행복의 커뮤니케이션

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study intended to investigate the relationship between communication & happiness. We communicate not only to survive and to better lead the worthwhile social life as well as to be happy. The act of communication can be compared to an act of breathing in that no life is possible without breathing as well as no life is possible without communication. In this sense, the human-being can called a communication animal.
In an attempt to know the relationship between communication & happiness, this study raised the five research questions: (1) how the communication is related to happiness; (2) how the communication is defined & meant? (3) whether we are born with a set point of happiness and if so, to what extent is it? Even if we are born with a happiness set point, can we be happy by our intentional activities?; (4) what are the circumstantial variables related to happiness?; (5) what are the desirable happiness models?
The findings can be summarized as follows: first, communication is indispensably related to happiness. Since happiness is in our heart, not elsewhere, not outside our body, if our heart is happy, our face automatically shows it up by a sign of smile, a vital part of communication. As the Bible says that a happy heart makes the face cheerful, the cheerful face is a natural sign of happiness.
Second, the study on happiness dates back even before the birth of Christ. The Greek philosophers, especially Plato and Aristotle, taught & discussed the happiness at their academies. However, they differed on the approach to happiness; Plato, Aristotle's mentor, pursued a perfectionist approach which is beyond achieving a happiness while his student, Aristotle, approached an optimalist one, which is not the best life(impossible & unrealistic) but the best possible life(possible & realistic).
Third, it is true that we are born with a certain set point of happiness, say 50%, but it is possible for us to be happy even if we are born with a low set point of happiness by the various intentional activities as if a person born with a heavy weight set point can be skinny by our intentional activities like the proper diet & regular exercises. Third, even though the circumstantial variables like money, success & fame can't guarantee happiness itself, we can be happy depending on how we use these variables. Finally, there are the four kinds of model for happiness--rat racer model, expecting the present unhappiness(detriment) and future happiness(benefit), hedonist model, expecting the present happiness(benefit) & future unhappiness(detriment), nihilist model, expecting both the present unhappiness(detriment) & future unhappiness(detriment), and the ideal happiness model, expecting both the present happiness(benefit) & future happiness(benefit). Among these four models, the real happiness model is the fourth one that brings the present and future happiness.