MHRC Research Seminar: What Makes Us Happy?

Enjoy free admission, all are welcome.

* Seats are limited and will be allocated on a 'first in, first served' basis.
* Online link will be provided if the seats are full.
* Please note that NO Physiotherapy (PT) and Occupational Therapy (OT) CPD points will be offered by the research seminar.

Topic
What Makes Us Happy?

Abstract
While positive psychologists have been enormously successful in the past four decades in conducting empirical studies that demonstrate who is happier than whom, when, and under what circumstances, there currently is no general theory of happiness that can explain why some people are happier than others.  In this talk, Dr Kanazawa will present the savanna theory of happiness, one of the first general theories of happiness that can explain the why.  He will then survey the initial empirical successes of the savanna theory of happiness that can explain why factors as varied as ethnic composition, population density, friendships, sunlight, and global pandemics like COVID-19 can all affect happiness and for the same reason. The theory also explains how and why intelligence affects one’s happiness.

Speaker
Dr Satoshi Kanazawa
Reader in Management
Fellow, Society of Experimental Social Psychology
Department of Management
London School of Economics and Political Science
United Kingdom

Biography
Dr Satoshi Kanazawa, Reader in Management at the London School of Economics and Political Science, is an evolutionary psychologist and intelligence researcher.  An elected Fellow of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, he has published over 140 peer-reviewed scientific articles and book chapters in all of the social sciences (psychology, sociology, political science, economics, and anthropology) as well as in biology, medicine, epidemiology, gerontology, demography, and criminology.  His academic work has been widely featured in the popular press, including, among others, CNN, NBC News, CBS News, Nature News, the Washington Post (in 2006 and 2016), Time (in 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2015), National Geographic, the Economist, the Globe and Mail, and Medical Daily.  Both his 2003 article “Why Productivity Fades with Age:  The Crime-Genius Connection” and his 2010 article “Why Liberals and Atheists Are More Intelligent ”have received worldwide media coverage, the latter with the combined worldwide viewership of 400 million people (estimated by Meltwater News).  He has appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered in 2003 and Fox News Channel’s Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld on 2010.  He is the author of The Intelligence Paradox:  Why the Intelligent Choice Isn’t Always the Smart One (Wiley, 2012) and coauthor (with Alan S. Miller) of Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters (Penguin, 2007).  The latter book has sold over 32,000 copies and has been translated into 12 languages, including Simplified Chinese in 2010 (生猛的进化心理学) and Traditional Chinese in 2008 (為什麼美女總是生女兒？).  His LSE home page is http://personal.lse.ac.uk/Kanazawa