Kids don’t always make you happier. Here’s why people have them anyway. | Paul Bloom
June 27, 2022
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4:56Now PlayingKids don’t always make you happier. Here’s why people have them anyway. | Paul Bloom
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as posted by the channelBecome a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and moreThis interview is an episode from The Well, our new publication about ideas that inspire a life welllived, created with the John Templeton Foundation.
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Up Next ► Why you should want to suffer just a little bit
We have a biological impulse to produce and nurture children.
But the negatives of having children are obvious: cost, anxiety, sleepless nights. Research even shows that children don't make our lives happier, overall. So, why do we continue to have them?
The answer may be about something far deeper than happiness: meaning. Parents tend to report having more meaningful lives than non-parents. Indeed, very few parents regret having children.
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About Paul Bloom:
Paul Bloom is the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology at Yale University. An internationally recognized expert on the psychology of child development, social reasoning, and morality, he has won numerous awards for his research, writing, and teaching. Bloom’s previous books include Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil and How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like, and he has written for Science, Nature, The New York Times, and The New Yorker.
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Read more of our stories on happiness:
Epicurus and the atheist’s guide to happiness
How to measure happiness: hedonia vs. eudaimonia
Happiness and why “happily ever after” is a myth
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