The Psychology of Happiness in the Modern World

This book tells the story of the scientific study of what makes us feel happy, content, joyous, and satisfied with our lives. The book considers how economic factors such as unemployment, income inequality, economic growth, and social welfare policies impact happiness. It examines how workplace and governmental policies interact with work-to-family interference to raise or lower happiness. The book describes the importance of more immediate social environments by examining marriage, parenthood, and friendships. It is thoroughly grounded in the scientific literature, providing empirically verified answers to some of the preceding questions, as well as answers to questions about how happiness can be increased. This book is intended as a primary text for students in undergraduate courses in happiness or Positive Psychology with minimal background in psychology, statistics, and research methods. It also can be used as a supplementary text for courses in social, introductory, or health psychology or psychology of adjustment. The book balances coverage of both socio-structural issues and the more individualistic concerns of positive psychology. It emphasizes the science of the psychology of happiness. There is a chapter on personality. The book examines how positive emotions can build happiness, and the importance of how we construe or interpret events. There is also extensive coverage of positive psychology interventions that can improve individuals' happiness. The book includes a chapter exploring evolution and happiness. It discusses the effects of social relationships, money, materialism, religion, and health on happiness. The book describes research methodologies and discusses whether causal attributions are appropriate. It analyzes the results of many of the studies; and invites students to interpret tables and graphs from primary source articles. The book also discusses mediated and moderated relationships. It guides students through the results by pointing toward important findings and explaining how they should be interpreted.