included humorous titles such as
Eat Happy Meals, Crank the Tunes, and my personal favorite: Get High On

Chocolate. These titles were affordances that the scholarly articles did not have and
made this piece suitable to a larger audience.
The scholarly articles had many limitations in terms of the audience they reached.
Because they are scholarly articles that can only be found through college library
databases and Google Scholar, their possible audience is much smaller than that of the
magazine article that can be easily found by searching the Internet. Additionally, the
scholarly articles contained much more vocabulary exclusive to their disciplines, which
could make them harder to read.
Aesthetically speaking, both the scholarly articles and the magazine article were
pleasing in their own ways. The scholarly articles were neatly set up in sections and had
easy to find references. Meanwhile, the magazine was set up in a reader-friendly manner
meaning it was easy to follow because of its numerationand contained plenty of cute
pictures for the readers to enjoy while reading the article. The scholarly articles were
aesthetically pleasing in a professional way while the magazine was tailored to capture a
larger audiences attention.
Unlike the scholarly articles, the magazine article had few limitations. While the
scholarly articles were only able to include research and results, the magazine epitomized
the personality and style of the author. The magazine in which this article was found is an
outdoors and everyday living magazine, so the author must have had a fairly accurate
idea of , as mentioned in Mike Bunns How to Read Like a Writer, who [it was] for
[which] can help explain why the author might have made certain choices or used
particular techniques in writing (115). It accomplished a light and playful tone while still
providing scientific evidence, which is more than is usually expected for magazine

articles, and was probably a move exclusive to the author. Although it did not have the
scholarly tone the research papers had, the magazine article was able to sound convincing
as well as interesting and informative.
The way the scholarly articles unfolded was essentially the same. Both opened up
with an abstract definition of the paper followed by an introduction, and then finally
presented their studies and findings. Meanwhile, the magazine article started out by
describing peoples tendencies and then providing studies about happinesss relation to
DNA. The magazine article soon unfolded into a list of ways to increase happiness and
provided extra tips and tricks at the end of the article. Neither of the articles really
included questions but they were all based around the topic of happiness and how their
disciplines affected it. The scholarly articles sought to make connections between certain
disciplines and happiness, but the magazine articles objective was to entertain and
inform the reader informally. The data the scholarly articles used was presented in graphs
and charts, which made it more difficult to interpret than that of the magazine article,
which was sprinkled and slipped into the paper.
Overall, all three of the articles were effective in their own ways, although some
more than others. The scholarly articles were able to show correlations through their
extensive research and datathe psychology one more effectively than the first
discussed. The economics and climate article was the least effective of the three, because
contrary to Birkenstein & Graffs advice in As a Result, the article made no real
connection between the two disciplines discussed. Making a connection could have
helped to prevent such disconnection and ma[de] [its] writing flow (124). The
magazine was effective in explaining happiness and in providing possible ways of

improving happiness while entertaining its audience. Because of the conventions and
expectations of the scholarly articles, the authors did not have as much freedom to
experiment with style. They did, however, use moves. The way the information was
presented was move in itself. The abstract definition almost served as a hook, which then
led to the information. Providing visuals was also a move that served the purpose of
simplifying the information provided in the paper. All three of the sources covered one
topic but they all interpreted in different ways. All three of the articles delineated the
ways that certain aspects affected happiness, but only the magazine was able to
incorporate significant style into its piece.
All in all, the information in all of the pieces was delivered in different ways and
some more successfully than others. All of the articles were persuasive in their own ways,
often relying on scientific evidence and analysis. The only true difference between all of
the articles was the way in which the information was delivered and the style of the
pieces. The scholarly articles and the magazine articles had different goals in terms of the
effect they would have on their audiences, and the ways in which they delivered their
data determined the effectiveness of their pieces. All three pieces viewed happiness in
different ways, and although I disagreed with the magazine article, the information of the
piece was delivered in such a way that it may have been more believable to its audience
than the scholarly articles werespecially thanks to its simple layout.

Works Cited
Birkenstein, and Graff. "As a Result." N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print.
Bunn, Mike. "How to Read Like a Writer." Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing1. Vol. 2. N.p.:
n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print.
"Does Perceived Emotional Intelligence and Optimism/ Pessimism Predict Psychological Wellbeing?" EBSCO Publishing, n.d. Web.
<http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=c3142e1e-8f23-406e-9462a2430f24d93f%40sessionmgr113&vid=7&hid=107>.
Rehdanz, Katrin, and David Maddison. "Climate and Happiness." ScienceDirect. N.p., 5 Jan.
2005. Web. <http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0921800904002940/1-s2.0-S0921800904002940main.pdf?_tid=d6988e58-80ec-11e5-b43900000aab0f6c&acdnat=1446419220_55ee62b4cc7c15a3a29667fdf8a5ce15>.
Steere, Mike. "The Pursuit of Happiness." Outside Online. N.p., 01 Jan. 2013. Web.
<http://www.outsideonline.com/1870196/pursuit-happiness>.