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Why We Like What We Like
Paul Bloom’s How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like provides a wonderful set of arguments for why we love what we love. In my own work I was
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The pursuit of happiness: Buying time
When the late U.S. Senator Paul Tsongas was diagnosed with cancer in 1984, he resigned his Senate seat with these words: “Nobody on his death bed ever said, ‘I wish I had spent more time
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The perils of ‘having it all’
It’s fair to say that Thurston Howell III doesn’t savor the little things in life. One of seven castaways on an uncharted Pacific island, the WASPy billionaire never stops scheming to get back to his
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American restlessness, American unhappiness?
Imagine you are a high school basketball player, and a pretty good one. You are a senior, and right now you are the starting point guard for the Rochester Eagles. Last year you started for
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Feeling Blue? You’ll Shun the New
A sick or sad child might cling to mom’s leg. But that same child – fed, rested and generally content – will happily toddle off to explore every nook and cranny of the known world.
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Serious Research on Happiness
Ed Diener is a happy man. In happiness ratings of over 80 psychologists, he came in first (never mind that he had read the study detailing what makes a happy autobiography before writing his own).