The Science of Happiness

There are many researchers that are studying the new science of happiness. This is part of the fascinating science of "Positive Psychology." I want to share two people that share their insights and research into happiness.

The first one is cognitive researcher Nancy Etcoff, who looks at happiness and the ways we try to achieve and increase it. "The way it's untethered to our real circumstances, and its surprising effect on our bodies."

Here is the link to her presentation on TED: http://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_etcoff_on_happiness_and_why_we_want_it.html

The second presentation on the science of happiness comes from Shawn Achor, who’s’ presentation is called "The Science of Happiness and Potential." Shawn Achor is the winner of over a dozen distinguished teaching awards at Harvard University, where he delivered lectures on positive psychology in the most popular class at Harvard.

Shawn's presentation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8DngXKtvEQ

At the last NSGCD conference in Austin, September 2010, we had a presenter by the name of Dr. Wanda L. Bethea. She gave a presentation called "Positive Psychology and Client Success." This presentation helped me to gain an understanding and working knowledge of the Positive Psychology theory.

A number of important points I learned from Dr. Bethea's presentation were:

Positive Psychology is the scientific study of: • What makes life worth living • What is right about/with people/organizations • People at their best • People living an engaged, meaningful and pleasant life • Positive experiences/emotions, positive traits/strengths and positive institutions

Positive Psychology is NOT: • A self-help movement • A re-packaging of "the power of positive thinking • "happy-ology" • A passing fad*

*(Robert Biswas Diener)