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Hive Psychology, Happiness, and Public Policy

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  • Jonathan Haidt
  • J. Patrick Seder
  • Selin Kesebir

Abstract

We consider three hypotheses about relatedness and well-being including the hive hypothesis, which says people need to lose themselves occasionally by becoming part of an emergent social organism in order to reach the highest levels of human flourishing. We discuss recent evolutionary thinking about multilevel selection, which offers a distal reason why the hive hypothesis might be true. We next consider psychological phenomena such as the joy of synchronized movement and the ecstatic joy of self-loss, which might be proximal mechanisms underlying the extraordinary pleasures people get from hive-type activities. We suggest that if the hive hypothesis turns out to be true, it has implications for public policy. We suggest that the hive hypothesis points to new ways to increase social capital and encourages a new focus on happy groups as being more than collections of happy individuals. (c) 2008 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.

Suggested Citation

  • Jonathan Haidt & J. Patrick Seder & Selin Kesebir, 2008. "Hive Psychology, Happiness, and Public Policy," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(S2), pages 133-156, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jlstud:v:37:y:2008:i:s2:p:s133-s156
    DOI: 10.1086/529447
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    Cited by:

    1. O'Donnell, Gus & Oswald, Andrew J., 2015. "National well-being policy and a weighted approach to human feelings," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 59-70.
    2. Edward Castronova, 2023. "Preference evolution, attention, and happiness," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(2), pages 301-315, May.
    3. Claudia Gherghel & Dorin Nastas & Takeshi Hashimoto, 2018. "Quieting the Ego Through Group Activities: A Thematic Analysis of Romanian and Japanese Students’ Positive Group Experiences," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(5), pages 1283-1303, June.
    4. Sally R Lampkin, 2015. "The challenges of introducing sustainable development in the curriculum at a UK university," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 30(3), pages 352-360, May.
    5. Bidhan L. Parmar & Adrian Keevil & Andrew C. Wicks, 2019. "People and Profits: The Impact of Corporate Objectives on Employees’ Need Satisfaction at Work," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(1), pages 13-33, January.
    6. Paul Reddish & Ronald Fischer & Joseph Bulbulia, 2013. "Let’s Dance Together: Synchrony, Shared Intentionality and Cooperation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(8), pages 1-13, August.

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