Happy Nation? Prospects for Ireland's Psychological Prosperity

Happy Nation? asks a simple question: how happy are we, and are we really willing to do what it will take to become happier? 

The National Happiness Experiment was a pioneering text-based survey in Ireland, run over six weeks in May 2012. Designed by the School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, the NHE surveyed a total of 3,309 people producing some surprising findings about the factors that lead to happiness for Irish people today.

The authors then go on to consider how our mutual and personal happiness might be enhance and sustained:

• Is it possible to design our society – and economy – ‘as though people, and their happiness, mattered’?
• What would be the health, psychological and social benefits of a fairer, more inclusive Ireland?
• And if nothing else changes, what can each of us do to keep ourselves as happy as possible?

The authors believe that there is both an interest and a value in exploring the issue of happiness in Ireland. The findings and analysis in Happy Nation? provide fascinating reading and hopefully will lead to a much-needed larger debate. 

About the Authors                                    

Malcolm MacLachlann is Professor of Psychology and Associate Director of the Centre for Global Health, and Karen Hand is a Researcher in the School of Psychology, at Trinity College Dublin. Together they co-curated the National Happiness Experiment.