The Biology Of Happiness

Author : Bjørn Grinde
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 9400743920
Total Pages : 113 pages
Book Rating : 4.22/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Biology of Happiness written by Bjørn Grinde and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-04-02 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The briefs presents a model for happiness based on current knowledge in evolutionary biology and neurobiology. Briefly, the primary purpose of nervous systems is to direct an animal toward behaviour relevant for survival and procreation. In primitive animals actions are based on reflexes, while in humans the modules directing behaviour engage positive and negative affect (good and bad feelings), and they are swayed by cognitive processes. The reason why evolution opted for this strategy was the improved flexibility in response – i.e., we learn from previous experiences. The human capacity for happiness is an accidental consequence. An array of brain modules has evolved to care for various pursuits, but recent studies suggest that they converge on shared neural circuits designed to generate positive and negative mood. Happiness can be construed as the net output of the relevant modules. The briefs suggests a strategy for how to avoid having negative feelings (such as anxiety, depression and chronic pain) dominate the mind, and how to exercise positive feelings. In short, the book offers both a deeper understanding of what happiness is about, and a framework for improving well-being. An array of brain modules has evolved to care for various pursuits, but recent studies suggest that they converge on shared neural circuits designed to generate positive and negative mood. Happiness can be construed as the net output of the relevant modules. The book suggests a strategy for how to avoid having negative feelings (such as anxiety, depression and chronic pain) dominate the mind, and how to exercise positive feelings. In short, the book offers both a deeper understanding of what happiness is about, and a framework for improving well-being.

Author : Bjørn Grinde
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 9400743939
Total Pages : 113 pages
Book Rating : 4.39/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Biology of Happiness written by Bjørn Grinde and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-03-30 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The brief presents a model for happiness based on current knowledge in evolutionary biology and neurobiology. Briefly, the primary purpose of nervous systems is to direct an animal toward behaviour relevant for survival and procreation. In primitive animals actions are based on reflexes, while in humans the modules directing behaviour engage positive and negative affect (good and bad feelings), and they are swayed by cognitive processes. The reason why evolution opted for this strategy was the improved flexibility in response – i.e., we learn from previous experiences. The human capacity for happiness is an accidental consequence. An array of brain modules has evolved to care for various pursuits, but recent studies suggest that they converge on shared neural circuits designed to generate positive and negative mood. Happiness can be construed as the net output of the relevant modules. The briefs suggests a strategy for how to avoid having negative feelings (such as anxiety, depression and chronic pain) dominate the mind, and how to exercise positive feelings. In short, the book offers both a deeper understanding of what happiness is about, and a framework for improving well-being. An array of brain modules has evolved to care for various pursuits, but recent studies suggest that they converge on shared neural circuits designed to generate positive and negative mood. Happiness can be construed as the net output of the relevant modules. The book suggests a strategy for how to avoid having negative feelings (such as anxiety, depression and chronic pain) dominate the mind, and how to exercise positive feelings. In short, the book offers both a deeper understanding of what happiness is about, and a framework for improving well-being.

Author : Daniel Nettle
Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 0191604747
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.44/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Happiness written by Daniel Nettle and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2005-05-12 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What exactly is happiness? Can we measure it? Why are some people happy and others not? And is there a drug that could eliminate all unhappiness? People all over the world, and throughout the ages, have thought about happiness, argued about its nature, and, most of all, desired it. But why do we have such a strong instinct to pursue happiness? And if happiness is good in itself, why haven't we simply evolved to be happier? Daniel Nettle uses the results of the latest psychological studies to ask what makes people happy and unhappy, what happiness really is, and to examine our urge to achieve it. Along the way we look at brain systems, at mind-altering drugs, and how happiness is now marketed to us as a commodity. Nettle concludes that while it may be unrealistic to expect lasting happiness, our evolved tendency to seek happiness drives us to achieve much that is worthwhile in itself. What is more, it seems to be not your particular circumstances that define whether you are happy so much as your attitude towards life. Happiness gives us the latest scientific insights into the nature of our feelings of well-being, and what these imply for how we might live our lives.

Author : Richard Layard
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101117710
Total Pages : 295 pages
Book Rating : 4.12/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Happiness written by Richard Layard and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2006-06-27 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a paradox at the heart of our lives. We all want more money, but as societies become richer, they do not become happier. This is not speculation: It's the story told by countless pieces of scientific research. We now have sophisticated ways of measuring how happy people are, and all the evidence shows that on average people have grown no happier in the last fifty years, even as average incomes have more than doubled. The central question the great economist Richard Layard asks in Happiness is this: If we really wanted to be happier, what would we do differently? First we'd have to see clearly what conditions generate happiness and then bend all our efforts toward producing them. That is what this book is about-the causes of happiness and the means we have to effect it. Until recently there was too little evidence to give a good answer to this essential question, but, Layard shows us, thanks to the integrated insights of psychology, sociology, applied economics, and other fields, we can now reach some firm conclusions, conclusions that will surprise you. Happiness is an illuminating road map, grounded in hard research, to a better, happier life for us all.

Author : Daniel Gilbert
Publisher : Vintage Canada
ISBN 13 : 0307371360
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.62/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Stumbling on Happiness written by Daniel Gilbert and published by Vintage Canada. This book was released on 2009-02-24 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A smart and funny book by a prominent Harvard psychologist, which uses groundbreaking research and (often hilarious) anecdotes to show us why we’re so lousy at predicting what will make us happy – and what we can do about it. Most of us spend our lives steering ourselves toward the best of all possible futures, only to find that tomorrow rarely turns out as we had expected. Why? As Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert explains, when people try to imagine what the future will hold, they make some basic and consistent mistakes. Just as memory plays tricks on us when we try to look backward in time, so does imagination play tricks when we try to look forward. Using cutting-edge research, much of it original, Gilbert shakes, cajoles, persuades, tricks and jokes us into accepting the fact that happiness is not really what or where we thought it was. Among the unexpected questions he poses: Why are conjoined twins no less happy than the general population? When you go out to eat, is it better to order your favourite dish every time, or to try something new? If Ingrid Bergman hadn’t gotten on the plane at the end of Casablanca, would she and Bogey have been better off? Smart, witty, accessible and laugh-out-loud funny, Stumbling on Happiness brilliantly describes all that science has to tell us about the uniquely human ability to envision the future, and how likely we are to enjoy it when we get there.

Author : Alan Carr
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1136583084
Total Pages : 428 pages
Book Rating : 4.87/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Positive Psychology written by Alan Carr and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-05 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Remediating deficits and managing disabilities has been a central preoccupation for clinical psychologists. Positive Psychology, in contrast, is concerned with the enhancement of happiness and well-being, involving the scientific study of the role of personal strengths and positive social systems in the promotion of optimal wellbeing. Alan Carr's Positive Psychology has become essential reading for anyone requiring a thorough and accessible introduction to the field. This new edition retains all the features that made the first edition so popular, including: accounts of major theories and relevant research learning objectives chapter summaries research and personal development questions suggestions for further reading measures for use in research glossaries of new terms. The book has also been completely updated to take account of recent research and major advances, and includes a new chapter on Positive Psychotherapy, an extended account of research on character strengths and virtues, and a discussion of recent ground-breaking research on emotional intelligence. This new edition of Positive Psychology will prove a valuable resource for psychology students and lecturers, as well as those involved in postgraduate training in related areas such as clinical psychology, social work, counselling and psychotherapy.

Author : Paul Bloom
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 9780393077117
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.1X/5 ( download)

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Download or read book How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like written by Paul Bloom and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2010-06-14 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Engaging, evocative. . . . [Bloom] is a supple, clear writer, and his parade of counterintuitive claims about pleasure is beguiling.”—NPR Why is an artistic masterpiece worth millions more than a convincing forgery? Pleasure works in mysterious ways, as Paul Bloom reveals in this investigation of what we desire and why. Drawing on a wealth of surprising studies, Bloom investigates pleasures noble and seamy, lofty and mundane, to reveal that our enjoyment of a given thing is determined not by what we can see and touch but by our beliefs about that thing’s history, origin, and deeper nature.

Author : Susan A. David
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0198714629
Total Pages : 1137 pages
Book Rating : 4.20/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Happiness written by Susan A. David and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014 with total page 1137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A text for researchers and practitioners interested in human happiness. Its editors and chapter contributors are world leaders in the investigation of happiness across the fields of psychology, education, philosophy, social policy and economics.

Author : Bjørn Grinde
Publisher : Darwin Press Incorporated
ISBN 13 : 9780878501601
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.06/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Darwinian Happiness written by Bjørn Grinde and published by Darwin Press Incorporated. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To be a Stone Age creature in a Jet Age zoo tends to cause problems. The list of consequences are numerous -- from depression and suicide to obesity, drug use, insomnia, loneliness, violence, and wars -- to mention only a few of the "diseases of civilisation". Are we prisoners of an environment that is at odds with the way evolution has shaped us, and if so, can we do anything about it? Can we use our knowledge of human nature to offer people more appropriate conditions of living, and at the same time create a more peaceful world? The author is convinced that present insight into the nature of being human can help us make better choices. There is actually a growing interest in applying the biological/evolutionary perspective to medical and social sciences, as exemplified by concepts such as Darwinian Medicine and Evolutionary Psychology. While the former focuses on the prevention of diseases, Darwinian Happiness is about utilising this perspective to improve well-being in general. Our great feats of engineering, from building the pyramids to sending a man to the moon, have been the easy tasks; the real challenge in shaping the future of Planet Earth lies in dealing with human nature. We have the power to turn our planet into a living nightmare and a biological refuse dump, but it is also within our capacity to create conditions of living better than those we ever had. The principle of Darwinian Happiness is meant to offer a guide for living that not only benefits the individual -- and should thus be coveted -- but also works for the benefit of the society and our planet. This book is written for a general audience as well as for professionals interested particularly in evolutionary psychology, behavioural biology, socio-biology, and happiness studies. It should also be read by politicians.

Author : B. Vincent
Publisher : RWG Publishing
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 70 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Science of Happiness written by B. Vincent and published by RWG Publishing. This book was released on 2024-04-16 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In "The Science of Happiness: Unlocking Joy and Fulfillment in Life," readers embark on an enlightening journey to explore the multifaceted nature of happiness. This comprehensive guide delves into the biological, psychological, and social underpinnings of happiness, offering a blend of scientific insights, practical strategies, and heartwarming wisdom. From understanding the impact of genetics and lifestyle on our well-being to embracing the power of relationships, personal growth, and resilience in the face of life's challenges, this book provides a roadmap for anyone seeking a more joyful and fulfilling life. Structured to guide readers through the complexities of happiness, the book is divided into insightful chapters that address key components such as habit formation, the significance of personal growth, the art of goal setting, and the transformative power of gratitude and positivity. Each section is designed to inspire action and reflection, empowering readers to implement changes that lead to lasting happiness. With practical exercises, mindfulness practices, and a wealth of resources for further exploration, "The Science of Happiness" is more than just a book—it's a companion on your journey toward a happier life. Whether you're seeking to overcome obstacles to happiness, enhance your mental health, or simply cultivate a more positive outlook, this book offers the tools and inspiration needed to unlock your potential for joy and fulfillment. Join us on this journey and discover the keys to a happier, more balanced life.