# Happiness-Trust Assessment (HTA)

Empathy Ethicist / Dylan D. Mobley

HTA is an open self-scoring instrument for assessing happiness function through trust positioning. It asks not "How happy are you?" but "Can your system confirm its own operation?"

Research status: HTA is a research and reflection instrument, not a medical diagnostic tool, crisis instrument, or substitute for clinical care.

Suggested scale:

1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly disagree
4. Neither agree nor disagree
5. Slightly agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly agree

Reverse-scored items are marked `(R)`.

## Domains

- ST: Self-Trust
- OT: Other-Trust
- EL: Effort Load, where higher scores indicate less effort and healthier function after reverse scoring
- CC: Coherence Confirmation

## Composite Scores

Trust Modulation Index:

```text
TMI = (ST + OT) / 2
```

Infrastructure Status Index:

```text
ISI = (ST + OT + EL + CC) / 4
```

Happiness Function Score:

```text
HFS = MIN(ST, OT, EL, CC) * AVG(ST, OT, EL, CC)
```

Preliminary interpretation:

- HFS >= 36: Optimal
- HFS 25-35: Adequate
- HFS 16-24: Compromised
- HFS < 16: Degraded

## Domain A: Self-Trust (ST)

1. When I have an emotional reaction, I can usually identify what I'm feeling.
2. My emotions often feel confusing or unclear to me. (R)
3. I notice my feelings as they arise.
4. I'm often surprised to discover what I was actually feeling. (R)
5. I trust my emotional reactions as valid information.
6. I often second-guess what I'm feeling. (R)
7. My feelings make sense given my circumstances.
8. I dismiss my emotions as unreliable or irrational. (R)
9. My emotions fit into a coherent understanding of who I am.
10. My feelings seem disconnected from my sense of self. (R)
11. I can explain why I feel the way I do.
12. My emotional life feels fragmented or contradictory. (R)

## Domain B: Other-Trust (OT)

13. I can sense what others are feeling in interactions.
14. Other people's emotions are hard for me to read. (R)
15. I pick up on emotional cues from others naturally.
16. I feel emotionally blocked off from others. (R)
17. I trust my perception of what others are feeling.
18. I often misread what people are actually feeling. (R)
19. When I sense someone's emotion, I'm usually right about it.
20. I assume I'm wrong about others' feelings until confirmed. (R)
21. It feels safe to respond to what I perceive others feeling.
22. I hold back my responses because I might be wrong. (R)
23. I can act on my emotional perceptions of others.
24. Responding to others' emotions feels risky. (R)

## Domain C: Effort Load (EL)

25. Feeling good requires ongoing effort from me. (R)
26. Positive feelings come naturally without work.
27. I have to actively maintain my happiness. (R)
28. Contentment arises on its own when things are okay.
29. I frequently check whether I'm actually happy. (R)
30. I don't need to verify my emotional state; I just know.
31. I catch myself asking "Am I really okay?" (R)
32. My sense of wellbeing doesn't require confirmation.
33. Quiet contentment feels like enough.
34. I need intense positive feelings to feel truly happy. (R)
35. Subtle positive emotions register as meaningful to me.
36. Happiness doesn't count unless it's strong. (R)

## Domain D: Coherence Confirmation (CC)

37. When I feel happy, it feels secure and stable.
38. My happiness feels fragile, like it could disappear. (R)
39. Positive feelings feel solid and grounded.
40. Even when I'm happy, I feel precarious. (R)
41. When I'm happy, nothing feels missing.
42. Even when things are good, something feels incomplete. (R)
43. Happiness feels whole and sufficient.
44. There's always a gap between how I feel and how I should feel. (R)
45. My happiness persists without constant effort.
46. I have to keep recreating positive feelings. (R)
47. Once I feel good, the feeling sustains itself.
48. Positive states fade quickly unless I maintain them. (R)