The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos
Twelve Sayings That Could Change Your Life
There are so many happiness lessons to remember - but it helps if we can boil them down into memorable little sayings. Happiness expert Gretchen Rubin has done exactly that in her latest book - Secrets of Adulthood . Dr Laurie picked twelve of her favorite aphorisms from the book and invited Gretchen along to explore sayings such as Happiness doesn't always make us feel happy and Accept yourself and expect more from yourself . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
31 3月 2025 - 31 min 47 s
Have You Got Trust Issues?
Do you trust your government? Do you trust your neighbors or the strangers you meet on the street? Do you trust the media? Or your teachers? Who we trust is changing. And trust in our institutions and our fellow citizens is in steep decline. That's according to the World Happiness Report . Who we trust can have a huge impact on our behavior and our happiness. So what's behind the dramatic changes in how we trust? And can we learn to trust in a smarter way? We ask advice from Rachel Botsman, the Trust Fellow at Oxford University's Sa d Business School and author of How to Trust and Be Trusted . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
24 3月 2025 - 43 min 01 s
Why Eating Alone is so Bad for You (An International Day of Happiness Special).
It's the International Day of Happiness ! It's a chance to talk about happiness and what we can all do to be happier. March 20th also sees the release of the World Happiness Report . A big finding of 2025's report is that more of us are dining alone - and that's bad news. The report's editor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve talks us through the stark figures showing that shared meals are in decline - while Dr Anne Fishel of The Family Dinner Project gives us her tips on how to dine better with friends, families and colleagues. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
20 3月 2025 - 38 min 41 s
Why We're Better With Some Threats Than Others (An Earth Month Re-Run)
Earth Day is coming on April 22, but the whole month is seen as an opportunity to think about environmental issues and what we as individuals can do to help out. It seemed like a good time to rerun an episode we made with Harvard professor Dan Gilbert about why we humans are great at tackling immediate threats, but find it harder to motivate ourselves to address problems that seem a longer way off. It's why we often don't save for our retirements, and why we're finding it difficult to take action on climate change. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
17 3月 2025 - 36 min 10 s
Harnessing People Around us to Feel Happier (Live with Ethan Kross)
Hell is other people. They can upset us, depress us and infuriate us. Their bad moods can bring us down. And their achievements can make us feel like failures. But it doesn't have to be this way. Psychologist Ethan Kross says there are simple things we can do to make our daily interactions a source of fulfilment and joy. Ethan's the author of Shift: Managing Your Emotions So They Don't Manage You and founder of the Emotion and Self Control Lab at the University of Michigan Recorded before a live audience of teen students at Choate Rosemary Hall. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
10 3月 2025 - 49 min 27 s
How to Find Your Purpose
What's your purpose? Jordan Grumet thought that becoming a doctor would give his life meaning and direction... but he was wrong. He spent his days doing things he didn't really enjoy and dreaded waking up in the morning. Finding a purpose that is authentic to you can be transformative - and it doesn't have to be some grand goal like curing a disease or founding a company. Jordan, author of The Purpose Code , explains how we can all find seemingly small and everyday activities which will fill our lives with joy and fulfillment. Jordan also hosts the Earn Invest podcast . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
3 3月 2025 - 42 min 58 s
How to Inspire the People Around You
Leaders aren't just generals, presidents and CEOs. You're probably a leader too! Someone in your home, school or workplace might look to you for guidance - and that's leading. So how do you inspire the people around you and make yourself the best leader you can be? Columbia Business School's Adam Galinsky (author of Inspire: The Universal Path for Leading Yourself and Others ) reckons we can all learn simple lessons that will make us better and more encouraging colleagues, parents and friends. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
24 2月 2025 - 52 min 36 s
How to Lead the Richest Life Possible
To improve your life you might decide to prioritize your own personal happiness, or find meaning in helping the people around you. Few of us consider pushing ourselves well beyond our comfort zones. It might take a lot of effort and risks pain or disappointment. University of Chicago professor Shige Oishi thinks to live fully we all need to push ourselves to find "psychological richness". He tells Dr Laurie that we should look for daily opportunities to explore, get lost, mess around and have random encounters that challenge our routines and expectations. Read more about Shige's work in Life in Three Dimensions: How Curiosity, Exploration and Experience Make a Fuller, Better Life . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
17 2月 2025 - 38 min 02 s
Dr Laurie Talks Romance, Parents and Stalking on 'Love Factually'
Love Factually is a new podcast looking at what "rom com" movies get right and wrong about relationships. Dr Laurie Santos joined the hosts Eli Finkel of Northwestern University and Paul Eastwick from UC Davis to talk about her favorite 80s teen movie, Say Anything. In this episode, they discuss what Cameron Crowe's 1989 film tells us about what constitutes stalking; and the transition when romantic partners supplant our parents as our closest relationships. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
14 2月 2025 - 01 h 29 s
How to Learn from a Rom Com Movie
In the absence of better advice, we learn a lot about love and dating from rom com movies - but is the depiction of relationships in these films leading us in the wrong direction? Let's find out. Eli Finkel of Northwestern University and Paul Eastwick from UC Davis are both accomplished relationship experts - but for fun they ve launched a podcast called Love Factually exploring what the makers of rom coms get right and wrong about how humans really find love. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
10 2月 2025 - 45 min 28 s