The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos

We hear a lot about rising rates of anxiety, depression, and fragility among kids today. But when Harvard researcher Alexis Redding uncovered a forgotten trove of interviews with college students from the 1970s, she found something surprising: their emotional struggles and developmental challenges sounded nearly identical to those of students today.
Dr. Laurie also talks with psychologist Adam Mastroianni about why our minds are so quick to believe that young people are getting worse over time. Together, they explore what we get wrong about “kids these days,” and how historical perspective can help us respond to young people with a little more compassion.
Experts Mentioned:
Alexis Redding, developmental psychologist and Co-Chair of Higher Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
William Perry, professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
Adam Mastroianni, writer and social psychologist
Nancy Hill, Charles Bigelow Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
Resources Mentioned:
Mental Health in College: What Research Tells Us About Supporting Students, by Alexis Redding (2026)
Forms of Ethical and Intellectual Development in the College Years: A Scheme, by William Perry (1968)
“The Illusion of Moral Decline” by Adam Mastroianni and Dan Gilbert (Nature, 2023)
Related Episodes:
“How to Make America's Young People Happier Again”
“What is Social Media Doing to Kids?”
“How Smartphones Changed Childhood (And What to Do About It)”
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We’re kicking off a new season of The Happiness Lab with some happiness hot takes — bold claims that challenge conventional wisdom about what it really takes to feel happier. Today's hot take is all about oversharing.
We’re usually told that revealing too much is cringe-worthy. That it demonstrates social ignorance. That when it comes to overly personal information, save it for your therapist, because less is usually more.
Dr. Laurie argues that revealing more than feels comfortable can actually strengthen our social connections and boost our wellbeing. She speaks with Harvard Business School professor Leslie John, author of Revealing, about why TLI (too little information) is often more dangerous than TMI, and chats with University of Chicago psychologist Nick Epley, author of A Little More Social, about what “embracing the cringe” can teach us about connection, vulnerability, and trust.
Together, they explore the line between sharing and oversharing, and explain why what feels like “too much information” is often just information.
Experts Mentioned:
Leslie John, James. E. Burke Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School
Nick Epley, John Templeton Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Faculty Director of the Roman Family Center for Decision Research at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Bronnie Ware, author and palliative carer
Resources Mentioned:
Revealing: The Underrated Power of Oversharing, by Leslie John (2026)
“Putting feelings into words: Affect labeling as implicit emotion regulation” by Jared Torre and Matthew Lieberman (Emotion Review, 2018)
The Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing, by Bronnie Ware (2011)
A Little More Social: How Small Choices Create Unexpected Happiness, Health, and Connection, by Nick Epley (2026)
“Undervaluing gratitude: Expressers misunderstand the consequences of showing appreciation,” by Amit Kumar and Nick Epley (Psychological Science, 2018)
“Insufficiently complimentary?: Underestimating the positive impact of compliments creates a barrier to expressing them” by Xuan Zhao and Nick Epley (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2021)
Related Episodes:
“The Secret to Making Friends as an Adult”
“Why Giving is a Great Daily Habit”
“Caring What You’re Sharing”
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As summer begins, many of us are bombarded with messages about how our bodies aren't good enough. But what if we embraced movement not out of self-criticism or shame, but self-compassion?
To close out our series on how to spring clean your wellbeing, we're revisiting a powerful conversation from The Happiness Lab archives featuring Jessamyn Stanley, author of Every Body Yoga: Let Go of Fear, Get On the Mat, Love Your Body. Dr. Laurie explores how body shame warps our relationship with exercise — and how to rediscover the joy of moving our bodies.
If you've ever treated exercise like punishment, this episode offers a happier, kinder way to move through the world.
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Negative emotions like sadness, anger, guilt, and anxiety can feel overwhelming. But what if those uncomfortable feelings aren’t problems to fix, but signals worth listening to?
As part of our series on how to spring clean your wellbeing, Dr. Laurie revisits a conversation with Harvard Medical School psychologist Susan David, author of Emotional Agility. Together, they discuss why bottling up difficult feelings doesn’t work, why brooding can keep us stuck, and what our individual emotions are actually trying to tell us about our lives and relationships.
If you’ve ever tried to bury a bad feeling, this episode offers a more effective approach to emotional healing.
Experts Mentioned:
Susan David, Harvard Medical School psychologist a
Viktor Frankl, psychiatrist, neurologist, and founder of logotherapy
Resources Mentioned:
Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life, by Susan David (2016)
Related Episodes:
"How to Identify Your Negative Emotions"
"Stepping Off the Path of Anxiety"
"How to be Angry Better"
"When Guilt is Good... and When it's Not"
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Our beliefs shape more than we realize. They influence what we notice, how we respond to setbacks, how connected we feel to others, and whether we take action to improve our lives.
As part of our series on how to spring clean your wellbeing, Dr. Laurie sits down with happiness expert Shawn Achor, author of The Power of Beliefs, to explore how our beliefs about time, work, relationships, and self-worth shape happiness, success, and long-term wellbeing.
And if some of your beliefs are holding you back, Shawn shares practical ways to start shifting them. Plus, we learn one delightful fact about fireflies.
Experts Mentioned:
Shawn Achor, positive psychology researcher and author
Richard Wiseman, professor of the public understanding of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire
Henry Beecher, anesthesiologist at Harvard Medical School who pioneered research on the placebo effect
Resources Mentioned:
The Power of Beliefs: How Strengthening Seven Core Beliefs Predicts Greater Success and a Better Life, by Shawn Achor (2026)
The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work, by Shawn Achor (2010)
The Luck Factor: The Scientific Study of the Lucky Mind, by Richard Wiseman (2004)
"From Jerusalem to Jericho: A Study of Situational and Dispositional Variables in Helping Behavior," by John M. Darley and C. Daniel Batson (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1973)
Related Episodes:
"Grateful Expectations"
“How to Adopt a Growth Mindset”
“Happiness Lessons of The Ancients: The Buddha”
"Happiness Lessons of The Ancients: Socrates and Self-Knowledge"
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