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The Big Question

What Is Happiness?

Jul 29, 2015 | 28 videos
Video by The Atlantic

At this year's Aspen Ideas Festival, we asked a group of professors, psychologists, and journalists how they would define happiness. According to Eli Finkel, a professor of psychology at Northwestern University, the definition is twofold: "It seems to me that happiness is some blend of experience of pleasure and the experience of meaning and fulfillment in life," he says. "I think much more of the latter than the former." Other panelists include Tim Kasser, Susan Greenfield, Brian Grazer, Paul Bloom, Suleika Jaouad, Robert D. Putnam, and Jennifer Senior.


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Authors: Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg, Sam Price-Waldman, Greyson Korhonen

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Ideas and insights from leaders at the Aspen Ideas Festival