What Makes a Good Life: Revelatory Learnings from Harvard’s 75-Year Study of Human Happiness
“The clearest message that we get from this 75-year study is this: Good relationships keep us happier and healthier.”
BY MARIA POPOVA
“The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge,” Bertrand Russell wrote in his 1925 treatise on the nature of the good life and how we limit our happiness. For the whole of human history up to that point, such questions had been left entirely to his ilk — the philosophers — and perhaps to the occasional poet.
By the following decade, a team of visionary researchers at Harvard had enlisted the tools of science in wresting tangible, measurable, actionable answers to this perennial question of the good life. So began the Study of Adult Development at the Harvard Medical School, better known as the Grant Study — the longest-running study of human happiness.
Beginning in 1938 as a counterpoint to the disease model of medicine, the ongoing research set out to illuminate the conditions that enhance wellbeing by following the lives of 268 healthy sophomores from the Harvard classes between 1939 and 1944. It was a project revolutionary in both ambition and impact, nothing like it done before or since.
For some necessary perspective on medicine in the 1930s: Having not yet uncovered the structure of DNA, we knew close to nothing about genetics; mental health was a fringe concern of the profession, with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders still two decades away; the microbiome was an inconceivable flight of fancy. Little progress had been made since Walt Whitman’s prescient case for the grossly underserved human factors in healthcare and the question of what makes for a good life was cautiously left to philosophy. It’s hard for the modern mind to grasp just how daring it was for physicians to attempt to address it.
But that’s precisely what the Harvard team did. There are, of course, glaring limitations to the study — ones that tell the lamentable story of our cultural history: the original subjects were privileged white men. Nonetheless, the findings furnish invaluable insight into the core dimensions of human happiness and life satisfaction: who lives to ninety and why, what predicts self-actualization and career success, how the interplay of nature and nurture shapes who we become.
In this illuminating TED talk, Harvard psychologist and Grant Study director Robert Waldinger — the latest of four generations of scientists working on the project — shares what this unprecedented study has revealed, with the unflinching solidity of 75 years of data, about the building blocks of happiness, longevity, and the meaningful life.
The clearest message that we get from this 75-year study is this: Good relationships keep us happier and healthier.
For a deeper dive into the significance and legacy of the Grant Study project, see the revelatory book Triumphs of Experience: The Men of the Harvard Grant Study (public library) by Harvard psychologist George E. Vaillant — Waldinger’s predecessor, who spent thirty years as director of this revolutionary study — then revisit his Harvard peer Daniel Gilbert on how our present illusions hinder our future happiness and pioneering immunologist Esther Sternberg on how our relationships affect our immune system.
For some necessary perspective on medicine in the 1930s: Having not yet uncovered the structure of DNA, we knew close to nothing about genetics; mental health was a fringe concern of the profession, with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders still two decades away; the microbiome was an inconceivable flight of fancy. Little progress had been made since Walt Whitman’s prescient case for the grossly underserved human factors in healthcare and the question of what makes for a good life was cautiously left to philosophy. It’s hard for the modern mind to grasp just how daring it was for physicians to attempt to address it.
But that’s precisely what the Harvard team did. There are, of course, glaring limitations to the study — ones that tell the lamentable story of our cultural history: the original subjects were privileged white men. Nonetheless, the findings furnish invaluable insight into the core dimensions of human happiness and life satisfaction: who lives to ninety and why, what predicts self-actualization and career success, how the interplay of nature and nurture shapes who we become.
In this illuminating TED talk, Harvard psychologist and Grant Study director Robert Waldinger — the latest of four generations of scientists working on the project — shares what this unprecedented study has revealed, with the unflinching solidity of 75 years of data, about the building blocks of happiness, longevity, and the meaningful life.
The clearest message that we get from this 75-year study is this: Good relationships keep us happier and healthier.
For a deeper dive into the significance and legacy of the Grant Study project, see the revelatory book Triumphs of Experience: The Men of the Harvard Grant Study (public library) by Harvard psychologist George E. Vaillant — Waldinger’s predecessor, who spent thirty years as director of this revolutionary study — then revisit his Harvard peer Daniel Gilbert on how our present illusions hinder our future happiness and pioneering immunologist Esther Sternberg on how our relationships affect our immune system.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Of the 31 men in the study incapable of establishing intimate bonds, only four are still alive. Of those who were better at forming relationships, more than a third are living. It’s not that the men who flourished had perfect childhoods. Rather, as Vaillant puts it, ‘What goes right is more important than what goes wrong.’ The positive effect of one loving relative, mentor or friend can overwhelm the negative effects of the bad things that happen. In case after case, the magic formula is capacity for intimacy combined with persistence, discipline, order and dependability. The men who could be affectionate about people and organized about things had very enjoyable lives. But a childhood does not totally determine a life. The beauty of the Grant Study is that, as Vaillant emphasizes, it has followed its subjects for nine decades. The big finding is that you can teach an old dog new tricks. The men kept changing all the way through, even in their 80s and 90s.”―David Brooks, New York Times
“Vaillant concludes that personal development need never stop, no matter how old you are. At an advanced age, though, growth consists more in finding new hues and shades in one’s past than in conceiving plans for the future. As the Harvard Study shows with such poignancy, older men treat what lies behind them much as younger men treat what lies ahead. The future is what young men dream about; they ponder the extent to which it is predetermined or open; and they try to shape it. For old men, it is the past they dream about; it is the past whose inevitability or indeterminateness they attempt to measure; and it is the past they try to reshape. For the most regret-free men in the Harvard study, the past is the work of their future.”―Andrew Stark, Wall Street Journal
“Triumphs of Experience elegantly summarizes the findings of this vast longitudinal study, unique in the annals of research… [The] book analyzes how the men fared over their late adulthood, and indeed their entire lives. In it, Vaillant masterfully chronicles how their life successes, or lack thereof, correlate with the nature of their childhoods, marriages, mental health, physical health, substance abuse, and attitudes. Extensive quantitative findings are interspersed with the detailed stories of individual study participants… Here Vaillant proves that his skills are literary as well as scientific. The case histories are engaging novelistic capsules that artfully bring the quantitative material to life… Many of its findings seem universal. If they could be boiled down to a single revelation, it would be that the secret to a happy life is relationships, relationships, relationships… The other overarching message of this book is that resilience counts… Vaillant is that rare thing: a psychiatrist more interested in mental flourishing than in mental illness. With Triumphs of Experience, he has turned the Harvard men’s disparate stories into a single narrative and created a field guide, both practical and profound, to how to lead a good life.”―Charles Barber, Wilson Quarterly
“The factor Vaillant returns to most insistently is the powerful correlation between the warmth of your relationships and your health and happiness in old age.”―Scott Stossel, The Atlantic
“In Triumphs of Experience, Vaillant elegantly and persuasively brings us an answer to the question that launched a thousand snake-oil salesmen: what makes for a successful and happy life? …[An] engaging work. There are regrettably few studies of this magnitude and even fewer accounts that so ably synthesize the broader insights with the moving parts.”―Christopher Croke, The Australian
“To avid consumers of modern happiness literature, some of Vaillant’s conclusions will seem shopworn (‘Happiness is love. Full stop.’), while other results of the Grant Study appear to confirm what social science has long posited―that a warm and stable childhood environment is a crucial ingredient of success; or that alcoholism is a strong predictor of divorce. But what’s unique about the Grant Study is the freedom it gives Vaillant to look past quick diagnosis, to focus on how patterns of growth can determine patterns of wellbeing. Life is long, Vaillant seems to be saying, and lots of shit happens. What is true in one stage of a man’s life is not true in another. Previously divorced men are capable of long and loving marriages. There is a time to monitor cholesterol (before age 50) and a time to ignore it. Self-starting, as a character trait, is relatively unimportant to flourishing early in life but very important at the end of it. Socially anxious men struggle for decades in emotional isolation and then mature past it―relatively speaking. Triumphs of Experience is not only a history of how the Grant men adapted (or not) to life over 70-plus years, but of how author and science grew up alongside them. Yet what unifies Triumphs is the same question posed originally by Bock, the study’s founder: What factors meaningfully and reliably predict the good life? Vaillant’s mission is to uncover the ‘antecedents of flourishing.’”―Dan Slater, Daily Beast
“Offers broadly applicable evidence about how everything from early maturity to grandparents’ longevity is likely to affect flourishing throughout life… It is hard to overstate the wealth of the data provided in Triumphs of Experience or the ambition of the project, composed of survey responses, health records, and interviews. This archive of human life is poised to answer questions shorter studies can barely hint at… Vaillant offers striking conclusions about a range of factors affecting human flourishing.”―Adam Plunkett, New Republic online
“Reading like a storybook, the case histories of the individuals provide fascinating insights about how the subjects tackled challenges or succumbed to setbacks. Vaillant superbly explains how these lifelong experiences sculpted these men’s final years. Readers can learn more about themselves and what they may expect from life by reading this revelatory and absorbing book.”―Aron Row, San Francisco Book Review
“George Vaillant’s book on the development and well-being of a longitudinal sample of men, now in their nineties and studied regularly since they were undergraduates at Harvard University, reads like a riveting detective tale… He has a thought-provoking story to tell about the lifelong significance of loving care… Brief life-story vignettes illustrate movingly how adult development and maturation is a lifelong process that strongly relates to the transformative power of receiving and giving love… [The book’s] well-evidenced wisdoms on the significance of nurturing relationships offer new multidisciplinary perspectives on the complex issue of nature versus nurture (much needed at a time when medical science and genetics once more dominate studies of human development) and on the lifelong costs of childhood emotional neglect.”―E. Stina Lyon, Times Higher Education
“This fascinating book of ‘numbers’ and ‘pictures’ is the final summary volume of a longitudinal psychosocial study focused on the optimum health of 268 males from Harvard College classes… This book is well worth reading for the discoveries contained in its pages; it has the potential to advance knowledge about adult development.”―J. Clawson, Choice
“A fascinating account of the 268 individuals selected for the Harvard Study of Adult Development… Vaillant has done a wonderful job summarizing the study, discussing its major findings, and communicating his enthusiasm for every aspect of the project, which became his life’s work starting in 1966. The study has been investigating what makes a successful and healthy life. Initially, this meant looking for potential officer material for the military. Vaillant established what he called ‘the Decathlon of Flourishing―a set of ten accomplishments in late life that covered many different facets of success.’ With humor and intriguing insights, the author shows how progress in health studies and the passage of time contributed to the constant ‘back and forth between nature and nurture.’ During Vaillant’s tenure, human maturation and resilience became the focus, and now biology is reasserting itself in the form of DNA studies and fMRI imaging, the seeds for future research. The author considers the study’s greatest contributions to be a demonstration that human growth continues long after adolescence, the world’s longest and most thorough study of alcoholism, and its identification and charting of involuntary coping mechanisms. Inspiring when reporting these successes, his personal approach to discovery repeatedly draws readers in as he leads up to the account of his realization that the true value of a human life can only be fully understood in terms of the cumulative record of the entire life span. Joyful reading about a groundbreaking study and its participants.”―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Vaillant’s fascination with the human condition and his deep insights about development make him a great storyteller, adept at elegantly conveying the essence of humanity.”―Laura L. Carstensen, Director, Stanford Center on Longevity
“George Vaillant tells the story of the Grant Study men though age 91. This is, arguably, the most important study of the life course ever done. But it is, inarguably, the one most brimming with wisdom. If you are preparing for the last quarter of your life, this is a MUST read.”―Martin Seligman, author of Authentic Happiness
“What makes a good life? Most people would just speculate, cite one-off examples, perhaps reference a personal religious doctrine―or just shrug. But shouldn't we have at least some scientific answers to this question by now? Actually, we do. The Grant Study has followed a group of men for their entire adult lives. It has tracked them for over 75 years. What factors make for a good life? How does personality, marriage, children, career, friends and lifestyle contribute to fulfillment over the course of decades? Most studies last weeks or months. The Grant Study is still going on. It’s one of the most illuminating glimpses into what makes life meaningful.”―Eric Barker, The Week
About the Author
George E. Vaillant is Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
Product details
ASIN : 0674503813
Publisher : Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press; Reprint edition (May 4, 2015)
Language : English
Paperback : 480 pages
ISBN-10 : 9780674503816
ISBN-13 : 978-0674503816
Item Weight : 15.2 ounces
Dimensions : 5.5 x 1.4 x 8 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #323,742 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#236 in Medical Developmental Psychology
#285 in Medical Psychology Research
#307 in Popular Developmental Psychology
Customer Reviews: 4.6 out of 5 stars 192 ratings
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Biography
George E. Vaillant, M.D., is a psychoanalyst and a research psychiatrist, one of the pioneers in the study of adult development. He is a professor at Harvard University and directed Harvard's Study of Adult Development for thirty-five years. He is the author of Aging Well, Triumphs of Experience and The Natural History of Alcoholism, and his 1977 book, Adaptation to Life, is a classic text in the study of adult development. He lives in Orange California, but works part time at Massachusetts GenealHospital.
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grant study triumphs of experience harvard grant longitudinal study george vaillant adult development physical health must read loving relationships human development long term read for anyone read this book case studies old age life stories well written successful life adaptation to life successful life
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C. Esposito-Bernard
4.0 out of 5 stars insight, data, and grace
Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2016
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I'm a father of two boys. I read this book because I wanted to see if there were seeds I could plant now, while they are young, that would bear fruit 40 or 60 years from now. I wondered what could do now to help them live full and meaningful lives. I also wondered if I would be able to avoid making mistakes.
For those reasons, I read this book slowly, taking nearly a year to read every word. I can't help wonder if the time thinking about this was more fruitful or the data in and of itself, but of course the answer is both.
Taking the time, thinking about these men, and imagining how the lessons learned could be grafted into the lives of my sons has been incredibly helpful. And I am so very grateful that George Valliant wrote this book.
It did not chart a map, but it set a course that affirmed over and over again that the things you get right matter more than the things you do wrong and love is enough to bring about great joy.
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Robert W. Morse II
3.0 out of 5 stars No Earth Shattering Revelations
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2017
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Well...I read it cover to cover. No earth shattering revelations here. There's more history about the study itself and not nearly enough development and application of its results. Don't get me wrong, there are some tidbits to pick up on, but it's not as accessible to the lay person. At the end, you come away realizing how great an accomplishment this 70 year longitudinal study is, but that's about it.
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M. Leonard
5.0 out of 5 stars Time Enough for Love
Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2017
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At the age of 56, I find it quite encouraging to learn that there is scientific proof that men continue to grow and change throughout their lives, that positive experiences have more influence on later life than negative ones, and that love can always grow and love begets love. Thank you Dr. Vaillant for this enriching study of lifetimes. Someday I hope such studies will span not just lifetimes but epochs, as Robert Heinlein so beautifully depicted in Time Enough for Love. Thank you again.
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E. N. Anderson
4.0 out of 5 stars Glad I'm old....
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2014
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Well, start with full disclosure: I'm a Harvard man too, from a much later class than the subjects of this study. But the study consciously sought the crème de la crème: the students with the best physical, social, and intellectual profiles. With my notably modest accomplishments in all those areas, I'd never have gotten near the study.
So, what does it prove that a very elite group of people mostly did well in life? Not much. The interest attaches to the few who did NOT do so well. Many transcended a rough childhood, but few could manage a lifetime of being locked in self, or a lifetime of drinking too much, or a lifetime of defending oneself too successfully against love and companionship. Some did find love and/or sobriety late, but personality mattered. A simple metric--extraversion minus neuroticism on the standard personality scale--predicted an awful lot.
Another reviewer has pinpointed some problems with the statistics here. I would add that scoring big, vague, fuzzy concepts as if they were precise is always problematic. The study did its best--using independent raters, over time--and I think did a very good job, but between this scoring and the problem of using simple bivariate statistics, I sometimes wondered about the conclusions. There is also the problem that the study researchers ran, apparently, hundreds of correlations, so when something shows up as significant at .01, you should be a bit skeptical. Striking, though, are the many that showed up significant at .001, a rather rare thing in psychology.
One problem is the list of defenses. Some are "immature," including "autistic fantasy," whatever that is; how is it different from ordinary fantasy? What little I got in life was due to my fantasizing in youth and then acting on it--"dream big dreams, then put on your overalls," as people used to say. Conversely, "mature" defenses include things like altruism, which seems to me neither unique to "maturity" nor a "defense." It's a natural human thing. No one is more altruistic than a little kid--she may throw a fit over "Mine!" in the sandbox, but will then turn right round and give the prized toy to a friend, or to Mom. Humor also is classified as a "mature defense." It is neither mature nor a defense--it's normal human behavior, again seen more often in kids than in grown-ups. Of course you can use it defensively, but that's a different issue. And my favorite defense, denial, is not listed--doesn't it qualify any more? Where would I have been without denial (which, as my daughter is fond of reminding me, is not a river in Egypt)? I would have recognized my own limitations much sooner, to my considerable loss. Those fantasies paid off thanks to hard work and a lot of luck. Realism would have done me in. One must remember that defenses are there for a reason. We NEED to defend ourselves in this world. I would seriously rethink the entire "defenses" issue.
This aside, the book is excellent (if rather rambling and repetitious) and a very worthwhile read. I have become convinced by this and other long-term studies that such lifelong prospective studies are the very best way of finding out about people--not the only way, but the best way. We need more and more of them, with secure funding.
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Andrew Meyer
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating long-term study of Harvard Graduates
Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2012
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This book is a fascinating study of 268 men who were followed since 1938. It shows how actions one takes at one point in their lives effects what happens later in life. It also asks interesting questions about correlations between things. For example, do people who exercise regularly healthier or do people who are healthier exercise more? Which is the cause and which is the effect? These are the types of questions that are answered.
This book would be interesting to someone who wants to know about the long term effects of certain things (marriage, exercise, smoking, drinking, education etc.) on men who are starting from a position where they should have some control over their own lives. i.e. white men who graduate from college with good prospects in front of them.
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