Greater Good Science Center • Magazine • In Action • In Education

The Science of Being Happy

From Sacramento News & Review | 8/7/14

In the early 2000s, instead of obsessing on human failings and flaws as psychologists had previously done (think Freud), a new group of professionals suggested a shift in emphasis to what makes humans strong, gritty, resilient … happy. Thanks to pioneers like Martin Seligman, Robert Emmons, and Emiliana Simon-Thomas, a new field of psychology was born with its best-selling books, national summits and contentment gurus. Developments in the field have only accelerated since then. In fact, science has discovered that we humans can actually be taught many (sometimes unexpected) things about happiness

“It is a great good and a great gift, this Greater Good. I bow to you for your efforts to bring these uplifting and illuminating expressions of humanity, grounded in good science, to the attention of us all.”

― Jon Kabat-Zinn, author and founder of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program