Searching for Happiness? Here's How to Find It

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/searching-happiness-find/story?id=23486216

April 27, 2014
COLUMN By LEE DYE via World News

It may be that the easiest way to kill happiness is to pursue happiness. A desperate search for happiness will likely put too much emphasis on self, and that could backfire.

Instead, scores of research projects suggest, it's better to put the emphasis on others, which psychologists call prosocial behavior. Concentrate on making someone else happy, and chances are you'll feel pretty good too.

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Psychologists led by Yale University concluded three years ago that happiness has a "dark side" because trying too hard to find it can lead to "disappointment and decreased happiness." Just try to make someone smile instead, the Stanford researchers would say.