Schemata and happiness: A theoretical overview

Pages: 89-92
Yasmeen Mahmoud Abdel Aziz Mohamed (Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Helwan University, Egypt)

Individuals elaborate incidents happening around them through the intellectual content and fixed beliefs found in their previous e schema. For all people, beliefs about self, others and the world are formed during childhood. One of the deepest beliefs is core beliefs that are essential and fixed seen by individuals as absolute fact. (Beck and Beck, 2007, translated) Thus, these beliefs and ideas forming individual s’ schema affect their perceptions, emotions and responses towards situations. Therefore, these beliefs allow normal individuals to cognitively assess what happens around them correctly and have positive emotions reflected on individuals’ behaviors and life approach .Consequently; individulas feel positive feelings such as life satisfaction, comfort and joy resulting in happiness feelings. (Saleh, 2014). The psychological relativity theory explains the schema through construction factor assuming that a schema is a skeleton including the basic features of individuals’ behavioral categories. This schema is regulated through individuals’ experiences and affects their perception and responses in facing their environment. Thus a schema includes all cognitive constructs related to a certain life subject. Happy individulas are characterized with mature schemata that are clear and specified. Individuals are aware of them and through which they behave consciously and automatically. Schemata characterizing constructive activity leading to happiness are : cognitive representational (figurative) schemata, emotional schemata, incentive schemata, behaveoral and physiological schemata. Happy individuals explain a situation using cognitive criterion, namely specification; that is an error is not generalized on all situations, moderateness, quietness, realism, goodness expectancy and selection while judging matters. (Shalaby, 2001). Therefore, happiness is considered a common pursuit for all human beings. It is a one of the objectives and a dimension of mental health. It is also one of the determinants of healthy personality. Aptitudes to happiness or misery are formed during childhood. In adolescence, these aptitudes develop as a result of the interaction between inherited factors and socialization. Relatively, these aptitudes are fixed during adulthood and throughout life course. If aptitudes to happiness are higher and aptitudes to misery are lower, the adult becomes more optimistic looking to the most brightening sides of life. Judging the level of happiness is determined by individuals themselves and according to their feelings appraisal in general not currently only. Personal happiness self reports were reliable despite the changing circumstances and time passing. (Basha & Abdel Satar, 2015) This research aims to shed light on theories explaining schemata and happiness as well as the relations between both of them