Dan Gilbert: Why are we happy? Why aren't we happy?

http://www.ted.com Dan Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness, challenges the idea that well be miserable if we dont get what we want. Our "psychological immune system" lets us feel truly happy even when things dont go as planned.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers are invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes -- including speakers such as Jill Bolte Taylor, Sir Ken Robinson, Hans Rosling, Al Gore and Arthur Benjamin. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, politics and the arts. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks on TED.com, at
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Dan Gilbert
• TED
• TEDTalks
• Talks
• Stumbling on Happiness
• psychological immune system
• psychology
• neuroscience

[wordsandcolor]

is anyone going to comment on how ironic it is that this talk is followed by a BMW commercial?

[7777Mads]

"Most people are about as happy as they make up their mind to be"

-Abraham Lincoln

[Yaarrr]

You can totally see his penis through his jeans through the whole video.

[carolinaaramburo]

Great video! I really respect and like what you are doing! Keep the videos coming!

[Vladiniho]

thats why so many ppl were actually happy in soviet union.. u didnt really had too many choise u could make

[NextStarfish]

Very interesting TED talk - I've made use of this video in a post on choice and happiness on my Nextstarfish blog

[JamWithJimi]

@dylanm32 how do you mean?

[sharonetucker]

This is the programming part of NLP - cool!

[hautepower]

What phone call was he going to take on stage??

[SWLinPHX]

My grandfather used to say "Socrates loved to go to the market to see all the things he didn't need."

[SWLinPHX]

The more amazing things we are exposed to the less we are impressed and the more it takes to impress us. That's why we laugh at some of the things we used to find entertaining but now see as rudimental or cheesy (like old films or TV shows).

[SWLinPHX]

In some ways people WERE happier when life was less complicated.  Male & female roles were more defined and each gender wasn't striving to "be more" or feel guilty. Kids were happy playing outside with others or with basic toys, not the latest iPad or Playstation. It was when simple things (compared to today) came along, like remote controls, garage door openers, microwave ovens, etc. Electronic media (texting, computers, etc.) makes people less personal and lose a lot of social skills.