It depends on your perspective of what feigned happiness is.

There’s a fine line between faking a mood and trying your best to see something in a positive light.

To me, happiness describes a subjective feeling, whereas faking or pretending it refers to something you try to display outwardly despite not actually feeling that way. Kind of like bravery. You can’t fake it because faking it is bravery.

I also suspect that usually when people say “happiness,” they’re actually referring to the feeling of being content.

To a certain degree, yes. Acting happy can cause you to do activities (connection) that can actually make you more happy.

In general though, a lot of unhappiness is founded in either an emotional response to an unhappy situation or in some type of chronic illness. Feigned happiness does not ever address underlying causes that should be addressed therapeutically.

No. To feign happiness one must be aware they they are not happy.

On some level, sure. That’s why cognitive behavioural therapy works for certain people. It can’t replace actual happiness, though; that has to come from you.

Happiness can mean either of two things: joy and contentment.

While it might be possible to convincingly feign elation, contentment, I’d argue, is harder to convey externally and near impossible to fool yourself about.