George Loewenstein, Ph.D.
Herbert A. Simon University Professor of Economics and Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University
Eli Finkel, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology and of Management and Organizations, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
The Opposite of Happiness: How Bad Feelings Make and Break Us
Book Giveaway: FAN is giving away copies of The Opposite of Happiness to randomly selected Zoom attendees. Details on the webinar registration page.
Why do negative emotions — anxiety, regret, loneliness — so often dominate our lives, even when things are going well? In The Opposite of Happiness: How Bad Feelings Make and Break Us, pioneering behavioral economist George Loewenstein, Ph.D., offers a provocative answer: misery is not a malfunction of the human mind. It is a feature. And many of the ways we try to escape it only deepen the problem.
One of the founders of behavioral economics, Loewenstein draws on decades of research in psychology, neuroscience, and evolutionary theory, alongside deeply personal experience, to reveal the hidden logic behind our most painful emotions. From anxiety and jealousy to regret and loneliness, he shows how these feelings evolved to serve essential functions yet often misfire in modern life.
Rather than offering quick fixes, the book reframes how we think about emotional well-being altogether. It challenges the cultural obsession with happiness and suggests that understanding, and even accepting, misery may be the best we can aspire to. As Loewenstein writes, misery is not a glitch in the system; it is the system. Woven throughout are excerpts from literature and candid first-hand accounts drawn from a Misery Survey he conducted, exploring why these emotions so often come to define us.
Loewenstein will be in conversation with Eli Finkel, Ph.D. (FAN ’17), a professor at Northwestern University, with appointments in psychology and the Kellogg School of Management. He serves as a founding co-director of the Litowitz Center for Enlightened Disagreement and as the Morton O. Schapiro Fellow at the Institute for Policy Research. He is the author of The All-or-Nothing Marriage, a co-host of the “Love Factually” podcast, and a guest essayist for The New York Times.
This event is suitable for youth ages 12 and up. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.
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Upcoming Events
The Opposite of Happiness: How Bad Feelings Make and Break Us
George Loewenstein, Ph.D.
Herbert A. Simon University Professor of Economics and Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University
Eli Finkel, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology and of Management and Organizations, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
ON ZOOM
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Min Jin Lee
Bestselling author of "Free Food for Millionaires" and "Pachinko"
Megan Bang, Ph.D.
James E. Johnson Professor of the Learning Sciences at Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy
Evanston Township High School Auditorium
Note: Event start time is Central Time (CT).
NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED.
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Adam Grant, Ph.D.
Saul P. Steinberg Professor of Management and Professor of Psychology, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Francis W. Parker School, Heller Auditorium
Note: Event start time is Central Time (CT).
NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED.