Cited by 139Psychological Well-being and Life SatisfactionEvolutionary Game Theory and CooperationFlow Experience in Various Fields

Hive psychology, happiness, and public policy

Haidt, Jonathan, Patrick Seder, J., Kesebir, Selin·2008·The Journal of Legal Studies

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.

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Crossref · 10.1086/529447

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38 of 38 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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Authors
Haidt, J., Patrick Seder, J., & Kesebir, S.
Venue
The Journal of Legal Studies
Published
2008-06
Volume
37
Issue
S2
Pages
S133-S156
ISSN
  • 0047-2530 (ISSN-L)
  • 1537-5366
OpenAlex
W2115660324
Cited by
139
References
38
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 4
FWCI
4.90
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • The Journal of Legal Studies (publishedVersion)
  • bepress Legal Repository (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Flow Experience in Various Fields
Keywords
relatedness, well-being, eudaimonia, multilevel selection, synchronized movement, loss of self, social capital, public policy

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