WEBVTT 00:00:00.130 --> 00:00:04.500 Participant 1: Shut up [laughs] Participant 2: What? Wait, wait. 00:00:04.500 --> 00:00:06.000 Participant 3: Oh he's gonna be so embarrassed. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:15.600 [title music] 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:21.810 Julian Huguet: What makes you happy? Having fun? 00:00:21.810 --> 00:00:25.339 Hanging out with friends? Delicious food? 00:00:25.339 --> 00:00:29.679 Making money? Well consider this. Psychologists have scientifically 00:00:29.679 --> 00:00:33.040 proven that one of the greatest contributing factors to overall happiness in your life 00:00:33.040 --> 00:00:37.680 is how much gratitude you show. Yup. Think about that. 00:00:37.680 --> 00:00:40.940 Go ahead and marinate on that for a second. You can thank me later if you want. 00:00:40.940 --> 00:00:42.710 It will make you feel better according to this study. 00:00:42.710 --> 00:00:46.490 You go ahead and click on it and read it if you want. 00:00:46.490 --> 00:00:50.970 Or, you can keep watching because we read it, we thought it might be fun to test out 00:00:50.970 --> 00:00:53.260 for ourselves. We gathered a selection of volunteers to act 00:00:53.260 --> 00:00:56.100 as our subjects. First we gave them a test. 00:00:56.100 --> 00:00:59.620 They didn't know what we were looking for. But they gave us a pretty good idea of their 00:00:59.620 --> 00:01:02.739 current level of happiness. We asked them to close their eyes and think 00:01:02.739 --> 00:01:05.009 of somebody who was really influential in their life. 00:01:05.009 --> 00:01:07.560 Somebody who did something really amazing or important for them. 00:01:07.560 --> 00:01:11.369 We had them write down as much as they could about why this person was so important. 00:01:11.369 --> 00:01:15.140 Now a lot of them thought at this point the experiment was over until we really put them 00:01:15.140 --> 00:01:19.299 on the spot and tried to get them to call that person and read what they wrote about 00:01:19.299 --> 00:01:21.229 them. Thank you Jessica. We are going to have to 00:01:21.229 --> 00:01:23.759 have you call your mother. So who was that right person for you? 00:01:23.759 --> 00:01:26.810 Participant 1: The person is my sister Erica. JH: We're gonna give Erica a call. 00:01:26.810 --> 00:01:29.009 Participant 1: [laughs] Okay. JH: Who'd you end up picking? 00:01:29.009 --> 00:01:31.869 Participant 3: Friend of mine, Greg Haines. Participant 4: Her name is Dora. 00:01:31.869 --> 00:01:35.889 Participant 5: My college accounting instructor. JH: Really! Is this someone you're still in 00:01:35.889 --> 00:01:39.240 touch with today? P 5: No I'm assuming that he is passed on. 00:01:39.240 --> 00:01:41.139 JH: That's a shame. P5: To the great beyond. 00:01:41.139 --> 00:01:44.310 JH: You up for it? P3: Um, uh yes. 00:01:44.310 --> 00:01:50.560 JH: What would you say if we called up Dora? P4: We can try but she lives in Britain. 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:53.009 JH: In Britain? P2: I don't know her number by heart, this 00:01:53.009 --> 00:01:55.090 is awful. JH: That's fine, I don't know my mom's phone 00:01:55.090 --> 00:01:58.090 number by heart. P5: If it's true that those who are gone 00:01:58.090 --> 00:02:01.649 on are looking down on us, maybe he'll recognize he is great. 00:02:01.649 --> 00:02:07.689 [on phone]: Hi sweetheart! P2: Hey how you doing. Um you gotta second? 00:02:07.689 --> 00:02:12.600 Where you at, the hotel? [phone]: I am, I'm in the hotel. You scared 00:02:12.600 --> 00:02:14.510 me when you asked if I had a second, I thought something was wrong 00:02:14.510 --> 00:02:20.470 P2: No I'm on this little TV show and they told me to talk about the person that influenced 00:02:20.470 --> 00:02:26.000 me the most, and I picked you and they're making me call, they're making me call you. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:30.000 [phone]: Oh wonderful! [phone dialing] 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:35.000 [voicemail] 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:37.030 [phone dialing] 00:02:37.030 --> 00:02:43.090 P1: Oh come on. [phone]: Hello? 00:02:43.090 --> 00:02:50.090 P1: Hi! Erica, it's me. P2: Alright so I gotta read you this paragraph, 00:02:50.360 --> 00:02:53.780 can you hear me? [phone]: Yes I can. Go ahead sweetheart. 00:02:53.780 --> 00:02:59.010 P2: Alright. The person that influenced me the most would be my mother, Marlow Dawson. 00:02:59.010 --> 00:03:04.070 She is a single mother of two, she is a very hard-worker and dedicated to her family. 00:03:04.070 --> 00:03:11.070 P3: Hey Craig, this is Lowy. Um, this is gonna be a funny little voicemail so I hope you 00:03:11.160 --> 00:03:14.800 enjoy it. P4: I'm so sorry for calling you at 4 o'clock 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:18.580 in the morning! P1: I have to read this to you okay? You can't 00:03:18.580 --> 00:03:23.630 say anything or I don't know. You can respond but, I probably will just keep going [laughs] 00:03:23.630 --> 00:03:25.860 okay? [phone]: Is everything okay? 00:03:25.860 --> 00:03:28.470 P1: Yes! But I have to read this out loud to you. 00:03:28.470 --> 00:03:33.200 P5: The person who has had the biggest impact on my life, outside of Jesus Christ who is 00:03:33.200 --> 00:03:41.200 responsible for my existence, was my college accounting instructor. He had a joy and enthusiasm 00:03:41.220 --> 00:03:44.070 for his job like no other teacher I have ever known. 00:03:44.070 --> 00:03:48.150 P2: I love her to death, and she keeps me going with positive talk, she is a woman that 00:03:48.150 --> 00:03:52.500 knows what she wants and won't give up until it is achieved. 00:03:52.500 --> 00:03:59.500 [phone]: Oh pumpkin, I don't know what to, I'm about to cry because that's so beautiful. 00:03:59.860 --> 00:04:06.500 I have to say that's just wonderful. P3: I first met Craig on an independent feature 00:04:06.500 --> 00:04:10.860 film set in Whitefish, Montana. I recently have been sending Craig a lot of positive 00:04:10.860 --> 00:04:15.819 thoughts as he suffered a series of health problems. Despite his medical problems, he's 00:04:15.819 --> 00:04:19.889 continued to work and take pleasure in the small things in life like sitting quietly 00:04:19.889 --> 00:04:25.670 with his wife Jeanine on the porch. P1: Erica is my older sister and my best friend. 00:04:25.670 --> 00:04:31.220 Sometimes it even feels like we are twins! She is my number one fan and my number one 00:04:31.220 --> 00:04:36.040 supporter. She makes me happy because despite all my mistakes and my decisions, she still 00:04:36.040 --> 00:04:40.910 loves me no matter what. P4: Your friendship is everything. And you 00:04:40.910 --> 00:04:44.180 are one of the most important person in my life. 00:04:44.180 --> 00:04:49.340 P1: Even when she has a kid and many children I will love her more than her kids! Okay, 00:04:49.340 --> 00:04:53.880 maybe not. I will never forget when she flew 3000 miles at the drop of a phone call to 00:04:53.880 --> 00:04:58.800 save me from a break-up. [phone]: I'm being blessed by having a son 00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:05.800 like you. I love you. P3: Bye! 00:05:06.020 --> 00:05:10.000 [phone]: Why did you do this to me? P1: [laughs] I don't know because they made 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:14.560 me do it! P4: Thank you for picking up, bye sweetie! 00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:17.680 P1: And then they're like here you're gonna write this letter and then I wrote like this 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:22.120 whole long-ass letter which you know I don't write. And then all of a sudden they're like 00:05:22.120 --> 00:05:26.000 "hey guess what you're gonna call her and you're gonna read her this letter and it was 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:28.000 like what the [expletive] [laughs]. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:42.200 JH: Before we let them go we gave our subjects 00:05:42.200 --> 00:05:45.800 one more happiness test. Now we mixed up and rephrased the questions so they didn't know 00:05:45.800 --> 00:05:49.560 they were taking the same test twice. For those who took the time to actually write 00:05:49.560 --> 00:05:52.840 something down but couldn't make the phone call for whatever reason we saw happiness 00:05:52.840 --> 00:05:57.870 increase between 2 and 4 percent. Good, but not exactly mind-blowing. Now for those who 00:05:57.870 --> 00:06:01.980 actually picked up the phone and personally expressed their gratitude, we saw increases 00:06:01.980 --> 00:06:08.980 between 4 and 19 percent. So either way! Expressing your gratitude will making you a happier person. 00:06:09.419 --> 00:06:14.610 But you want to know something really interesting? The person who experienced the biggest jump 00:06:14.610 --> 00:06:20.139 in happiness was the least happy person who walked in the door. What does that mean? That 00:06:20.139 --> 00:06:24.340 means if you're having a particularly tough time, trying this out will more likely have 00:06:24.340 --> 00:06:31.340 a greater impact on you. Trust me! I'm in a lab coat. In fact, while you're at it, film 00:06:31.720 --> 00:06:36.430 it and upload it to us and we'll do something awesome with it. I'm Julian and this has been 00:06:36.430 --> 00:06:38.919 The Science of Happiness. 00:06:38.919 --> 00:07:10.000 SoulPancake Subscribe!