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The Good Life

Positive psychology and what makes life worth living.

by Christopher Peterson

Christopher Peterson is professor of psychology at the University of Michigan. See full bio

August 3, 2009

What Have You Done for Yourself Lately?

I have been traveling for the past six weeks and am just now catching up with the news. Read More

June 28, 2009

Happy Birthdays in Major League Baseball

Feeling good - experiencing positive emotions - has been linked to enhanced performance at a variety of tasks. Read More

June 14, 2009

David and Goliath and The Good Life

In the May 11, 2009, issue of the New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell wrote an essay titled "How David Beat Goliath." The subtitle of the essay is provocative: "When Underdogs Break the Rules."

The essay was ostensibly about a California girl's basketball team from Redwood City coached by Vivek Ranadivé. Read More

June 10, 2009

What Do You Think About In The Shower?

I recently came across a survey - thoroughly informal - that has stuck in my head. The question was simple: "What do you think about while taking a shower?" The results lingered, like the smell of Irish Spring soap, because it was a rare example of me being more evolved than the typical respondent.

So what did the typical respondent say? Read More

June 3, 2009

Growing Greatness

My first reaction when I heard about Daniel Coyle's new book The Talent Code was sympathy. Read More

June 2, 2009

You Can't Savor a Nutrient

I read a terrific book this past weekend - In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. It was a one sitting, no skimming, sorry it was done kind of book. As the title conveys, the book is a defense of food, which sounds strange. Read More

June 1, 2009

I am strong ... I am invincible ... I am unhappy

A working paper by Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers was recently released by the National Bureau of Economic Research and is attracting attention in the media. Read More

May 25, 2009

Positive Psychology and Unemployment

In recent months, I have received several inquiries from those in the popular media about what positive psychology has to say to people who have lost their jobs. Read More

May 24, 2009

It's Never Too Early to Start Living Happily Ever After

An important study was recently published by Laura Kubzansky of the Harvard School of Public Health and her colleagues. They looked at longitudinal data from a diverse sample of individuals from the Providence area, They goal was to investigate whether childhood personality characteristics predicted adult physical health. Read More

May 23, 2009

Subjective and Objective Research in Positive Psychology

A criticism of happiness research is that it often relies on what a person says about his or her own happiness. Calling a self-report measure of happiness "subjective well-being" seems not to help much, because the critic then objects "Isn't that subjective?" The answer is that of course self-reports are subjective, meaning that they are from the respondent's own point of view. Read More

Happiness Basics

Research on how to increase positive moods and capitalize on your strengths has proliferated lately thanks to the positive psychology movement, and has shed light on ongoing insights into personality, mood, and cognition.

Go to the Happiness Basics page for more on Happiness including:

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