The Oxford Handbook Of Happiness

A text for researchers and practitioners interested in human happiness. Its editors and chapter contributors are world leaders in the investigation of happiness across the fields of psychology, education, philosophy, social policy and economics.

This book is the definitive text in the field of positive psychology, the scientific study of what makes people happy. The handbook's international slate of renowned authors summarizes and synthesizes lifetimes of research, together illustrating what has worked for people across time and cultures. Now in paperback, this second edition provides both the current literature in the field and an outlook on its future.

What are the methodologies for assessing and improving governmental policy in light of well-being? The Oxford Handbook of Well-Being and Public Policy provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary treatment of this topic. The contributors draw from welfare economics, moral philosophy, and psychology and are leading scholars in these fields. The Handbook includes thirty chapters divided into four Parts. Part I covers the full range of methodologies for evaluating governmental policy and assessing societal condition-including both the leading approaches in current use by policymakers and academics (such as GDP, cost-benefit analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, inequality and poverty metrics, and the concept of the "social welfare function"), and emerging techniques. Part II focuses on the nature of well-being. What, most fundamentally, determines whether an individual life is better or worse for the person living it? Her happiness? Her preference-satisfaction? Her attainment of various "objective goods"? Part III addresses the measurement of well-being and the thorny topic of interpersonal comparisons. How can we construct a meaningful scale of individual welfare, which allows for comparisons of well-being levels and differences, both within one individual's life, and across lives? Finally, Part IV reviews the major challenges to designing governmental policy around individual well-being.

This volume examines what positive psychology offers to our understanding of key issues in working life today. The chapters focus on such topics as strengths, leadership, human resource management, employee engagement, communications, well-being, and work-life balance.

Psychology has long been enamored of the dark side of human existence, rarely exploring a more positive view of the mind. What has psychology contributed, for example, to our understanding of the various human virtues? Regrettably, not much. The last decade, however, has witnessed a growing movement to abandon the exclusive focus on the negative. Psychologists from several subdisciplines are now asking an intriguing question: "What strengths does a person employ to deal effectively with life?" The Handbook of Positive Psychology provides a forum for a more positive view of the human condition. In its pages, readers are treated to an analysis of what the foremost experts believe to be the fundamental strengths of humankind. Both seasoned professionals and students just entering the field are eager to grasp the power and vitality of the human spirit as it faces a multitude of life challenges. The Handbook is the first systematic attempt to bring together leading scholars to give voice to the emerging field of positive psychology.

This book offers the latest findings and thinking on topics of happiness, flow, optimism, motivation, character strengths, love and more. It provides a breadth of information about positive psychology with a pinch of critical commentary. The text is written in an accessible and engaging style with light-hearted illustrations.

What are the methodologies that we should employ for designing and evaluating governmental policy, in light of the profound effects that policies have on the level and distribution of individuals' well-being? The Oxford Handbook of Well-Being and Public Policy is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary treatment of this question, drawing from welfare economics, moral philosophy, and psychology. It covers policy-assessment methodologies, both established and emerging, and reviews philosophical conceptions of well-being, and the literature on "subjective well-being" in psychology and economics. Further chapters focus specifically on well-being measurement, and a variety of challenges for policy assessment.

We live in a society in which messages associating physical attractiveness with success and happiness are pervasive. This text gives an account of research, policy, and practice in psychological aspects of appearance, including the role of the media in shaping people's attitudes.