I found some more good stuff about happiness at biopsychiatry.com. While most of the site seems devoted to exploring better living through chemicals there are several archived newpaper articles that are very interesting.
”The average person says, ‘I know I’ll be happier with a Porsche than a Chevy,’ ” Gilbert explains. ” ‘Or with Linda rather than Rosalyn. Or as a doctor rather than as a plumber.’ That seems very clear to people. The problem is, I can’t get into medical school or afford the Porsche. So for the average person, the obstacle between them and happiness is actually getting the futures that they desire. But what our research shows — not just ours, but Loewenstein’s and Kahneman’s — is that the real problem is figuring out which of those futures is going to have the high payoff and is really going to make you happy.
”You know, the Stones said, ‘You can’t always get what you want,’ ” Gilbert adds. ”I don’t think that’s the problem. The problem is you can’t always know what you want.”