Data Science & Psychology Data Science applied to Values, Morals, Politics, & things that matter.

17Sep/09

France to consider measures of gross national “bonheur” (happiness)

It looks like the government of France is following in the footsteps of Bhutan and the United Kingdom and is taking the idea of using happiness as a national indicator more seriously.
The article from the Telegraph is consistent with a growing drumbeat among academics and politicians to consider national indicators of well being.  The challenge is to [...]

9Sep/09

Feeling positive towards others makes you happier….unless you’re a Libertarian

Some of the group that run yourmorals.org are considering writing a paper focusing on Libertarians and so I’ve been looking at the data for triends.  One consistent pattern we have found is that Libertarians (unsuprisingly) are more self rather than other oriented.  They aren’t just extreme conservatives, but are qualitatively different.  They seem to moralize [...]

7Oct/07

The Serial Comma » Gross National Happiness

I am just getting back from the Gallup Positive Psychology conference where we talk a lot about measuring happiness and well being rather than GDP to inform policy. In case anyone wonders what some of my posts on happiness have to do with public policy, here is a tidbit I recently came across.
The basic [...]