THE HAPPY SCIENCE PODCAST

In this fun episode, we explore why people tend to believe that their future will be happier and more meaningful than their past. But does that optimism extend to everyone – or only to ourselves and the people we like? Tune in to discover what this reveals about hope, fairness, wishful thinking, and why realism may depend on whose future you’re imagining.

Link to study: https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.3164

Host: Professor Micael Dahlen

Guest: Professor Hallgeir Sjåstad

Producer: Sandra Charléz

Editor: Nicholas Nikander

Sound Engineer: Christer Tjäder and Daniel Högberg

Music: Viktor Bergdahl

In this fun episode, we explore whether happiness means the same thing in different languages. Can the language you speak actually change how happy you say you are? Tune in to discover why it may be easier to say you are happy in English than in Swedish, and what that could mean for global happiness surveys and rankings.

Link to study: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-024-00827-7

Host: Professor Micael Dahlen

Guest: Political scientist Sofia Axelsson

Producer: Sandra Charléz

Sound Engineer: Christer Tjäder and Daniel Högberg

Music: Viktor Bergdahl

In this fun episode, we dig into a slightly uncomfortable question: what happens to our own happiness when we knowingly do something bad to others? We all know giving to charity feels good, but what about the opposite? Tune in to discover why doing good boosts happiness and meaning but doing harm does not always make us feel worse – especially when we find clever ways to justify it.

Link to study: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2021.104114

Host: Professor Micael Dahlen

Guest: Assistant Professor Frank Martela

Producer: Sandra Charléz
Editor: Nicholas Nikander

Sound Engineer: Christer Tjäder and Daniel Högberg

Music: Viktor Bergdahl

In this fun episode, we explore whether an election in one country can shape happiness, optimism, and even trust in democracy in other countries. A study using data from over 20,000 people in nine European countries during the U.S.s presidential election 2024 gives the answer. Tune in to discover why political wins and losses can ripple across oceans, why democracy satisfaction may be more fragile than we think, and whether these emotional shifts also change how good citizens we are.

Host: Professor Micael Dahlen

Guest: Assistant Professor Jareef Martuza

Producer: Sandra Charléz

Editor: Nicholas Nikander

Sound Engineer: Christer Tjäder och Daniel Högberg

Music: Viktor Bergdahl

Study: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-024-00827-7

In this fun episode, we look at how our social lives, with everything from supportive

relationships to breakups, impact our wellbeing. Is the pain of a breakup the same for

everyone? Can relationships protect our happiness over time? And what does your

DNA have to do with any of it? Professor Ragnhild Bang Nes of the Norwegian

Institute of Public Health shares fascinating findings from a study of twins. Tune in to

find out which social factors most strongly predict future happiness and how much of

our social wellbeing might be shaped before we’re even born!

Link to the study:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11136-024-03832-8

Guest:

Research Professor Ragnhild Bang Nes