Wonderful!

Chris, what a fun way to conduct a study - from the mood meter values at livejournal.com. Neat. Thanks for describing it and the results. How well do you think these results jive with Alan Krueger's results on what times of day and what activities make people happiest?

Best,
Senia

My reading of the literature on happy times, happy days, and happy activities shows the findings to vary greatly depending on the sample, the method, and the way of categorizing things. It is unlikely that there is a best time and a best activity for everyone (although Sheldon's work suggests that themes of choice, competence, and social connection characterize the "good days" that many people have). As I see it, the value of this sort of research is not in the specific findings but in the reminder to pay attention to the setting in which we find ourselves and the fact that these settings have an important temporal component.

Chris Peterson

Dr. Peterson, I'm sorry but I couldnt help wondering why a psychologist who writes a blog called "The Good Life," and a post called "Happy Days and Happy Times," wouldn't be smiling in his picture? Was it a conscious decision not to smile? Its just weird taking happiness advice from a guy who looks genuinely miserable. I've taken a class on person perception and I'm sure that your readers are (perhaps subconsciously) inferring alot about you from your picture, as it is the only information available to them about you as a person.
-Kurt