Money

One of my fascinations with positive psychology is the existence of its many paradoxes. So as soon as I came across this new research report Money Giveth, Money Taketh Away, my eyes lit up. The researchers explored the widely-held belief that experiencing the best things in life undermines your ability to enjoy life’s little pleasures.

To further elaborate on why the riches are not equivalent to happiness, I adopt the approach used by Daniel Kahneman, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, of looking at happiness as moment-to-moment experience instead of general well-being or flourishing. When we break down happiness into moment-to-moment experience, riches do not necessarily make people happier. Why not?

Dear Student,
Don’t worry when people tell you it will be hard to find a job. What the doom-and-gloom folks don’t understand is that they have something as contagious as the H1N1 virus– anxiety. Like the flu, they are probably “carriers” without even realizing it. You can innoculate yourself.

So you have some extra cash in your pocket. Do you spend it on the latest gizmo or on going to a restaurant with friends? How does your choice affect…

There has been a widespread discussion on whether or not positive psychology is effective from a business perspective. There are strong links between positive psychology and organizational performance, many captured in work in the field of Positive Organizational Behavior (POB). Here I summarize a longer, recently published paper.

Last Saturday, 24 January 2009, Claremont Graduate University hosted a conference titled Applying the Science of Positive Psychology to Improve Society. The moderator, Stewart Donaldson, posed two questions: What works in positive social sciences? How can we influence social change for the betterment of society? This article covers the morning sessions on the foundations of positive psychology.

Several years ago, my mother gave me The Soul of Money by Lynn Twist, and it is one of the best gifts I’ve received. In the book, Lynn presents a candid, genuinely transformative treatise about the meaning and impact of our relationship to money.

At the end of 2008, Daniel Goleman published another paper with Richard Boyatzis about Social Intelligence (SI) and Leadership. They define social intelligence as ‘a set of interpersonal competencies built on specific neural circuits (and related endocrine systems) that inspire others to be effective.’ SI may rock the fields leadership and management, just as Emotional Intelligence did 10 years ago.

Did you know that the average American puts on 10 pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas? And how much do you figure the average Holiday shopper has spent per year for the past 10 years? Try $961! We are observing epidemics in obesity, inactivity, and indebtedness. But here’s the good news.

Well-being: A Dirty Word? As an ex-financial controller, I can imagine the furious activity that must be taking place in the finance departments of businesses around the globe as they…

I live in New York City. Perhaps because it is the financial capital of the world, anxiety about the economy is everywhere. In Starbucks people sit grimly reading the Wall Street Journal and the patois overheard is about Lehman Brothers, AIG and bailouts. With every lurching move of the Dow, you can feel the collective panic or collective sighs of relief. In this environment how can positive psychology help?

Can money buy happiness? (Ch. 6). Are happier people healthier? (Ch. 3). Do happier people get paid more? (Ch. 5). Are religious/spiritual people happier? (Ch. 7). Are some people just born happier? (Ch. 9). These are all components of the concept of psychological wealth.

The good news is that according to a new study by Inglehart, Foa, Peterson and Welzel, happiness is actually increasing: in this longitudinal study between 1981 and 2007, happiness levels went up in 45 out of 52 countries. Happiness has risen, they suggest, due to increasing democratization over the past 25 years, which means that people increasingly feel they have free choice (e.g. freedom of speech, to travel and in politics) and control over their lives.

Have you heard someone boast that they had worked 70 hours last week? Were you impressed or did you think the speaker was exaggerating or inefficient? Why do some take pride in proving that their work is more effortful, difficult, or even painful than that of others? This need to feel indispensable comes at the expense of health and happiness.

“…but it can get you a better class of enemy” (Spike Milligan, 1918-2002). On Monday, the UK’s Guardian newspaper reported that Professor Richard Layard, Labour peer and eminent economist turned Happiness Tsar, got his wake-up call when he realized that over a certain point (quoted as being $20,000 per year), money does not make you very much happier. Of course we now know that the argument is a bit more complicated than that.