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Studies like Cohen's help ground a young and sometimes fluffy field in hard science, says conference chairman Chris Peterson of the University of Michigan. "It's very, very careful, creative research," he says, while conceding, "There's a temptation to bullshit in positive psychology...
Such findings support a widely held theory by happiness researchers that a person's level of satisfaction is determined largely by character and attitudes - less by external factors, like money or disability - and that we tend to return to our personal set point. But another branch of research - the one that leads to bestselling books and, at the conference, sessions that were packed to the point of fire-code violation - suggests that set point can be modified, and that people can learn to be happier...
Seligman has pioneered a number of well-publicized happiness-boosting exercises, for example: keeping a gratitude journal, jotting down three good things or "blessings" that occur each day, making a practice of doing "acts of kindness" for others, writing a letter of gratitude to a mentor. But more recent research, particularly by Sonja Lyubomirsky at University of California, Riverside, indicates that some of these exercises can lose their power with too much repetition: "They become stale and stagnant," says Lyubomirsky...
...University of Waterloo and Elaine Perunovic of the University of New Brunswick, begin with a common-sense proposition: when people hear something they don't believe, they are not only often skeptical but adhere even more strongly to their original position. A great deal of psychological research has shown this, but you need look no further than any late-night bar debate you've had with friends: when someone asserts that Sarah Palin is brilliant, or that the Yankees are the best team in baseball, or that Michael Jackson was not a freak, others not only argue the opposing position...
...This area has potential powerful clinical applications mixed with people's concerns over embryo research," says Insoo Hyun, a bioethicist at Case Western Reserve University who specializes in stem-cell-related ethical issues. "All the ingredients are there for a really, really lively ethical debate...