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The Psychology of Everyday Life: Motivation and the Search For Happiness

The Psychology of Happiness

Do our attitudes affect our level of happiness?

Several lines of research point to the importance of the way we engage with life, in effect, our attitude toward life. Lyubormirsky and colleagues suggest that 40 percent of our overall happiness depends on our active attempts to foster our own happiness through our thoughts, activities, and goals. This viewpoint is echoed by Martin Selig-man in his work on positive psychology.