The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos

You might detest bigotry and injustice, but have you done anything to address these problems? There are many reasons we stay silent and inactive when we know we should intervene to defend the rights of others. We look at the psychology underpinning our reluctance to act and the ways in which we can match our moral beliefs with concrete actions.Featuring James Barr and Dan Hudson, co-hosts of the podcast 'A Gay and a Non-Gay'.WARNING: This episode talks frankly about discrimination, hate crimes and sex.For an even deeper dive into the research we talk about in the show visit happinesslab.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feeling you belong to a group can be great - but it also has a darker side, leading us down an unhappy path of hatred and violence towards people with different identities and backgrounds.Dr Laurie Santos talks to Mina Cikara - whose homeland descended into a bloody civil war - and Jamil Zaki about how we can fight hatred with empathy, kindness and difficult conversations.(Deep canvassing clips courtesy of The Leadership Lab https://leadership-lab.org/ at the Los Angeles LGBT Center.)For an even deeper dive into the research we talk about in the show visit happinesslab.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cait Flanders went deep into debt so she could buy all the clothes, books and gadgets she thought would make her happier. It was only when she junked it all that she found that 'doing' rather than 'having' is a better way to spend your salary.Dr Laurie Santos examines why investing in experiences like concerts, vacations and dining out can give us a long-term happiness boost that buying things just can't match.For an even deeper dive into the research we talk about in the show visit happinesslab.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all have bad habits - things we eat, drink, do or say that cause us unhappiness. We repeat these behaviours over and over again - almost as if we are on autopilot. But we can break free from them, and use the mechanics of habit formation to make doing good things feel effortless.Dr Laurie Santos meets a scientist who sleeps in her running gear and a former army doctor who went to Vietnam to fight a wave of heroin abuse in the military and discovered something startling about habits.For an even deeper dive into the research we talk about in the show visit happinesslab.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The world is full of people and things that can make you happy, but you have to notice them to get the full effect. Smartphones are technological marvels, but the hold they have over our limited attention is causing us to miss out on more than we realize.Dr Laurie Santos finds that even having a phone nearby can reduce how happy you feel. Laurie chats with Catherine Price, a science journalist, founder of ScreenLifeBalance.com and author of How to Break Up With Your Phone. For an even deeper dive into the research we talk about in the show visit happinesslab.fm or visit screenlifebalance.com, the website for guest Catherine Price. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices