We’re wrong about what makes us happy with Dan Gilbert

Video Description

What do you think will make you happy next year? According to Dan Gilbert’s research, your guess is probably wrong. Dan is a Harvard psychologist, bestselling author of Stumbling on Happiness, and popular TED talker, and he and Adam discuss why it’s so difficult to make accurate predictions about our own future and how to figure out what actually makes us happy. The two also chat about Dan’s experience as a high school dropout-turned-professor, examine why small annoyances might hang around longer than major gripes, and determine the best way to end a conversation. Follow Host: Adam Grant (Instagram: @adamgrant | LinkedIn: @adammgrant | Website: adamgrant.net/) Guest: Daniel Gilbert (X: @DanTGilbert) Links Stumbling on Happiness Subscribe to TED Instagram: @ted YouTube: @TED TikTok: @tedtoks LinkedIn: @ted-conferences Website: ted.com Podcasts: ted.com/podcasts For the full text transcript, visit ted.com/podcasts/rethinking-with-adam-grant-transcripts The TED Audio Collective is a collection of podcasts for the curious. The TED Audio Collective videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://www.ted.com/about/our-organiz...). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com. 00:00 Intro 01:02 Why study happiness? 03:29 Affective forecasting failures 06:22 Why we struggle to predict the future 09:56 Why old people are happier 11:13 The peculiar longevity of things not so bad 14:44 Dealing with regret 18:40 Lightning round 20:10 The future of scientific publishing 23:25 How to get better at predicting your happiness 27:17 Does having children make you happier? 29:39 Balancing public image and private identity 33:48 How to end a conversation