PsychTalks | The Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences forum for ideas and discussion

Join us for refreshments following the event. This event will be delivered in accessible language.

The secret to satisfaction: is everything we’ve been told about happiness, wrong?

For years, the concept of happiness and wellbeing has been popularised, monetised and exploited. But still we strive as a society for that elusive opportunity to be ‘truly happy’.

Rates of mental illness are on the rise and now represent a larger share of the mental health burden worldwide. This raises the question of whether we are approaching the issue of wellbeing and happiness in the right ways.

Should we strive for happiness? Can happiness increase or is this just an elusive goal? What is the role of pain and suffering in promoting happiness? Do we have the tools as a society to talk about our less happy experiences in life, and is this important for wellbeing?

Join our expert academics and thinkers for this unique panel discussion on happiness in western culture.

Moderator

Lynne Malcolm, Journalist and Broadcaster, Presenter for All in the Mind, ABC

Speakers

A/Prof Brock Bastian
Social Psychologist and author of 'The Other Side of Happiness'
Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences

Jill Stark
Author of 'Happy Never After: Why the Happiness Fairytale is Driving Us Mad (and how I Flipped the Script)'

Dr Peggy Kern
Senior Lecturer
Centre for Positive Psychology
Melbourne Graduate School of Education

Prof Mark Wooden
Director of the HILDA Survey Project, Australia's first large-scale household panel survey, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research