Top quotes from the ippa conference

Happy at work in Philly

The whole company (all 4 of us) were in Philadelphia for the ippa conference on Positive Psychology and we had a blast.

This was the world’s leading conference on the topic with tons of speakers and 1500 attendees and we got to see all the big-wigs in the field, including Seligman, Zimbardo, Cooperrider, Csikszentmihalyi and Diener. Both Dieners in fact :o)

My personal favorite of all the sessions was Ed Diener, who had the most new findings to offer AND was also an excellent speaker – something of a rarity at this very academic event.

Here are some of the best quotes from the event, taken from my twitter stream:

“Awe is what moves us forward.”
– David Cooperrider quoting Joseph Conrad.

“Business must be a force for good in the world.”
– David Cooperrider.

“Homeless people in India and USA missed the Maslow memo.” (Meaning they can be happy even in a bad situation.)
– Robert Biswas-Diener

“Being healthy makes you happy and vice versa, but the link from happiness to health is twice as strong.”
– Ruut veenhoven

“Puritanism is the dreaded suspicion that someone somewhere is happy.”
– Sir Richard Layard quoting H.L. Mencken

“To flourish in life, aim for at least 3 positive emotions for every negative one.”
– Barbara Frederickson

“The top 2 motives for murder are… 1) love, 2) work.”
– Michael Frese

“Being too happy is bad for you. 8 on 1 10-scale is just right. Eg. cancer patients are more likely to survive if they’re at an 8 instead of 9 or 10.”
– Ed Diener

“It’s a myth that lottery winners are no happier after they win the money or that quadriplegics are no unhappier after their accident – your circumstances do matter!”
– Ed Diener