Psychology of Happiness

Michael Argyle is Emeritus Reader in Social Psychology at Oxford University, a Fellow of Wolfson College and Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Oxford Brookes University. He is the author of many books including: The Social Psychology of Everyday Life (1992), The Psychology of Social Class (1993), The Psychology of Money (1998) and Psychology and Religion (1999), all published by Routledge.

'An impressive testimony to (Argyle's) enthusiasm, energy, eclecticism and grasp of the subject.' - Times Higher Education Supplement "This new edition is an excellent updated synthesis of the research in what has been a very successful area of advance in social psychology, due in no small measure to Michael Argyle's own work in the field." - W. Peter Robinson, Professor of Social Psychology, University of Bristol. "This book is bigger and better than the first edition. The author has definitely kept up with progress in the field and has summarised it well." - Adrian Furnham, Professor of Psychology, University College London. "Michael Argyle's book gives an excellent broad overview of the scientific field of subjective well-being - the study of happiness, life satisfaction, and positive affect. Readers will discover many interesting, and even exciting, new facts about happiness. At the same time, this is not a difficult read... Argyle has done an outstanding job of introducing readers to an exciting new scientific field in the study of human behaviour." - Ed Diener, Professor of Psychology, University of Illinois.

• Introduction. How to measure and study happiness. Joy and other positive emotions. Satisfaction. Humour and laughter. Social relationships. Work and employment. Leisure. Money, class and education. Personality, age and gender. Religion. National differences in happiness. Happiness enhancement. The effects of positive moods and happiness. Conclusions.