The Happiness Expert: Single Friends Will Keep You Single & Obesity Is Contagious!

TL;DR

Arthur Brooks (Harvard professor, social scientist) argues most societal beliefs about happiness are wrong: happiness is not a feeling but a direction composed of three macronutrients (enjoyment, satisfaction, meaning). Happiness is ~50% genetic, has been declining since ~1990, and is contagious like a virus.

Key insights

• Happiness is about 50% genetic; introverts tend to have more long-term happiness while extroverts have more short-term positive affect.
• Happiness and negativity are transmitted socially like a virus – e.g., if a friend becomes happy within a mile and you have contact, you are 25% likelier to become happier; obesity and divorce are als
• 95% of diets fail because of the "arrival fallacy" – the belief that reaching a goal (e.g., losing weight) will bring lasting satisfaction, when in fact satisfaction comes from progress, not arrival.