The Science of Happiness

What makes people happy? People have sought the answer to this question for thousands of years, but in the past two decades there has been an explosion of scientific research on this topic. In his presidential address to the American Psychological Association in 1998, Martin Seligman launched the field of positive psychology, also called the science of happiness, a rapidly expanding body of empirical research that seeks to uncover what contributes to a meaningful and happy life.

The science of happiness is rapidly gaining a foothold in American higher education. Yale University…