Happiness - Publications - Faculty & Research

Ashley V. Whillans

Ashley Whillans is the Volpert Family Associate Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, where she teaches the Motivation and Incentives course to MBA students. Professor Whillans earned her PhD in Social Psychology from the University of... View Details

20 Oct 2021
News

Behind the Research: Eva Ascarza

20 Dec 2017
News

Experts Reveal What Makes for a Happier Holiday. Hint: It’s Not More Stuff.

17 Dec 2015
News

Beware the rule-following co-worker, Harvard study warns

14 Sep 2023
Video

Arthur C. Brooks and Oprah Winfrey in Conversation: Build the Life You Want

15 Sep 2011
News

Three Ways to Turn Setbacks into Progress

August 2020
Article

Does Spending Money on Others Promote Happiness? A Registered Replication Report

By: Lara B. Aknin, Elizabeth W. Dunn, Jason Proulx, Iris Lok and Michael I. Norton

Research indicates that spending money on others—prosocial spending—leads to greater happiness than spending money on oneself (e.g., Dunn, Aknin, & Norton, 2008, 2014). These findings have received widespread attention because they offer insight into why people engage... View Details

Keywords: Prosocial Spending; Generosity; Well-being; Replication; Happiness; Behavior; Spending

Citation

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30 Aug 2016
First Look

August 30, 2016

Psychology Time, Money, and Happiness By: Mogilner, Cassie, and Michael I. Norton Abstract—We highlight recent research examining how people should manage their most precious resources—time and money—to maximize their happiness. Contrary... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

Rafael M. Di Tella

I received my first degree in Economics in 1990 from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina and a D.Phil in Economics from Oxford University in 1996. After a short stay in Argentina I joined Harvard Business School in July 1997, where I... View Details

Keywords: broadcasting; state government

15 Sep 2013
News

Masters in Management: Spending wisely

30 Oct 2021
News

How Men and Women Treat Deadlines in the Workplace Differently

07 Jul 2017
News

Can money buy happiness?

13 May 2013
Blog Post

The Social Side of an Internship

I think I speak for most interns when I say that company sanctioned social outings can be a crucial part of getting to understand a firm’s culture. At my internship this summer, I and other interns have been exposed to lecture series, tours, barbecues and View Details

Keywords: Entertainment / Media / Sports

05 Dec 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, December 5, 2017

Social Psychology Bulletin The Amount and Source of Millionaires' Wealth (Moderately) Predicts Their Happiness By: Donnelly, Grant Edward, Tianyi Zheng, Emily Haisley, and Michael I. Norton Abstract—Two samples of more than 4,000... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2008 (Revised December 2011)
Case

Frank Addante, Serial Entrepreneur

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Antony Uy

Frank Addante is a 28-year-old serial entrepreneur who is in the process of building his fifth venture. Of his first four ventures, two were sold, one went public, and in the last he decided to close the venture and return unused capital to his investors. With the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Equity; Selection and Staffing; Groups and Teams

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2013
Article

Prosocial Spending and Well-Being: Cross-Cultural Evidence for a Psychological Universal

By: Lara B. Aknin, Christopher P. Barrington-Leigh, Elizabeth W. Dunn, John F. Helliwell, Justine Burns, Robert Biswas-Diener, Imelda Kemeza, Paul Nyende, Claire Ashton-James and Michael I. Norton

This research provides the first support for a possible psychological universal: Human beings around the world derive emotional benefits from using their financial resources to help others (prosocial spending). In Study 1, survey data from 136 countries were examined... View Details

Keywords: Prosocial Spending; Psychological Universal; Prosocial Behavior; Well-being; Happiness; Spending; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Canada; Uganda; South Africa; India

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August 2023
Case

Salma Qarnain: Spaceships to Broadway

By: Leslie Perlow, Mel Martin and Hannah Weisman

Salma Qarnain, daughter of Pakistani Muslim immigrants, is an engineer trained at Stanford and MIT. She began her career building spacecrafts but 30 years later finds herself pursuing her calling, acting on Broadway. The case explores Qarnain’s career path, family... View Details