Murdock Mind, Body, Spirit Series – The How of Happiness: Boosting Well-Being Through Kindness, Gratitude, and Connection
Featuring Sonja Lyubomirsky, PhD, distinguished professor and vice chair of psychology at the University of California, Riverside, in conversation with John Tierney, contributing editor at City Journal and contributing science columnist at the New York Times. Lyubomirsky will discuss what happiness is and isn’t, and what can be done to bring us all closer to the happy life we envision for ourselves. Drawing on her own groundbreaking research, Lyubomirsky offers a way to understand and tap our potential for joy and happiness, as well as our ability to sustain it in our lives.
Sonja Lyubomirsky (A.B., summa cum laude, Harvard; PhD, social psychology, Stanford) is the Distinguished Professor and Vice Chair of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside and author of “The How of Happiness” and “The Myths of Happiness,” translated in 36 countries. Lyubomirsky’s teaching has been recognized with the Faculty of the Year (twice) and Faculty Mentor of the Year Awards. Her research – on the possibility of lastingly increasing happiness via gratitude, kindness, and connection interventions — has received many honors, including the Diener Award for Outstanding Midcareer Contributions in Personality Psychology, the Christopher J. Peterson Gold Medal, the Distinguished Research Lecturer Award, and a Positive Psychology Prize. Lyubomirsky lives in Santa Monica, California, with her family.
John Tierney, a contributing editor at City Journal and a contributing science columnist at the New York Times, is the co-author of The Power of Bad: How the Negativity Effect Rules Us and How We Can Rule It. He and his co-author, the social psychologist Roy F. Baumeister, also wrote Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength.
