Tag: Happiness

  • Nation & World

    Oprah and Arthur ask: Want to get happier? 

    “Build the Life You Want” co-authors drew on research and experience in a conversation that cautioned against conventional wisdom.

    3 minutes
    Jeffrey Goldberg, Arthur Brooks, and Oprah Winfrey.
  • Nation & World

    Happy together

    Photo gallery features images that reflect moments of joy, quiet contentment, and companionship.

    3 minutes
    Lulu August ’26 (center) is hugged by her proud parents, Kakuri and Agnes.
  • Nation & World

    Happy? Want to learn how to be?

    Arthur Brooks aims to ignite a mass movement through podcasts, books, and a new lab at the Kennedy School for research and leadership training.

    5 minutes
    Illustration of smiling faces growing on trees. (Illustration by Davor Pavelic/Ikon Images)
  • Nation & World

    Healthy? Maybe. But are you flourishing?

    Researchers at Harvard, Baylor launch groundbreaking Global Flourishing Study.

    5 minutes
    Illustration of woman flourishing.
  • Nation & World

    The positive effects of optimism

    A Harvard Chan School study has found a link between optimism and hypertension, describing the positive force as having a “protective effect” on individuals, including those in combat.

    4 minutes
    Smiley Face balloon.
  • Nation & World

    Good genes are nice, but joy is better

    Harvard study, almost 80 years old, has proved that embracing community helps us live longer, and be happier

    9 minutes
    Aging
  • Nation & World

    Can happiness lead toward health?

    A new Harvard center on health and happiness had its academic coming-out party Friday, hosting a daylong symposium that highlighted what science does and doesn’t say about the interaction of health and happiness, and identifying pathways where investigators should probe next.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Giving ‘good’ a rigorous inspection

    Harvard scholars Joshua Greene and Steven Pinker were joined by Princeton philosopher Peter Singer in a conversation examining how to be moral — and happy.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    A quest for happiness

    A gift from the Lee Kum Kee family in Hong Kong will fund a new Harvard center to study how to increase happiness and, by extension, health.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Money, marriage, kids

    There may be a formula for happiness after all, says Daniel Gilbert, Harvard professor of psychology and best-selling author of “Stumbling on Happiness,” who presented an impressive array of scientific research from the disciplines of economics, psychology, and neuroscience to assess his mother’s recipe for happiness.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Decision, decisions

    Two of Harvard’s leading social scientists discussed the way that humans make decisions, and whether having more choices really makes us happier.

    6 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Ideas to improve the everyday

    All-star Harvard faculty members at “Harvard Thinks Big” dazzled and provoked their audience in 10-minute talks Thursday that framed major questions about happiness, stem cell growth, runaway obesity, and the exploding American prison population.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Decoding keys to a healthy life

    Now 74 years young, the Harvard Study of Adult Development continues to yield a treasure trove of data about how people behave, and change — including predictions of strong indicators to a happy life.

    6 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Exploring Happiness: From Aristotle to Brain Science

    Happiness — how do we get it, how do we keep it, and where does it come from? Distinguished visiting fellow Sissela Bok plumbs the theories of philosophers, neuroscientists, and other specialists, and synthesizes her research into a comprehensive overview of the subject.

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    Connecting with freshmen

    Harvard College freshmen got their first taste Aug. 26 of the world of ideas awaiting them over the next four years in a talk by Professor Nicholas Christakis, who delivered the 2011 Opening Days Lecture, “Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives.”

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Wandering mind not a happy mind

    People spend 46.9 percent of their waking hours thinking about something other than what they’re doing, and this mind wandering typically makes them unhappy, according to research by Harvard psychologists Matthew A. Killingsworth and Daniel T. Gilbert.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    How to get happy

    Former Harvard President Derek Bok and his wife Sissela, a Harvard fellow, discussed their recent books on happiness in a discussion at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    The Politics of Happiness: What Government Can Learn from the New Research on Well-Being

    Government and happiness? Not so strange bedfellows, says Derek Bok, former president of Harvard and professor at Harvard Law School, who investigates how happiness research could affect policy.

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    In last semester, ‘Last Lectures’

    As a prelude to graduation, seniors organize a “Last Lecture” series to receive advice from favorite professors.

    2 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Happiness is…

    Which would make you happier: winning the lottery, or losing the ability to walk? It may seem like a no-brainer, but Daniel Gilbert, a psychology professor at Harvard University, says the answer may surprise you.

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    Social security

    Harvard authors who met years ago through social networking produce the book “Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives.”

    2 minutes
  • Nation & World

    The Pursuit of Perfect: How to Stop Chasing Perfection and Start Living a Richer, Happier Life

    This alumnus and Continuing Ed professor says embracing the highs and lows of being human leads to happiness. So leave your android perfection behind and get real.

    1 minute