(cache)Greater Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life

Published by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley

Published by UC Berkeley's GGSC

Donate to support our work

Are We Becoming Less Happy?

According to a new report, negative emotions are rising in the United States, and "happiness gaps" are growing around the world.
$What the Struggle for Gay Rights Teaches Us about Bridging Differences$

What the Struggle for Gay Rights Teaches Us about Bridging Differences

What the Struggle for Gay Rights Teaches Us about Bridging Differences
Five Ways to Talk with Your Kids So They Feel Loved

Five Ways to Talk with Your Kids So They Feel Loved
Why You Never Seem to Have Enough Time

Why You Never Seem to Have Enough Time
Episode 36: Do You Know How to Eat a Raisin?

Episode 36: Do You Know How to Eat a Raisin?

Most Recent

Episode 37: What Are Your Strongest Reminders of Connection?

By Shuka Kalantari | March 21, 2019
World Happiness Report Finds That People Are Feeling Worse

By Kira M. Newman | March 20, 2019
What the Struggle for Gay Rights Teaches Us about Bridging Differences

By Zaid Jilani | March 19, 2019
Five Ways to Talk with Your Kids So They Feel Loved

By Shauna Tominey | March 18, 2019

See All

The Science of Happiness at Work
A three-course professional certificate series that teaches you the what, why, and how of increasing happiness at work. Launches September 2018! CEs for health care professionals & HR managers

Learn More

Take a Greater Good Quiz!

How compassionate are you?
How generous, grateful, or forgiving?
Find out!
Take a Quiz

Keys to Well-Being

Bridging Differences

Americans are increasingly divided along social and political lines. The evidence for this polarization can be found in our most intimate…
Read More
What the Struggle for Gay Rights Teaches Us about Bridging Differences
By | March 19, 2019 All Bridging Differences Articles
Social Capital Quiz
Take the Quiz

Compassion

Compassion literally means “to suffer together.” Among emotion researchers, it is defined as the feeling that arises when you are…
Read More
Five Ways to Talk with Your Kids So They Feel Loved
By | March 18, 2019 All Compassion Articles
Compassionate Love Quiz
Take the Quiz

Gratitude

Robert Emmons, perhaps the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude, argues that gratitude has two key components, which he describes…
Read More
Dear Christine: How to Cope with an Ungrateful Spouse
By | February 26, 2019 All Gratitude Articles
Gratitude Quiz
Take the Quiz

Mindfulness

Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment, through…
Read More
How to Take SEL to the Next Level at Your School
By | February 25, 2019 All Mindfulness Articles
Mindfulness Quiz
Take the Quiz

Diversity

For the Greater Good Science Center, “diversity” refers to both an obvious fact of human life—namely, that there are many different…
Read More
What the Struggle for Gay Rights Teaches Us about Bridging Differences
By | March 19, 2019 All Diversity Articles
Connection to Humanity Quiz
Take the Quiz

Awe

Awe is the feeling we get in the presence of something vast that challenges our understanding of the world, like looking up at millions of…
Read More
What Humble Kids Have in Common
By | March 12, 2019 All Awe Articles
Awe Quiz
Take the Quiz

Social Connection

When researchers refer to the concept of social connection, they mean the feeling that you belong to a group and generally feel close to…
Read More
What the Struggle for Gay Rights Teaches Us about Bridging Differences
By | March 19, 2019 All Social Connection Articles
Social Capital Quiz
Take the Quiz

Happiness

Most of us probably don’t believe we need a formal definition of happiness; we know it when we feel it, and we often use the term to…
Read More
World Happiness Report Finds That People Are Feeling Worse
By | March 20, 2019 All Happiness Articles
Happiness at Work
Take the Quiz

Forgiveness

Psychologists generally define forgiveness as a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person…
Read More
How Your Happiness Can Spread to the People Around You
By | February 19, 2019 All Forgiveness Articles
Forgiveness Quiz
Take the Quiz

Empathy

The term “empathy” is used to describe a wide range of experiences. Emotion researchers generally define empathy as the ability to sense…
Read More
What the Struggle for Gay Rights Teaches Us about Bridging Differences
By | March 19, 2019 All Empathy Articles
Empathy Quiz
Take the Quiz

Altruism

Altruism is when we act to promote someone else’s welfare, even at a risk or cost to ourselves. Though some believe that humans are…
Read More
How Understanding Evolution Can Help Us to Be Happy
By | March 15, 2019 All Altruism Articles
Altruism Quiz
Take the Quiz

Videos

View All

What is Mindfulness?

Jon Kabat-Zinn discusses what mindfulness and meditation are really about: presence of heart.

Why Awe Is Such an Important Emotion

Dacher Keltner gives an overview of the young science of awe, from how it's expressed to its benefits for health and well-being.

Meditating with Kids

Want to teach kids a simple meditation? Here's how I do "loving kindness" meditation.

Positive Emotions Transform Us

Barbara Fredrickson suggests that positive emotions make us more resilient to setbacks, improve our relationships, and may even change our…

Overcoming the Skepticism to Mindfulness at Work

Dr. Jeremy Hunter, founding director and associate professor of practice at the Executive Mind Leadership Institute, explains how to combat…

Challenges to Gratitude

Gratitude may be good, Robert Emmons explains, but it isn't always easy. He considers some of the myths around gratitude and obstacles to…

Cultivating Gratitude in the Workplace

In this presentation at the Greater Good Gratitude Summit, Chris Murchison describes his efforts to create an organizational culture at…

Getting Kids to Listen—Without Nagging!

Wouldn't it be nice to just ask once?

The Ancient Heart of Forgiveness

Jack Kornfield shares extraordinary stories of forgiveness--and explains how the next story could be yours.

“Black folks come from a long line of storytellers, and we seek out the stories that shed light on who we are in this country.”

― Why Telling Our Own Story Is So Powerful for Black Americans, by Andrea Collier

Web

Image

Sort by:

Web

Web

Image

Image

What the Struggle for Gay Rights Teaches Us about Bridging Differences

Five Ways to Talk with Your Kids So They Feel Loved

Why You Never Seem to Have Enough Time

Episode 36: Do You Know How to Eat a Raisin?

Most Popular

Most Recent

The Science of Happiness at Work

The Science of a Happy Relationship

Take a Greater Good Quiz!

Social Capital Quiz

Compassionate Love Quiz

Gratitude Quiz

Mindfulness Quiz

Connection to Humanity Quiz

Awe Quiz

Social Capital Quiz

Happiness at Work

Forgiveness Quiz

Empathy Quiz

Altruism Quiz

The Science of Happiness: Live

Keep Up with Our Happiness Calendar!

Learn the Secrets to Happiness

The Science of Happiness Podcast