Stumbling on Happiness
Daniel Gilbert
Discover the fascinating psychological glitches that cause us to consistently mispredict what will bring us joy. By mastering the science of "affective forecasting," you’ll learn to navigate your brain’s cognitive illusions and make smarter life decisions that lead to genuine, lasting fulfillment.
The Human Time Machine
Explores the unique human ability to imagine the future (prospection) and why our brains are wired to 'next' constantly.
The Nexting Machine
The Joy of Anticipation
The Prediction Paradox
The Subjectivity Trap
Investigates the difficulty of defining and measuring happiness, and why our 'internal scale' is constantly shifting.
The Three Faces of Happy
The Squishy Language of Feeling
The Measurement Problem
The Blind Spots of Imagination
Reveals how the brain 'fills in' details when we imagine the future, leading to significant errors in judgment.
The Master Fabricator
The Dog That Didn't Bark
Near vs. Far Future
The Shadow of the Present
How our current emotional state and environment contaminate our view of how we will feel tomorrow.
The Presentism Error
Prefeeling the Future
The Variety Myth
The Immune System of the Mind
Explores how we rationalize negative events and why we are much more resilient than we think.
The Psychological Immune System
The Intensity Bias
The Trap of Reversibility
Regretting Action vs. Inaction
The Wisdom of Strangers
Analyzes why we ignore the best way to predict our future happiness: looking at others' current experiences.
The Memory Filter
The Rare Event Fallacy
The Surrogacy Solution
The Illusion of Uniqueness
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Interactive Socratic dialogue, level by level