Essay topic: Can we become happier?
The study of human happiness was once the exclusive purview of philosophers, and few believed
that happiness could be quantified and studied scientifically. In more recent decades, the work of
pioneers such as Ed Diener, Martin Seligman, and Barbara Fredrickson has helped to establish a
science of happiness grounded in constructs such as ‘Subjective Well-being’, ‘Psychological Well-
being’, and ‘Flourishing’. Much of the field of Positive Psychology is devoted to the understanding
and promotion of human flourishing, and many personality and social psychologists study
happiness. But there are still areas of disagreement and uncertainty when it comes to whether
and how we can promote happiness and improve wellbeing.
Your task in this essay is to critically evaluate the research evidence on building wellbeing in
healthy individuals. Specifically, the essay should address the question: “Can we build wellbeing in
healthy individuals? What factors count for and against the likely effectiveness of such efforts?”
You are expected to draw on major psychological theories of wellbeing, (e.g., set-point theory),
links between wellbeing and personality, and research examining the downsides of valuing
happiness (e.g., on social expectancies), amongst other perspectives.
Detailed guidelines
• Your essay should focus on answering the essay question by drawing on key theories and
offering a critical literature review, with the emphasis on critical rather than just passively
describing the literature. In other words, the goal is to develop a clear argument, built from
theory and drawing on empirical evidence, in order to evaluate the possibility of building
wellbeing in healthy individuals.
• Relatedly, the purpose of a literature review is to make a persuasive argument to your reader.
Again, you are not just providing a descriptive summary of the literature, you are also
appraising that literature. You may decide to argue that there are few limiting factors on our
ability to increase wellbeing, or alternatively argue that effecting sustainable increases in
wellbeing is likely to be very difficult. Either way, you will need to lay out the evidence for your
argument by referring to published empirical research.
The important point is to make sure that your argument is clearly articulated (e.g., in the essay
title, in the scope and content of the review, etc) and that you support it with relevant
empirical research.
• We’ve used the word ‘empirical’ a few times above—make sure you know what this word
means.
• Give your essay as appropriate title.
• Ensure key concepts are defined and explained
• In terms of your essay structure, you should
1) Introduce the topic and indicate why it is important
2) Outline a contention that you will argue for
3) Present arguments for the contention, based on relevant theory and empirical research
4) Identify any relevant caveats and limitations and address any major counterarguments
5) Summarise your conclusions
6) Present a well-chosen set of references that are used in the essay
• Use of subheadings to structure your essay is permitted but not required You may use any
subheadings you like. Subheadings will count towards the word limit.
-Lecture slides and reading lists as well as essay marking guide will be provided.
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