Through Some Combination Of Culture And Biology,

A Person Who Has Not Made Peace With His Losses Is Likely To Accept Gambles That Would Be Unacceptable To Him Otherwise.

Optimistic People Play A Disproportionate Role In Shaping Our Lives. Their Decisions Make A Difference; They Are Inventors, Entrepreneurs, Political And Military Leaders - Not Average People. They Got To Where They Are By Seeking Challenges And Taking Risks.

Overconfidence Is A Powerful Source Of Illusions, Primarily Determined By The Quality And Coherence Of The Story That You Can Construct, Not By Its Validity.

A Reliable Way To Make People Believe In Falsehoods Is Frequent Repetition, Because Familiarity Is Not Easily Distinguished From Truth. Authoritarian Institutions And Marketers Have Always Known This Fact.

It's Clear That Policymakers And Economists Are Going To Be Interested In The Measurement Of Well-being Primarily As It Correlates With Health; They Also Want To Know Whether Researchers Can Validate Subjective Responses With Physiological Indices.