I wonder what the default emotion is of most other creatures, specifically other mammals? To me, happiness is just a signal, just like sadness, anger, etc. It's your body telling you something is "good" or "bad" but isn't necessarily a natural feeling to be had 24/7.
If I look at my cat he seems happy having: Endless time to sleep/think, affection from his feline and human family, reasonably comfortable shelter, steady supply of food/water, sunshine, the freedom to go outside and explore. Seemingly little desire to turn on my computer/TV (outside of a brief fleeting curiosity), moving into my neighbors house, colonizing mars, listening to the news about starving cats in other parts of the world/city, or doing any "work" beyond directly helping him achieve the items on the first list. If I'm being honest that probably sums up the necessities for my own personal happiness.
General life satisfaction (which is the statistic mentioned in the article, in the context of happiness levels before and after the deletion of Facebook) is distinctly different from the acute joy one feels in the heat of victory (or more cynically, after taking stimulant drugs).
The default emotion could be relatively neutral, but the difference between happiness and sadness, in the "general life satisfaction" sense, is in the baseline.
A satisfied animal is not a competitive one in the game of survival and natural selection. We are cursed to forever be unsatisfied because that's what it takes to survive.
And then there’s the fact than any feeling that persists for longer than a certain period becomes normality. So you are no longer happy because you become desensitized to the endorphins in your brain (or produce less) and go back to neutral. That’s when you need more.
Since happiness can be traced back to chemicals in your brain you can see it just like any drug. You build up resistance and even if from the outside it looks like you have everything you might still be not happy.
I remember asking myself these questions years ago when I read an article about some physically impaired people being just as happy as able bodied ones, and one guy who left the Beatles before they became huge also being perfectly happy and content. Probably more so than the rest of the Beatles :).
I only have my anecdotal experience to draw from, but I've noticed that having a network of strong relationships is the one factor whose impact on my happiness hasn't seemed to dull over the years.
I think you are right. Might be because such a network is flexible, provides what you need, when you need it, and it only appreciates with time. Unlike say a car or a new phone which quickly depreciate and rarely adapt (can be adapted) to your future needs.
