World Happiness Report 2023 24 the teachings of Aristotle as well as Confucius and most of the world’s religious faiths. It is now being promoted by secular movements like Action for Happiness,33 Effective Altruism34 and the World Wellbeing Movement.35 More movements of this kind are needed. Research Priorities To complete the well-being revolution will, however, require a lot more knowledge. So here are some priorities for further research, following the sequence of our previous arguments. Happiness and Virtue A first key issue is how to cultivate and promote virtuous character and behaviour. If we compare one society with another we can see that countries with superior social norms tend to achieve higher levels of well-being. For example, in chapter 2 of each World Happiness Report, we show the positive effects of living in a more generous, trusting and supportive society. There are two reasons for this relationship. First, virtuous behaviour by one person makes other people feel better. But second, there is evidence that when an individual behaves virtuously, she herself feels better. But we also need more naturalistic studies of the relation between people’s values and their individual happiness. Going on, if virtue matters so much, the key question is how to help people to become more virtuous. Aristotle introduced this question in the Nichomachean Ethics more than 2,300 years ago. The Buddha, Hindu philosophers (in the Bhagavad Gita and elsewhere), Jewish and Christian theologians, Islamic thinkers, and others have long asked the same questions. This subject is difficult to study empirically because we do not have sufficient quantitative measures of virtuous values and behaviour. The most common question used by Britain’s Office of National Statistics is, “Do you feel that the things you do in your life are worthwhile?” But what we really want to know is whether the things people do are actually worthwhile. Returning lost wallets is an example of pro-social behaviour with strongly positive well-being effects36 and deserves more regular monitoring by surveys and experiments. The frequency of other benevolent behaviours is surveyed regularly in the Gallup World Poll, and found to support happiness.37 There is evidently vast scope for far more research on individual character, virtues, and well-being, and we strongly encourage such research. The problem of how to study behaviour may be easier to solve with children because teachers observe them closely enough to be able to rate their behaviour. In such studies, many strategies in schools have been found to improve behaviour. The most striking of these is the Good Behaviour Game,38 where students are rewarded for the average behaviour of their group. Many life-skills programmes have also been found to influence behaviour.39 But for adults, it is not enough to say that better values lead to greater happiness. We also need to know how to promote virtues, including self-control, moderation, trustworthiness, and pro-sociality. Cost-Effectiveness Experiments and Models (for Government and NGOs) A second major need concerns the effective use of public money to increase happiness and (especially) to remove misery. If the aim of all public spending is to increase the level of well- being, policy proposals (and existing policies) should keep a focus on long-term well-being.40 Photo by Rajat Sarki on Unsplash
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