The Invisible Psychology Of Happiness & Meaning - Lionel Page

Lionel Page is a professor at the University of Queensland and an author. Lionel is one of my favourite writers so I had to bring him on to uncover the invisible psychology which drives our happiness. How can we optimise for wellbeing in a world full of distractions and pressures? Why does persistent happiness remain so elusive, and what shifts can help us build a healthier, more sustainable relationship with it? Expect to learn what everyone gets wrong when thinking about happiness, the most important mechanisms that drive our wellbeing, how the role of comparison on social media contributes to overall happiness, why evolution didn’t design us with the ability to simply feel greater and greater satisfaction, the role of a meaningful life, why we overestimate the importance of our future success and much more… - 00:00 The Issue With How We View Happiness 05:35 We Always Compare Ourselves to Others 15:36 Why We Think We Are Worse Off Than Our Forebears 25:23 How Goal-Setting Impacts Happiness 38:22 The Difference Between Happiness & Relief 46:19 The Ideal Income for Happiness 52:52 The Role of Habituation in Happiness 1:03:55 Why Status is Less Subject to Habituation 1:07:28 Relationship Between Happiness & Meaning 1:20:32 Myths About the Meaning of Life 1:26:42 Where to Find Lionel - Get access to every episode 10 hours before YouTube by subscribing for free on Spotify - https://spoti.fi/2LSimPn or Apple Podcasts - https://apple.co/2MNqIgw Get my free Reading List of 100 life-changing books here - https://chriswillx.com/books/ Try my productivity energy drink Neutonic here - https://neutonic.com/modernwisdom - Get in touch in the comments below or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/

Chris WilliamsonhostLionel Pageguest

Dec 5, 20241h 27mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: December 5, 2024
Duration: 1h 27m
Channel: Modern Wisdom
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Lionel Page is a professor at the University of Queensland and an author. Lionel is one of my favourite writers so I had to bring him on to uncover the invisible psychology which drives our happiness. How can we optimise for wellbeing in a world full of distractions and pressures? Why does persistent happiness remain so elusive, and what shifts can help us build a healthier, more sustainable relationship with it? Expect to learn what everyone gets wrong when thinking about happiness, the most important mechanisms that drive our wellbeing, how the role of comparison on social media contributes to overall happiness, why evolution didn’t design us with the ability to simply feel greater and greater satisfaction, the role of a meaningful life, why we overestimate the importance of our future success and much more… - 00:00 The Issue With How We View Happiness 05:35 We Always Compare Ourselves to Others 15:36 Why We Think We Are Worse Off Than Our Forebears 25:23 How Goal-Setting Impacts Happiness 38:22 The Difference Between Happiness & Relief 46:19 The Ideal Income for Happiness 52:52 The Role of Habituation in Happiness 1:03:55 Why Status is Less Subject to Habituation 1:07:28 Relationship Between Happiness & Meaning 1:20:32 Myths About the Meaning of Life 1:26:42 Where to Find Lionel - Get access to every episode 10 hours before YouTube by subscribing for free on Spotify - https://spoti.fi/2LSimPn or Apple Podcasts - https://apple.co/2MNqIgw Get my free Reading List of 100 life-changing books here - https://chriswillx.com/books/ Try my productivity energy drink Neutonic here - https://neutonic.com/modernwisdom - Get in touch in the comments below or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/

SPEAKERS

Chris Williamson
host
Lionel Page
guest
Narrator
other

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Modern Wisdom, featuring Chris Williamson and Lionel Page, The Invisible Psychology Of Happiness & Meaning - Lionel Page explores why Evolution Designed Us To Chase Happiness, Not Ever Reach It Chris Williamson and economist Lionel Page explore happiness through an evolutionary and game-theory lens, arguing that happiness is a valuation system designed by evolution to guide decisions, not to keep us content. They explain why goals, status, and social comparison continually move the bar, creating chronic dissatisfaction even as objective conditions improve. The conversation covers how reference points, social background, and modern phenomena like social media and long time-horizons create deep mismatches between what feels good now and what yields long-term success. They also distinguish between pleasure and meaning, suggesting that feelings of meaning largely track whether our lives resemble evolutionarily successful trajectories—especially in pro-social, status-enhancing ways.

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