Pillar · Connection
Connection
The longest-running studies of human flourishing keep returning the same unfashionable answer: the quality of our relationships predicts health and happiness better than wealth, fame, or cholesterol. Connection is not a soft topic; it is one of the best-measured variables in the literature.
This collection gathers our research articles on that evidence. What decades of adult-development research actually show about good relationships — and what they cost to maintain. And why small, almost embarrassingly minor acts of reaching out are consistently undervalued by the people who perform them.
As everywhere in this journal, studies come from named institutions with canonical links, and statistics keep their caveats. The gratitude exercise below is the simplest evidence-based way to begin.
Research articles
How to have better relationships, according to the longest study of happiness
A study begun in 1938 keeps returning one answer about what makes a good life — and a handful of modern experiments show, in minutes rather than years, how to act on it.Research · 9 minThe science of small acts of kindness — and why they land bigger than you think
A decade of experiments keeps finding the same miscalibration: the compliment, the thank-you letter, the check-in text all land far better than the sender predicts. The science of small acts is mostly the science of sending them anyway.Try it now
Three good things — the classic exercise from the trials. Your notes stay in this browser.
Try it now
Three good things
The classic evidence-based exercise: note three things that went well today, and why. Your notes stay in this browser only.