Brain Fuel

In our increasingly modern and even luxurious world, why aren’t wealth and success translating into greater happiness? Depression rates in the United States are currently eight times higher than they were during the Great Depression, and that’s just one measure of our society’s mental health. Positive Psychology is an emerging branch in social psychology that attempts to answer this paradox. Researchers in this field are also investigating whether there is a way of living and thinking that can lead not only to increased happiness, but also to a longer, healthier life. Whereas traditional psychology explores the abnormally bad or the merely average, positive psychology looks at the “growing tip” of the curve—the happiest and the most successful—to figure out what can be learned from them. This lecture examines the latest research and discoveries in the field and explores some of the techniques that incorporate positive psychology and can lead to increased happiness and health.