it hit me a few years ago that almost all the interventions that we've ever done that have

worked to make more happier work by making them feel more connected.

Hello and welcome to the psychology podcast. Today we welcome Sonya Lubamersky on the show.

Sony is a distinguished professor of psychology at the University of California Riverside.

Originally from Russia she received her AB summa cum laude from Harvard University and her PhD

in Social Personality Psychology from Stanford University. Her research has been featured in

hundreds of magazines, newspapers, shows and documentaries in North America, South America, Asia,

Australia, and Europe. Dr. Lubamersky's bestselling books The How of Happiness and the Myths of

Happiness have been published and translated in over 16 countries. In this episode I talked

to Sonya about happiness. Across all of her research Dr. Lubamersky has found that connection is what

makes people happy. So then how do we form high quality connections? Dr. Lubamersky gives us

insight on how to use kindness, reciprocity, and gratitude to maintain and strengthen our

relationships. We also touch on the topics of psychedelics, interpersonal chemistry, and social media.

It's always fun chatting with Sonya. She's a friend and I really admire her research in the

field. She's a real pioneer in the science of happiness. So I'm excited to share her ideas with

this audience today. So without further ado, I bring you Sonya Lubamersky. How are you doing today?

I am doing amazing. How are you? I'm doing amazing. Today was the first day of school. So it's a big day.

Well, thank you for taking the time to be on my humble podcast. It's a pleasure.

Well, so as you know, I'm such a big fan of yours. And preparing for today's episode and

reviewing your work, it's like, wow, like how there's so many fascinating things to discuss.

You've been studying the topic of in happiness for 30 years. More than 30 years.

Is that right? Yes. And 23 of those years, you've been studying how to increase it. Why

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