The Happiness Hypothesis: OBOC
Chapter Summaries
Author Jonathan Haidt provides a concise summary of each chapter.
Ch. 4 The Faults of Others
- Relation of Threatened Egotism to Violence and Aggression: The Dark Side of High Self-esteemAn interdisciplinary review (1996) of evidence about aggression, crime, and violence by Roy Baumeister, the social psychologist cited often in this chapter regarding "the myth of pure evil."
- Low Self-Esteem Is Related to Aggression, Antisocial Behavior, and DelinquencyHaidt cites research in this 2005 article by Donnellan et al as evidence that antisocial behavior is associated with low self-esteem (counterpoint to Baumeister).
- In a Very Different Voice: Unmasking Moral HypocrisyExperiments done by Dan Batson resulted in most people thinking that flipping a coin was the fairest way to make a moral decision. Moral hypocrisy is the tendency to value the appearance of morality over the reality.
Ch. 5 The Pursuit of Happiness
Authentic Happiness by Overview of the field of positive psychology, which focuses on strengths rather than weaknesses.
Flow and the Foundations of Positive Psychology by Csikszentmihalyi, the cofounder of positive psychology, invented the "experience sampling method" and the term "flow" discussed in this chapter.
- Historic Shift in Americans’ Happiness Amid PandemicUniversity of Chicago's longitudinal study to understand Americans' beliefs, mental health, and outlook before, during and after the coronavirus outbreak.
TED Talk: 7 Rules for Making More Happiness, Stefan Sagmeister 2010 (9:18)
Haidt says several of the major points from Ch. 5 are illustrated by this designer in a visually brilliant way in this talk on happiness.
Ch. 6 Love and Attachments
Big Think: The Most Powerful Source of Happiness (3:35)
Haidt explains why relationships are the most powerful source of happiness.
Handbook of Attachment, Second Edition by Origins and development of attachment theory; biological and evolutionary perspectives; and the role of attachment processes in personality, relationships, and mental health across the lifespan.
- Attachment Theory as Applied to Wartime and Job-related Marital SeparationHaidt cites this review of research on how people cope with the death or long separation of a spouse as evidence that romantic partners become true attachment figures like parents.