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Prof Richard Lucas (Michigan State University)

Abstract

For many years, psychologists have debated whether or not happiness is impacted by our life circumstances. Some argue that life events, such as getting married or becoming unemployed, affect our happiness, whereas others argue that happiness is more or less fixed — regardless of what’s happening in our lives, our happiness is determined by our personality. The scientific results are messy and often contradictory. In this talk, I take a critical look at the science of happiness, identify flaws in the scientific record, and present new results from studies following large, representative samples of people over many years. These results show that happiness isn’t fixed – it can and does change in response to changing life circumstances, often in ways that match people’s intuitions. A more rigorous science of happiness is vital to developing better public policy, interventions, and tools for people to increase their own happiness.