Happiness is something most of us spend a lot of thought and energy striving to achieve. But do we strive in the most effective ways?
To a large extent, of course we do. We know that earning others’ respect and esteem will make us happier than earning their enmity, so we do our best to achieve the former and avoid the latter. But the past 40 years of research on psychological well-being has uncovered some surprising findings that can help us fine tune our pursuit of happiness.
This talk will review some of those findings with an eye toward preventing us from what some scholars have called “miswanting,” and highlight some simple actions we can all choose to take, starting today, to make us happier.
Presenter:
Tom Gilovich, Irene Blecker Rosenfeld Professor of Psychology; and Director, Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics and Decision Research