It is a smartwatch that looks at when and how a person will feel happy in the future. Can you measure how much happy you are? The researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Budner Pascal and his team have recently developed a new method to measure happiness through a smartwatch. A project that, in addition to measuring it, is also capable of accurately predicting it, based on the activity levels of each person.
They develop a thermometer to measure happiness
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And for performing this act, the team has connected a Pebble smartwatch to an Android smartphone. While the smartwatch is responsible for collecting parameters such as heart rate or activity levels, the mobile phone application is responsible for informing users of how happy and active they feel through a happiness thermometer.
A thermometer that will help you return happily signals.
Thanks to the data collected by the smartwatch, the happiness thermometer that incorporates the app can suggest the user’s mood. Also, it will allow you to modify if it is incorrect. Also, to determine the level of happiness, the application has a traditional view of psychologists based on a two-dimensional parameter: value and excitation.
On the one hand, the excitation shows the willingness of a user to act.
It comes with being more alert than usual and having a higher heart rate. The thermometer is capable of measuring excitation on a scale of not active, active or very active. On the other hand, the value becomes a measure capable of breaking down happiness into three levels: feeling very good, good or bad. Thanks to these two parameters, the team can determine the level of the delight of each user.
Other factors that determine your happiness
In addition to the bidimensional parameter of value and excitation, the application also registers other factors such as the user’s location, the day of the week, the time and weather conditions. Thanks to all these elements, the mobile application can determine the happiness of a person.
After testing it for two months with a group of 60 people, the team determined that the accuracy of this happy mood thermometer is up to 94%. Among the most predictive data of happiness, according to the researchers, climate and movement among locations stand out. Meanwhile, physiological data such as heart rate have a lower predictive power.