Why We Need More Hygge

Why We Need More HyggeTop of Mind with Julie Rose • Season 1, Episode 777, Segment 2

Mar 27, 2018 • 14m

Guest: Marie Helweg-Larsen, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Dickinson College Every year, a UN initiative puts out the World Happiness Report that ranks 156 countries based on their happiness levels, which, admittedly, sounds like junk science. But it’s actually based on some very specific measures developed over the years to capture what psychologist’s call “subjective well-being.” The report indicates the percentage of a country’s people who feel they’re living their best possible life, or close to it. The US this year ranked 18th on the report. Denmark, on the other hand, is always in the top three. Danish psychologist Marie Helweg-Larsen believes that’s because of “hygge” – which is a concept that we don’t really have here in the U.S.

Other Segments

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Guest: Martin Gordon, PE, DFE, Professor of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Technology, Rochester Institute of Technology, president of the National Academy of Forensic Engineers Investigators are still piecing together the facts that led a partially-built pedestrian bridge to collapse onto a busy highway in Florida two weeks ago, killing six people and injuring ten. Several injured survivors and families of victims who died have filed lawsuits against the companies building the bridge. The US Secretary of Transportation has also ordered an audit of the bridge project, which was partially paid for by federal funding. The job of identifying what went wrong falls to forensic engineers. They’re like crime scene investigators, but focused on what role engineering practices played in a disaster.

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