#575 | The Science of Happiness: Can It Be Measured?

 

What does happiness really mean, and can it be measured? 

In this episode, we move from Aristotle’s eudaimonia to brain scans, surveys, big data, and what truly lifts our mood. 

It asks why money only helps so much, why social ties matter, and how trust shapes national well-being. 

• Pleasure versus purpose happiness: Aristotle and flourishing
• Subjective well-being: life satisfaction, positive and negative emotions
• Surveys measure happiness; beware the memory and peak-end rule
• Experience sampling measures happiness in the moment
• Findings: happiest socialising, exercising, flow; least during commuting, illness
• Money boosts happiness, then flattens at higher incomes
• Social connections increase happiness; loneliness harms, especially during Covid
• Household size and eating alone trends in happiness
• Trust in others, institutions, and wallet return beliefs
• Caring for others versus expecting care from others

 Full interactive transcript, subtitles and key vocabulary available on the website: https://www.leonardoenglish.com/podcasts/science-of-happiness

Read the World Happiness Report here: https://www.worldhappiness.report/

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