Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group In Stumbling on Happiness, Daniel Gilbert, a prominent psychologist and researcher, delves into the complex nature of happiness and how our perceptions, memories, and imaginations influence our understanding of what it means to be happy. Gilbert combines insights from psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy to explore why we often misjudge what will make us happy in the future. Key Themes The Illusion of Foresight Gilbert argues that humans are not as adept at predicting their future happiness as they believe. Our imaginations can lead us astray, causing us to misjudge how we will feel in response to future events. Impact Bias One of the central concepts in the book is "impact bias," which is our tendency to overestimate the intensity and duration of our emotional reactions to future events. Gilbert explains how this bias affects our decision-making and can lead us to pursue things we think will make us happy, only to find that they do not.