Science director, the Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley
"Humans are ultra-social, and evolution has crafted us to connect, give care and co-operate. A major thread of research on human happiness points to the quality of social connections, the tendency towards generosity and the sense of belonging as key predictors to well-being. Studies show increased magnitude for people whose daily routines are geared towards something self-transcendent: contributing to the greater good rather than just making ends meet or stockpiling for the self."
Author, The Antidote
"Science will never have all the answers when it comes to happiness. And 'implementing' happiness never quite seems to work. Focus too much on putting 'happiness techniques' into practice, and happiness itself seems to recede further into the distance. 'Ask yourself whether you are happy,' said philosopher John Stuart Mill, 'and you cease to be so'."
Senior lecturer in sociology, University of Portsmouth
”Social scientists are trying to examine how feelings of fulfilment are influenced by society and culture. Is wealth important? What about relationships, and mental and physical health? Can governments help us to be happy? Whether or not they are measurable, we can gather information about how people feel about their lives and why they feel the way they do, to understand how the world around us shapes wellbeing."
Professor of philosophy, CUNY-City College
"The question of fulfilment is at the interface between science and philosophy - it requires both critical reflection and empirical data. Modern positive psychology builds on ancient wisdom from the so-called eudaimonic philosophies of ancient Greece and Rome, to show that fulfilment has little to do with material possessions or social status. Instead, it arises from feelings of empowerment and the ability to pursue one's goals."
Senior lecturer, Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit, City University London
"Neuroscience suggests that there are internal body representations in the brain that play a role in coding our own emotions and those we perceive in others. There is evidence that when we hold a smile, body and neural signals from the muscles involved in smiling send information to our perceptual system, so that others' faces are perceived as looking happier than they may actually be."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
