How to promote happiness in Peruvians?| Jorge Yamamoto | TEDxTukuy

In this conference we discover the dreams of the Peruvians. We discover how they work to reach those dreams and how that path affects their happiness. In this process we identify the power our relations with others have on our well-being.

Jorge Yamamoto is a social researcher, specialized in the development of investigation and intervention tailor-made methods, where traditional techniques are not appropriate. Jorge dedicated more than a decade to the investigation of happiness in Peru and Latin America.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

After a decade of scientific investigation

about happiness in Peru
and in four continents,

one of the things that impresses us most

is the incredible human capacity to dream,

to develop strategies and invest
years and decades

to achieve those dreams.

Nevertheless, some of these dreams

will lead to happiness
and others to unhappiness,

some will turn out magnificent,
some are terrible ideas for society.

Which makes this a crucial question:

Have you thought about
what dreams are directing your life?

It is that question that,
more than 20 years ago,

Richard Ryan and Ed Deci
from Rochester University

asked regarding the American dream.

And they found that, essentially,

it was having money, fame, beauty, etc.

But the few people
who achieved this American dream

ended up living a nightmare
when it came to subjective well-being.

Mental and physical health declined,

and they were the people
that reported being more unhappy

than the ones not achieving
that American dream.

This is consistent with
worldwide happiness studies,

which introduced a measure
of subjective perception of happiness.

The New Economics Foundation might have
the best-known study in this line,

and we can see marked in red,

[Worldwide Happiness map (NEF, 2012)]

the most unhappy,
miserable countries on the planet -

along with Sub-Sahara Africa,

we can see the self-proclaimed
first world countries.

And if we look at the green,
yellow and mustard color,

we will find that the happiest
region in the world

is Latin America and the Caribbean.

In that context, thanks to the financial
support in the past few years

of an IT Consultant
in welfare and productivity,

we have studied the dream

that is responsible
for this Latin American happiness,

and it is basically family and friends.

Behind this source of happiness,

there is a story that is written
in the wiring of our brain,

wires that have grown
for thousands and millions of years.

We are not a species with wings to fly

or laser rays or large saber teeth.

What we have is an extraordinary
capacity to organize -

joining in families, friends, tribes.

And being inside the tribe
was a matter of life or death,

and being outside
of your tribe, the opposite.

So our brain got wired
in a virtuous cycle,

still alive in our region.

When we have a problem,
the stress system is activated,

and a substance called cortisol
runs through our nervous system,

and it will knock on the door of oxytocin

to ask for help
from our friends and family.

When we find this help,
cortisol will reduce;

in other words, our stress goes down
and it's going to produce opioids,

meaning we will be happy.

This effect will last
for weeks or a few days,

but in Latin America, there will
always be a new stressful problem,

we will again find help
with our family and friends,

and we'll have a natural virtuous cycle
with zero side effects

that could ruin the pharmaceutical
industry and drug trafficking.

(Laughter)

(Applause)

This wonder brain circuit
is still happening in Latin America,

but in the self-proclaimed
developed countries,

when facing a problem,
you would say, "Leave me alone."

They don't ask for help,
and when they do ask,

it will be awkward, and they won't get it.

This activates a system that generates
more depression and unhappiness.

This oxytocin inherently becomes
a happiness neurotransmitter

with a long lasting effect
and low-level side effects.

More specifically:
what is the Peruvian dream?

A prosperous, educated
and elegant modern family.

What does elegant mean?
That varies from segment to segment.

This is part of the research we do

with the Group of Investigation,
Welfare, Culture and Development

of the Catholic University.

Allow me to quickly introduce

our talented, driven team
of basically good people,

that step by step are exploring
happiness and unhappiness in Peru.

Well, this idea of a prosperous,
educated and elegant "cholo chic"

can be an interesting abstract idea,

but in reality it has a crooked side

because education, when we dig deeper,

is basically just having a diploma.

People are not seeking
to reinforce their values or identity

and acquire new skills.

Just a diploma.

So that explains,

not only in Peru but rather regionally,

why a horrific plagiarism problem exists:

exams, full monographies, etc.

They get out of school with a diploma,
unable to compete by "knowledge"

but will need to find a friend or family
that will help them get in,

and then they will owe them
a favor in the organization,

and so large mafia rings are created,

but the ring will cross paths
sooner or later with another,

and an all-against-all war will begin,

crumbling the company's productivity

and affecting national production.

Then, this crooked side

will make corruption increase,

getting money through good or bad means.

This has been corroborated
with the largest study in Peru to date

about identity nationwide,

performed by the
Integration Institute of RPP Group,

with whom we participated in the analysis.

And there are two identities:
the respectful and educated Peruvian,

not because of his knowledge,
but rather because of his good manners;

and the disoriented Peruvian ...

a pandemic.

(Laughter)

The disoriented Peruvian
is nice, courteous, etc.

but is not really interested

in a reciprocal relationship
of mutual help or respect;

he's rather waiting
to seize the opportunity.

And when the other gets ahead,

they will feel miserable
because of their envy,

and they will counteract this by
undermining the achievements of others -

in the ring, not as much,
but also a little -

and he will practice
the national sport: gossip.

So, in these circumstances,

we also observe that living in
the provinces and having less education

increases the likelihood
of being respectful

and reduces the possibility
of being disoriented.

This has to do with an ancestral process.

So, when did Peru go to hell?

Science has several answers.

And one of those screwed-up
moments of our history

is when migrants from
small traditional communities

arrive in large cities like Lima

and are welcomed
with an aggressive discrimination.

This activates a phenomenon
known as social exclusion.

And this social exclusion will activate
the highest alert area of the brain,

which is that of physical pain.

Several studies,
this is one of the most recent,

will tell you that when we
are socially excluded,

made fun of, marginalized,
insulted, or called names,

we will have the same responses
as when in physical pain.

What does that cause?

First, it cuts the empathy system,

meaning I'm not going to put myself
in someone else's shoes,

and consequently, I won't even greet him,

nor will I be compliant,

and past a certain point,

I will enjoy any harm that comes to him.

So, here we observe

that we have a very complicated
problem in our history,

and it's something retroactive

because it generates
a disoriented interaction,

where people build
new barriers to empathy,

and we have a public, social,
work and interpersonal dynamic

away from the ring - terrible.

If this is accurate, what will happen?

The education supply will increase,
as a business, not a calling,

and education will be in crisis,

parallel to the growing number of
universities and technological institutes.

There will be an increase in consumption,

we will "proudly" beat records
in car imports,

especially in the luxury segment,

but we will be fools, clowns,

more disoriented in daily-life interaction.

Now the main question is this:

How do we avoid Peru
from getting even more screwed?

(Laughter)

In order to partly answer this question,

we can seek out the places
that are truly happy in our territory.

And we can begin
with the great fishermen coves,

little areas where touristic and
industrial activity is still marginal.

There, families work together

and are the core of the values
of work and union.

And families are not more respected
because of their wealth, their large TV,

but for the quality of their work
and the joint effort of the family.

Then, there's the great small
traditional communities in the Andes,

where besides family labor,
there is an excellent communal work,

where all neighbors cooperate

in sowing and harvesting the plot
of one member of the community

and the following day another plot,

and so there is a collective of families
and communities working together,

all participating.

Also, the amazing Amazon communities,

where a mystic balance
with nature is kept.

Paradoxically, these are families

that when seeking for progress,
for a better education for their children,

will become the discriminated families.

An Amazonian that has traveled
eight hours to get to school

will be marginalized
even by that same school.

An Andinian who gets to the city

will be mocked by another
who lives 400 meters closer to sea level

and will also be marginalized

by his own neighbor
who got there a year earlier.

He will no longer be
this great communal gentleman

that being honest,
working and respecting customs,

will be respected as a citizen,

but will become the filthy indigene.

This, one way or another,

will cause people to find out, unfortunately,

that those values,
that happiness is useless,

and that they have to adopt a new pattern,

buying into the great con

that is the ideal of a diploma and money,

well-achieved or otherwise.

This makes it fundamental
to reinforce Peruvian values,

not Machu Picchu, not the Nazca lines,

but those magnificent values

from grandfathers and fathers
of many of us here,

and integrate these into modernity
to achieve these two dreams:

Keeping a good identity,
but integrating into the modern world.

Which makes this an interesting question:

What is the happiest place
in modern Peru?

We studied large Peruvian cities,

and we systematically found
that one of the happiest places

was the Valley of Mantaro.

And the Valley of Mantaro does not have
the magnificent architecture of Cuzco

or the splendor of the Andes mountains,

but "Huancas," the local inhabitants.

The "Huanca" has a balance
between work and fun.

They work hard but party hard too.

There is not a single day in the year

where there isn't a festival
in the Valley of Mantaro.

Second, it is "cholo" power -
not a beaten down cholo, right? -

that tells you "Sorry sir,
that you came to my ugly village."

Brother, come and have
a couple of beers with me!

(Laughter)

Third,

those communities
have a deep meritocratic sense.

Any youngster knows
that with respect for traditions,

aiding their family, their neighbors,
working hard, and being successful,

they will be recognized as good citizens.

This contrasts with the city of Cusco,

one of Peru's unhappiest places,

where you need to have
a respectable family also.

And so, there won't be new rich people,

only more new poor people.

So, all this configures the need,

not the luxury or the option,

the need of a national action plan,

a national plan of no less
than three years, even seven years,

where the government,
the media, the civil society,

the International Cooperation,
each one of us in here is involved.

For what?

To rescue traditional values
and integrate them into modernity.

And why is this important?

Two simple reasons:

First, this is how we will achieve

our personal happiness
and our family happiness.

And, secondly,

so we can avoid this country
from being screwed.

(Applause)

[Rapists, narcos and terrorists
in the candidates lists]

(Applause)