Philosophers since Aristotle have puzzled over the meaning of happiness. Tony Reichhardt asks what scientists, psychologists and economists can bring to the topic. Are we any closer to being able to quantify joy?
Enjoying our latest content?
Log in or create an account to continue
- Access the most recent journalism from Nature's award-winning team
- Explore the latest features & opinion covering groundbreaking research
or
References
Kahneman, D. et al. Science 306, 1776–1780 (2004).
Brickman, P., Coates, D. & Janoff-Bulman, R. J. Personal. Social Psychol. 36, 917–927 (1978).
Diener, E., Lucas, R. E. & Scollon, C. N. Am. Psychol. 61, 305–314 (2006).
Kahneman, D. & Krueger, A. J. Econ. Perspect. 20, 3–24 (2006).
Cohen, S. et al. Psychosomatic Med. 65, 652–657 (2003).
Ryff, C. D. et al. Psychother. Psychosomatics 75, 85–95 (2006).
Author information
Author notes
See Editorial, page 401 .
Tony Reichhardt is a science writer based in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
- Tony Reichhardt
Additional information
See Editorial, page 401 .
Related links
Related links
Related links in Nature Research
Nuns go under the brain scanner
Related external links
Alan Krueger's well-being research
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Reichhardt, T. A measure of happiness. Nature 444, 418–419 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/444418a
Published:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/444418a
This article is cited by
-
Lonely in a Crowd: Cohort Size and Happiness in the United Kingdom
Journal of Happiness Studies (2022)
-
Nurturing breakthroughs: lessons from complexity theory
Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination (2008)