2025 · 03. April 2025

Most of us can look back at who we were 10 or 20 years ago and recognise how much we’ve changed. But here’s a question for you – do you think you will continue to change, or will you be much the same person in 10 or 20 years’ time? Most of us seem to assume that who we are today is who we’ll be for the rest of our lives, but the research is clear on this point - we're going to change more than we think.

2017 · 07. December 2017

Last week's 'Your Mental Health' column in the Southern Star looked at what people can learn from happiness research, particularly the findings of 'Professor Happiness', psychologist Daniel Gilbert. The column is reproduced below. All of us can imagine scenarios that seem nightmarish, just as we can picture idyllic lives where we don’t have a care in the world. But what if the nightmarish scenario turned out to be more manageable than you thought, and the blissful scenario wasn’t actually...

2017 · 30. November 2017

All of us can imagine scenarios that seem nightmarish, just as we can picture idyllic lives where we don’t have a care in the world. But what if the nightmarish scenario turned out to be more manageable than you thought, and the blissful scenario wasn’t actually that blissful? I explore such matters in my 'Your Mental Health' column in this week's Southern Star, drawing on the research of 'Prof. Happiness', psychologist Daniel Gilbert. As always, the column will be reproduced on this blog...