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Happiness Dorm

published study says happiness is contagious; create a happiness dorm to promote student retention to graduation; a way to graduate more students
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The value of colleges n Universities is measured, among other things, as the number as well as quantity of the degreed persons produced;

Peer reviewed journals state that the presence of a cheerful person makes other people more cheerful;

Thus if Universities n Colleges voluntarily screen all the new students on such things as the COMT gene https://www.23andme.com/ you could actually create a happy dorm as well as a blended dorm then see if the social catalytic difference moved the retention until degree completion numbers favorably

USA people think of a College dorm as a building full of college students; actual sleeping arrangements vary

Right now, Oregon a US state just announced a 7 pt reduction of funds, now if college retention to graduation went up just 10 pt, the net effect on the economy would be beneficial;

thats a very compelling reason to bring physiologically based hedonic imperative technologies to functional application

beanangel, Jun 08 2010

Happiness is contagious http://www.scientif...contagious-08-12-05
[beanangel, Jun 08 2010]

The paper http://www.bmj.com/...l/337/dec04_2/a2338
People who are surrounded by many happy people and those who are central in the network are more likely to become happy in the future. Longitudinal statistical models suggest that clusters of happiness result from the spread of happiness and not just a tendency for people to associate with similar individuals. A friend who lives within a mile (about 1.6 km) and who becomes happy increases the probability that a person is happy by 25% (95% confidence interval 1% to 57%). Similar effects are seen in coresident spouses (8%, 0.2% to 16%), siblings who live within a mile (14%, 1% to 28%), and next door neighbours (34%, 7% to 70%). [beanangel, Jun 08 2010]

The Met Met version of the COMT gene makes people twice as happy http://i49.tinypic.com/2r7spwi.png
[beanangel, Jun 09 2010]

Wichers paper on the COMT happiness gene http://www.nature.c.../full/1301520a.html
Twin study; Ability to experience reward increased with the number of ‘Met’ alleles of the subject, and this differential effect of genotype was greater for events that were experienced as more pleasant. The effect size of genotypic moderation was quite large: subjects with the Val/Val genotype generated almost similar amounts of PA from a ‘very pleasant event’ as Met/Met subjects did from a ‘bit pleasant event’. [beanangel, Jun 09 2010]

[link]






       Is 'dorm' one of those words that means different things in US and UK English? I interpret it as a contraction of 'dormitory', meaning a large room in which lots of people sleep in separate beds.
hippo, Jun 08 2010
  

       I think you should use psychological testing rather than genetic, but, apart from that, this sounds *at least* half- baked, maybe even three-quarters. [+] I could easily imagine it being put into practice. Which bothers me, because it's a bit Brave-New-World-ish. College admissions policies would change: they'd admit people who were good-natured, but maybe not so smart, in order to meet a quota.   

       PS: //bring physiologically based hedonic imperative technologies to functional application// Reads like a parody of business-speak. *Way* more syllables than you need. Try "Make people happy with science."
mouseposture, Jun 08 2010
  

       // bring physiologically based hedonic imperative technologies to functional application// marked-for- concise-representative -wordbite-technology -application.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jun 08 2010
  

       I thought personality was already a factor in college admissions. It may be judged by your extracurricular activities or by whether the college interviewer finds you to be a halfway normal person, but the condition is there.   

       Anyway, is the goal to have a dorm full of all happy people, or is this about the optimal distribution of happy people throughout the various dorms on campus? E.g. make sure each floor of each dorm has at least 50% happy people? Can you request a happier dorm for an extra fee? Should people in more difficult areas of study be afforded the dorms with more happies?
phundug, Jun 08 2010
  

       So, what do you do with unhappy people? Warehouse them in a dour ghetto somewhere?
jutta, Jun 08 2010
  

       what do the happy people get out of it ?
FlyingToaster, Jun 08 2010
  

       Yes jutta, you put them away for a happylong time.
rcarty, Jun 08 2010
  

       [mfd] bad logic. Might as well make up a dorm of pot-heads: they're arguably happy.
FlyingToaster, Jun 08 2010
  

       // what do you do with unhappy people? //   

       Give them jobs in Accounts or Human Resources.
8th of 7, Jun 08 2010
  

       Who would have ever thought to make American university residences hedonistic places?
rcarty, Jun 08 2010
  

       you mean besides all the residents ?   

       but if you're already happy why do you need to pursue happiness ?
FlyingToaster, Jun 08 2010
  

       The same body of lit suggests that loneliness is also contagious. Are lonely people forced to use the distance education route to keep them from infecting the happy people?   

       On a nit picking tangent; one common criticism of the social network analysis literature is that it often fails to consider which direction the causal arrow points. It makes applied uses difficult.
swimswim, Jun 08 2010
  

       // why do you need to pursue happiness //   

       The thrill of the hunt ? The joy of killing it, and smearing its still-warm blood on your face, biting into the internal organs still pulsing and alive ? The seductive smell of a freshly-dismembered corpse ?
8th of 7, Jun 08 2010
  

       "...large room in which lots of people sleep in separate beds."   

       except in the happy rooms, they are all sleeping in the each other's beds, and rotating beds like bumper cars happily bouncing off one another in blissful ignorance of the neck injuries they are inflicting.
dentworth, Jun 08 2010
  

       We had a really happy guy that was responsible for our floor at Elam Arms at USM my sophomore year. He would invite the whole floor to go to the natural history museum and to watch dumb sit coms in his room. His only rule was no drugs and no drunks.   

       Most of us talked about how cheesy the whole thing was, but the ideas that this guy came up with were so novel, most of us ended up participating. Some of us even brought girls. And the girls often brought girls because it was a safe environment.   

       He didn't have to do all of that as an RA, but we followed him around all year, and generally had a great time.   

       So, + for the idea, because I think it means well, but what I think you really need is strong, principled leadership to pull the sad ones out of their rooms.
nomocrow, Jun 08 2010
  

       //So, what do you do with unhappy people? Warehouse them in a dour ghetto somewhere?//
As I understand it, the answer is:
Sprinkle them in amongst the happy people, taking care not to exceed some critical proportion, which you'll establish empirically, by treating the whole thing as a social psychology experiment.
A freshman dorm offers a rare opportunity to prospectively randomize who a person's friends are going to be.
  

       //which direction the causal arrow points// The BMJ paper actually addresses that. Their approach isn't perfect, but, to me, it seemed pretty good, considering the difficulty of the problem.
mouseposture, Jun 09 2010
  

       Happiness is a state of mind, not a group project.   

       Never did freshman dorm, just my opinion.   

       I'm sorry to hear that although I'm not sure what you mean by //radicalised//.   

       Having been //indoctrinated me in the arts of evil smiling and not giving a crap// from age seven until sixteen or so, I can assure you that happiness is indeed a state of mind...or I wouldn't be here to tell you so.   

       Happiness is delusional. This would encourage people to embrace maladaptive behaviour.
nineteenthly, Jun 09 2010
  

       My RA's idea was to cruise the campus with some of the dorm wearing nothing but a well-placed sock, and his usual attempts at generating happiness involved lots of alcohol.   

       Oddly, he's now a prof at the same school.
RayfordSteele, Jun 09 2010
  

       Ah, Nazi Happyelongation. Not what I thought you meant at all.   

       <starts folding over aired laundry>   

       Happiness is measurable At the Wichers 2008 study The people with the Met Met version of the COMT gene responded to a beeping watch at various ntervals then described their feelings were much happier than average they actually got more of a lift or perhaps liftier from various daily events   

       That this is genetic rather than cultural (If psychology tests had been used to create a group it could be argued that culture or "trained to act happy" caused the behavior) gives people the ability to create a multicultural or diverse social group while supporting well being   

       They might behave very differently as they come from a variety of cultural forms yet be happy   

       The college students ideas about the happiness dorm as well as the realization that they could have children particularly gifted with well being with PGD regardless of who they date create higher educational level fresh communications about duty opportunity preference   

       Dave Pearce of hedweb.com notes there is a duty to raise the hedonic tone of sentient creatures far far above what any person has experienced He is right
beanangel, Jun 09 2010
  

       // raise the hedonic tone of sentient creatures //   

       Easy. "Locutus, skewer us another cat. You know you want to".
8th of 7, Jun 09 2010
  

       If I were happy enough there I might not want to graduate.
daseva, Jun 10 2010
  
      
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