The Science of Happiness
This week on the Nature & Nurture Podcast, I interviewed psychologist Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar on the science of happiness.
Find the podcast on YouTube and Spotify. See also my recent Psychology Today article based on our conversation.
We talk about the science of happiness, its roots in positive psychology, and what psychology commonly gets wrong about happiness. We talk about how happiness is neither synonymous with pleasure nor the “just fine” state of not being unhappy. We talk about mismatches between our current environment and our ancestral environment, and how lack of exercise, poor nutrition, and poor social bonds contribute to the epidemic of unhappiness. We talk about anti-fragility, meaning, delay of gratification, and how an optimal level of stress and scarcity is necessary for happiness. Lastly, we talk about how Tal founded the Happiness Studies Academy, and how happiness studies has emerged as an interdisciplinary new science.