Your Environment Affects Your Happiness More Than You Think with Dr. Leidy Klotz
The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos
Pushkin Industries
4.7 • 14.8K Ratings
🗓️ 20 April 2026
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Our surroundings affect our happiness in ways we often don’t notice. The layout of a room, the amount of clutter in our home, and even small changes to lighting can shape our mood, focus, and relationships.
As The Happiness Lab continues its spring cleaning series, Dr. Laurie sits down with University of Virginia Professor Leidy Klotz, author of In a Good Place, to explore the hidden ways our spaces shape our inner lives. Why do certain places make us feel calm, connected, and grounded, while others leave us distracted or drained?
From creating more connection at home to using our surroundings to remember loved ones we’ve lost, these practical ideas will refresh your space and your wellbeing.
Experts Mentioned:
- Leidy Klotz, professor of engineering and architecture at the University of Virginia
- Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid activist and former president of South Africa
- Jane Jacobs, writer and urban activist
Resources Mentioned:
- In a Good Place: How the Spaces Where We Live, Work, and Play Can Help Us Thrive, by Leidy Klotz (2026)
- Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less by Leidy Klotz (2021)
- “Spatial Patterns of Solar Photovoltaic System Adoption: The Influence of Neighbors and the Built Environment” by Marcello Graziano and Kenneth Gillingham (Journal of Economic Geography, 2015).
- “Fire Drill: Inattentional Blindness and Amnesia for the Location of Fire Extinguishers” by Alan D Castel, Michael Vendetti, and Keith J Holyoak. (Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 2012)
- “Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-Being” by Richard M. Ryan and Edward L. Deci (American Psychologist, 2000).
- “Neighborhoods and Violent Crime: A Multilevel Study of Collective Efficacy” by Robert J. Sampson, Stephen W. Raudenbush, and Felton Earls (Science, 1997).
- “When Choice Is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing?” by Sheena S. Iyengar and Mark R. Lepper (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2000).
Related Episodes:
- "Choice Overload" by The Happiness Lab (2019).
- "How to Make Better Choices (with Barry Schwartz)" by The Happiness Lab (2025).
- "How to Design a More Meaningful Life (with Dave Evans and Bill Burnett)" by The Happiness Lab (2026).
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Pushkin. |
| 0:10.8 | When we think about spring cleaning, we usually focus on stuff, what to toss, what to organize, what to tidy up. But what if we zoomed out |
| 0:22.8 | for a second and thought about the nature of space itself, how we're using it and how it might |
| 0:28.7 | be shaping our well-being in ways that we don't even notice? There's a whole realm of opportunities |
| 0:34.6 | kind of in this relationship between our inner and outer world. And I think |
| 0:38.7 | we don't recognize that our outer world shape our inner world in how people feel and think and |
| 0:45.7 | behave and how spaces relate to that. This is University of Virginia professor Lydie Klaughts. |
| 0:52.4 | Lydie is the author of a new book entitled In a Good Place, |
| 0:56.1 | how the spaces where we live, work, and play can help us thrive. My scholarship bridges |
| 1:01.7 | between engineering and architecture and psychology and behavioral science, even if you're just |
| 1:06.5 | talking about, oh, should I add a new light to my office? That's going to change all sorts of |
| 1:11.3 | dynamics in unpredictable ways. Before we go further, because we're talking about space, I'm curious |
| 1:16.1 | about the space you're in right now. If you put on your sort of space psychologist hat, |
| 1:19.8 | what would you notice about that room? How is it affecting your mind? My space right now is |
| 1:24.1 | very minimalistic so that I can focus on the conversation with you and your listeners. |
| 1:29.1 | But your space on the other hand. Well, it's actually fake. It's a green screen. Oh, it's a green screen. |
| 1:33.5 | Okay. My green screen image is an actual photo of my real office at Yale, which was apparently giving |
| 1:39.2 | much more away about my identity than I realized. I love seeing books behind you. And to me, like, one of my favorite things about a space. |
| 1:45.8 | So I love seeing people's books. And then you're, like, sitting there as you're talking to them, trying to analyze, like, okay, what is this person? Because they have, like, a Beastie Boys book and a, you know, Catch 22. And then, like, Victor Frankel. and you know, it's like, okay, what is Lori like? |
| 2:01.0 | Can I just say that I love how Lydie noticed my Beastie Boy's book? |
| 2:04.4 | But I also... and then like Victor Frankel. And, you know, it's like, okay, what is Lori like? |
| 2:03.9 | Can I just say that I love how Lydie noticed my Beastie Boy's book? |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Pushkin Industries, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Pushkin Industries and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.