The Harvard Gazette

Happiness

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Jeffrey Goldberg, Arthur Brooks, and Oprah Winfrey.

Oprah and Arthur ask: Want to get happier?

Problem, they say, has to do with what we think happiness is, how to achieve it. (Hint: It’s not about racking up achievements or stuff.)

Nation|

DateSeptember 13, 2023November 8, 2023

Lulu August ’26 (center) is hugged by her proud parents, Kakuri and Agnes.

Happy together

Harvard’s campus offers moments of sheer joy, coupled with times of quiet reflection

Campus|

DateJuly 14, 2023November 8, 2023

Illustration of smiling faces growing on trees. (Illustration by Davor Pavelic/Ikon Images)

Happy? Want to learn how to be?

Harvard professor aims to ignite mass movement through podcasts, books, new lab at Kennedy School for research, leadership training

Health|

DateFebruary 7, 2023February 8, 2023

Illustration of woman flourishing.

Healthy? Maybe. But are you flourishing?

The answer, according to a groundbreaking new global study, might be more complex than you think

Health|

DateJanuary 11, 2022November 8, 2023

Smiley Face balloon.

The positive effects of optimism

Study finds a host of health benefits accompany an optimistic attitude

Health|

DateSeptember 24, 2020November 8, 2023

Aging

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

Health|

DateApril 11, 2017November 8, 2023

Daniel Gilbert, Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology, speaks about the current state of science for understanding the relationship between positive mental and physical health.

Can happiness lead toward health?

At conference, new Harvard center explores ties between those major life factors

Health|

DateDecember 5, 2016

Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology, listens during the symposium "Behavioral Ethics" at the Spangler Auditorium. Pinker took part in a panel discussion with philosophers Joshua Greene and Peter Singer to discuss what society can do to create more ethical behavior.

Giving ‘good’ a rigorous inspection

Greene, Pinker, and Singer trade ideas on how to be moral — and happy

Science|

DateOctober 28, 2016October 28, 2016

A gift from the Lee Kum Kee family will establish a new center for health and happiness at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

A quest for happiness

Gift will fund Harvard center to study how to increase everyday joy and health

Health|

DateApril 22, 2016

The interplay of money and happiness is subject to diminishing marginal returns, said Harvard Professor Daniel Gilbert. What’s the sweet spot where each dollar buys the most happiness? Gilbert cited a per capita income between $50,000 and $75,000.

Money, marriage, kids

To attain happiness, Gilbert says, consider your mom’s recipe

Science|

DateFebruary 21, 2013May 21, 2019

Americans like choices; the more the better. We want to choose what we want, even if the options are so great that our decision becomes essentially random, said social psychologist Dan Gilbert (right) during a conversation with economist N. Gregory Mankiw (left).

Decision, decisions

Social scientists debate whether increased choice leads to increased happiness

Science|

DateApril 25, 2012June 14, 2019

“The message of Michelle Obama’s ‘Let’s Move’ program is drowned out by the $2 billion spent to market unhealthy food to children,” said Evolutionary Biology Professor Daniel Lieberman during "Harvard Thinks Big" event at Sanders Theatre.

Ideas to improve the everyday

Third ‘Harvard Thinks Big’ event spotlights eight game-changing concepts

Campus|

DateFebruary 10, 2012April 9, 2019

“We used to think that if you had relatives who lived to a ripe old age, that was the best predictor” of a long life, said Robert Waldinger, director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital, and an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “It turns out that the lifestyle choices people make in midlife are a more important predictor of how long you live.”

Decoding keys to a healthy life

74 years young, Harvard study continues to yield a treasure trove of data

Health|

DateFebruary 2, 2012March 21, 2019

Exploring Happiness: From Aristotle to Brain Science

<h4>Yale University Press, July 2011</h4><h5>Sissela Bok</h5>

Arts|

DateNovember 10, 2011

Professor Nicholas Christakis delivered the 2011 Opening Days Lecture, telling freshmen that human social networks have the power to spread obesity — or happiness — like contagion.

Connecting with freshmen

Opening Days lecture highlights power of social networks

Science|

DateAugust 29, 2011July 18, 2019

Harvard psychologists Matthew A. Killingsworth (right) and Daniel T. Gilbert (left) used a special "track your happiness" iPhone app to gather research. The results: We spend at least half our time thinking about something other than our immediate surroundings, and most of this daydreaming doesn't make us happy.

Wandering mind not a happy mind

About 47% of waking hours spent thinking about what isn’t going on

Health|

DateNovember 11, 2010May 2, 2019

Howard Gardner (back to camera), the Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education, moderated a discussion with Derek Bok (far right), who recently penned “The Politics of Happiness: What Government Can Learn From the New Research on Well-Being,” and his wife Sissela, who is the author of “Exploring Happiness: From Aristotle to Brain Science.”

How to get happy

Boks relay what they’ve found in research and in life

Arts|

DateSeptember 29, 2010July 26, 2019

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

<h4>Princeton University Press, February 2010</h4><h5>Derek Bok</h5>

Arts|

DateApril 15, 2010

(Cambridge, MA - April 1, 2010) Medical Sociologist Professor Nicholas Christakis speaks to students in the Lowell House Junior Common Room as part of the Last Lecture Series about social networks and the connections between groups of people. Staff Photo Kristyn Ulanday/Harvard University

In last semester, ‘Last Lectures’

Favorite professors offer life advice to graduating seniors

Campus|

DateApril 2, 2010July 25, 2019

Happiness is…

The Boston Globe

News|

DateDecember 7, 2009

Nicholas Christakis: “All kinds of bad things spread through social networks: suicide, germs, drug abuse, unhappiness." But good things come too.

Social security

Book says our human networks keep us healthy and whole

Arts|

DateNovember 12, 2009

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

<h4>McGraw-Hill, March 2009</h4><h5>Tal Ben-Shahar</h5>

Arts|

DateOctober 1, 2009