The Shifting Meaning of "Happiness" (video)

Cassie Mogilner (U Penn); Sepandar D. Kamvar and Jennifer Aaker (Stanford)

(Wharton) Prof. Mogilner research shows that happiness is tied to temporal (time) focus as part of the 2011 BizTalks: "Five Wharton Professors - Five Game-Changing Ideas."

An examination of emotions reported on 12 million personal [and Buddhist] blogs along with a series of surveys and laboratory experiments shows that the meaning of happiness is not fixed; instead, it systematically shifts over the course of one’s lifetime. Whereas younger people are more likely to associate happiness with excitement, as they get older, they become more likely to associate happiness with peacefulness. This change appears to be driven by a redirection of attention from the future to the present as people age. The dynamic of what happiness means has broad implications, from purchasing behavior to ways to increase one’s happiness.

Prof. Cassie Mogilner, Department of Marketing, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA (mogilner@wharton.upenn.edu)

The Science of Happiness

• Why We Strive for Money Over Time -- and Why It's a Mistake (TIME)
  
• Thinking about Time or Money Impacts How We Spend Our Days (Scientific American)
• Buying Time: The Pursuit of Happiness (Huffington Post)
• Strawberry Shortcake's Trendy New Look (NPR Marketplace)
• The Pursuit of Happiness: Buying Time (APS)
• Marketing Lessons from the Lemonade Stand (Inc.)
• Does Happiness Have a Price Tag? (CBS Moneywatch)
• Why to Tie Marketing to Time, Not Money (WSJ)
• The Way the Brain Buys (The Economist)
• Categories Help Us Make Happier Choices (Science Daily)
• Care to Know the Motivation Behind that Gift, Love? (Washington Post)