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How happy should I be?
Sometimes I will pull up to a red light and be, in the middle of the day, the first car in line waiting for the green. (Northern Virginia, of course, has its fair share of traffic, so this is unusual but it does happen.) I often wonder: should I be happy?
Under one view, I should be unhappy. The absence of other cars means the light hasn't been red for very long. That suggests I have a relatively long time to wait for a green.
Under another view, I should be happy. It is a brute fact, carved into "the furniture of the universe," when the light will turn green. How many cars I see won't change that. I should be happy that no cars will impede my forward progress.
Much rests on this question. I am very happy to have the friends I do. But exactly how happy should I be?
Should I be happy if I know the answer to this question? Or would knowing be like seeing no other cars around?
Posted by Tyler Cowen on March 14, 2006 at 07:22 AM in Science | Permalink
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Comments
You should be indifferent. The lack of cars to impede you is just as much "furniture of the universe". So if "furniture" cancels unhappiness then it should cancel happiness too.
Posted by: TomC at Mar 14, 2006 8:13:44 AM
You should be unhappy unless you can see, next to the traffic lights, a sign counting down the seconds until the lights change. They have these in Bangkok and (bizarrely) Yangon (Rangoon), but I haven't seen them anywhere else. Waits at traffic lights become a lot more pleasurable when you know exactly how long they're going to last.
Posted by: Ronnie Horesh at Mar 14, 2006 8:21:16 AM
What are your expectations? If you are stopped at a red light that you always stop at, being first is the best result. If it is a traffic light that you always zoom through, it's the worst.
Posted by: Matt at Mar 14, 2006 8:31:21 AM
Happy because the option cost of the delay between the light turning green and you moving has dropped to 0.
Posted by: nelsonal at Mar 14, 2006 8:46:44 AM
Unhappy if happiness is what you're thinking about at the stoplight or if your expectations are thwarted by the stop.
Measuring happiness with metrics is a sure way to make happiness disappear. (Though if this is the only thing on your mind at the stoplight, you're doing pretty well and should be grateful, if not happy.)
Better to be satisfied that you're on time, you won't have to wait for people to wake up and accelerate when the light changes, and you have a clear view of the landscape in case you need to make a defensive manuver.
Posted by: Mike at Mar 14, 2006 9:18:08 AM
You should be happy. There is no uncertainty as to whether you will make it through the intersection on the next green light if you are first in line. Also, you are able to easily move to the lane you want to be in after you go through the intersection when you are first in line.
Posted by: Brian at Mar 14, 2006 9:24:42 AM
You should be happy. You're still alive.
Posted by: ggg at Mar 14, 2006 9:33:20 AM
Apropos of Brian's comment, there are few worse feeling than pulling up to a red light with a long line of cars ahead of you, and knowing that you'll never make it through on the green cycle. This is not uncommon for me, as there are a couple of lights near me that have very short green cycles.
Posted by: Peter at Mar 14, 2006 9:41:21 AM
Actually, I've seen the timer countdown on lights in Indianapolis, although they're actually on the pedestrian walk/don't walk signs. But they're easily visible from the car if you're first in line.
I think there are just too many other variables to be sure of happiness one way or the other. But I would tend towards happiness, because when you're stopped, you have an opportunity to safely adjust your radio/dial a phone number/drink your coffee.
Posted by: Devin McCullen at Mar 14, 2006 9:53:45 AM
As time goes by, I become more and more convinced of the importance of framing effects. Several days ago a co-worker of mine had a $1000 car repair bill. He said, "well, it's better than having to buy a new car." I said, "yes, but wouldn't it have been even better if you'd had no repair costs at all?" Initially my reaction was that he'd picked an odd frame of reference. As I gave it more thought though, I realized that his frame of reference was just as good as mine, and that his frame was likely to make him view the experience more optimistically.
Posted by: Michael Stack at Mar 14, 2006 9:54:13 AM
Assumedly, by asking the question "How happy should I be," you are allowing that you can decide how happy to be.
Given that, the answer should be, "As happy as you can be."
Posted by: Richard Bellamy at Mar 14, 2006 10:17:08 AM
Why should it matter how happy you should be? Your state of mind probably determines that. On the other hand, you might follow a habit that is becoming increasingly common in my area and simply drive through the red light. Having driven in Northern Virginia, I suspect that the second course of action is more hazardous there than it is around here.
Posted by: GHanner at Mar 14, 2006 11:03:56 AM
Every day above ground is a good day.
Man, you think too much, just try to enjoy life a little.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at Mar 14, 2006 11:07:38 AM
I'm happy that I'm not thinking too much about traffic lights.
Posted by: weev at Mar 14, 2006 11:26:25 AM
You should be unhappy because your a sitting target in the intersection which is probably where the majority of collisions occur. You are likely to be the one broadsided by someone running a red light not the car behind you.
Posted by: skroah at Mar 14, 2006 12:19:51 PM
I would be happy because I can test the acceleration on my incredibly responsive sports car (1995 Nissan Altima). A little delusion goes a long way.
Posted by: Josh at Mar 14, 2006 12:34:39 PM
No one's happiness should depend in the least little bit on their position in a traffic line. If it does, that person is virtually guaranteed an unhappy life.
Posted by: Kent Guida at Mar 14, 2006 12:40:21 PM
You should be happy.
If you are like me, the disutility I feel from having to wait at a long red light is less than the disutility (frustration) I feel if I have to wait at a shorter red light, but have my ability to accelerate and otherwise maneuver my vehicle be constrained by other drivers.
Posted by: tdo at Mar 14, 2006 1:03:15 PM
Just how much disutility do I feel in these situations, you ask?
Well, I don't know, but if you wanted to ride along and periodically take my blood pressure, I think we could find out!
Posted by: tdo at Mar 14, 2006 1:22:09 PM
All of you have missed the obvious answer:
It depends what's playing on the radio.
- Josh
Posted by: Wild Pegasus at Mar 14, 2006 1:43:37 PM
You should be happy for purely pragmatic reasons. If we assume that you value being happy and that you drive frequently there are going to be numerous stop-light scenarios fulfilling any possible ordinal combination and, as a result, if any particular scenario makes you unhappy you are doomed to be unhappy on a regular basis! Better instead to be thrilled that you exist at a time/place when average citizens (not implying that Tyler is average) can travel from points A to B at average speeds approaching one-mile-per-minute! Accept that a sub-optimal ordinal relationship is bad which is predicated upon the existence of a very much larger good!
Posted by: Cb at Mar 14, 2006 3:09:21 PM
There really is no answer to this question. Your choice of the word "should" implies that your happiness is measured against some scale and that there is a correct place on that scale where the particular set of circumstances would place it. Even if we all assume that such a scale can exist at all, no one else can answer the question for you for the same reason that the only mechanism that can produce market calculations is a market.
You as an individual have to measure your happiness at that moment. It is a function of your demand for the various alternatives. If you are having a pleasant conversation with a friend in your car, perhaps the delay is almost completely irrelevant to you. Whereas, if you are late to pick up a friend, you may value even the smallest amount of saved time very highly. There is no scale other than the value you place on all of the factors involved, at that time.
Posted by: Dale at Mar 14, 2006 3:46:50 PM
You need a life.
Posted by: rmark at Mar 14, 2006 4:02:49 PM
You should be miserable. Tyrone looks to be
smarter than you are, :-).
Posted by: Barkley Rosser at Mar 14, 2006 4:48:52 PM
Happiness shouldn't rest on a single traffic light.
It should at the least be on how quickly (assuming safety) you get to your destination.
What if you don't want to get there? The inverse.
This implies that you should be happy if you're getting what you want faster -- or more of what you want.
Friends should be judged on how much they give to you. It is a question of opportunity cost, given that there is a pretty small sphere of friends most people can tolerate.
Would a different set of friends offset the negative aspects of getting rid of your current friends?
Posted by: Ivan Kirigin at Mar 14, 2006 6:26:40 PM
