6 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
American neuropsychologist and author whose Hardwiring Happiness presents the practice of taking in the good — deliberately dwelling on positive experiences to shift the brain's negativity bias through neuroplasticity.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's 1990 account of 'flow' — the state of complete absorption in a challenging activity that he identifies as the peak of human experience — and how to design life to maximize it.
The world's longest-running scientific study of adult life, tracking Harvard graduates and inner-city Boston men from the 1930s to the present — whose primary finding is that the quality of relationships is the single strongest predictor of health and happiness in old age.
American psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania who founded the Positive Psychology movement — having previously discovered learned helplessness — and whose PERMA model provides the most influential framework for human flourishing.
American psychologist at UC Riverside — author of The How of Happiness — whose research on the determinants of happiness and the 40% solution (40% of happiness variance is within voluntary control) is foundational to positive psychology.
Catherine Price's 2021 book arguing that genuine fun — playfulness, connection, flow — is essential to wellbeing and distinct from the passive entertainment and digital consumption that substitutes for it in modern life.