The Happiness Paradox

Jennifer Aaker, Stanford University, GSB

Happiness drives many of us, but often down the wrong road. How can our desire to please ourselves so often lead us astray? Stanford Graduate School of Business Professor Jennifer Aaker states that happiness has many nuanced definitions between excitement and peacefulness. The way you choose to define it is dependent on demographics, including factors like gender, age, mindset, and culture. Moreover, these perceived feelings of happiness evolve over a lifetime, and inform how one makes decisions.