The history of happiness research

KERA's Think

KERA

Society & Culture, 071003, Kera, Think, Krysboyd

4.8 • 861 Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

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Summary

Finding happiness is no longer an abstract pursuit—there’s serious science behind it, but it’s research that hasn’t always been held in the highest esteem. Susan Dominus, staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how studying happiness became a respected field of study, what psychologists are learning about different types of happiness, and what data says about contentment. Her article is, "How Nearly a Century of Happiness Research Led to One Big Finding."

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The discipline of psychology has always sought to relieve dysfunction, depression and anxiety and irrational fears, all of which can strip a life of the possibility of joy and contentment.
0:20.7	But it took a surprisingly long time for psychologists to take happiness. all of which can strip a life of the possibility of joy and contentment.
0:21.0	But it took a surprisingly long time for psychologists to take happiness seriously.
0:26.9	It's a little like visiting a mechanic who knows how to repair your car, but never learned
0:31.4	that regular oil changes and tune-ups might keep it from breaking down in the first place.
0:36.4	From KERA in Dallas, this is Think. I'm Chris
0:39.4	Boyd. We may not be able to just decide to be happy when we're not, and it may well be that
0:45.4	some of us naturally find it easier than others to feel good day to day. But it turns out there
0:50.2	are choices we can make that at the very least prime us to experience more happiness.
0:54.8	And those choices are now backed by evidence. Susan Dominois is a staff writer for the New York
1:00.4	Times Magazine where you can find her article how nearly a century of happiness research
1:05.1	led to one big finding. Susan, welcome to think. Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.
1:12.2	It seems so logical now that a significant branch of psychology should focus on what contributes to happiness.
1:18.3	But for a long time, this was actually like a risky career move for academics?
1:23.9	The entire field of feelings, I am told, was considered fuzzy. There was a whole era of, you know, Skinner and
1:31.3	behavioral science, and there was a very mechanistic approach to how people organize their psychology.
1:39.1	Was there a reward involved? Then you could predict that they would behave a certain way.
1:42.9	And we all know that feelings
1:45.4	are not that clear cut. But they were kind of considered at the outset there were not very many
1:52.8	studies about it. And people didn't even know how to sort of think about it. And happiness, of all
1:57.3	things, seemed like the most fluffy topic that somebody could endeavor to understand.
2:02.5	You write about a woman who has gone on to be a major influence in this field, but she grew up
	...

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