Sonja Lyubomirsky

Lyubomirsky received her B.A. from Harvard University and her Ph.D. in Social/Personality Psychology from Stanford University.^[3]

Lyubomirsky has received a John Templeton Foundation grant, a Science of Generosity grant, a Templeton Positive Psychology Prize, and a million-dollar grant (with Ken Sheldon) from the National Institute of Mental Health.^[3] In 2021, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Basel.^[4] In 2023, Lyubomirsky was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.^[5]

The How of Happiness was published in 2008 by Penguin Press.^[6] The book has been translated into 22 languages.^[3]

The premise of The How of Happiness is that 50 percent of a given human's long-term happiness level is genetically determined,^[7] 10 percent is affected by life circumstances and situation, and a remaining 40 percent of happiness is subject to self control.^{[8][9][10][11]}

The How of Happiness led to an iPhone application called Live Happy, produced by Signal Patterns. Lyubomirsky is on the company's scientific advisory board.^[12]

The How of Happiness has also led to a song, The How of Happiness Book tune, a mnemonic to remember the content within the book.^[13]

The Myths of Happiness,^[14] published by Penguin Press, claims why major life events that should make a person happy don't, and that what shouldn't make us happy often does.^[15][16]