SynthesisNature human behaviour2023
A systematic review of the strength of evidence for the most commonly recommended happiness strategies in mainstream media.
Synthesis in Nature human behaviour, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A meta-analysis of the effectiveness of gratitude interventions on well-being across cultures.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Pooled it
- Personalized prediction of response to three meditation practices: A randomized controlled trial.Behaviour research and therapy · 2026Trial
- Mindfulness, subjective, and psychological well-being: A comparative analysis of FFMQ and MAAS measures.Applied psychology. Health and well-being · 2025Trial
- A Nature-Based Intervention and Mental Health of Schoolchildren: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2024Trial
- Leveraging AI Tools to Express Gratitude.Technology, mind, and behavior · 2026Article
- The Impact of Self-Managed Virtual Reality Relaxation on Non-invasive Ambulatory Physiological Markers in Home-Based Psychiatric Care.Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback · 2026Article
- Is happiness just a click away? Lessons learned from an unguided online well-being intervention for the general adult public.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Individual Differences in the Affective Experience of Writing a Gratitude Letter: Who Benefits Most?Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Bureaucracy, happiness, and satisfaction at work.PloS one · 2026Article
- Positive mental states and their relation to psychosocial resources: protocol of a systematic review focusing on cultural moderators.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Who Engages in Well-Being Interventions? An Analysis of a Global Digital Intervention Study.The journal of positive psychology · 2025Article
- Sociodemographic Variation in Gratitude Using a Cross-National Analysis with 22 Countries.International journal of applied positive psychology · 2025Article
- Effectiveness of a guided multicomponent internet and mobile gratitude training program - A pragmatic randomized controlled trial.Internet interventions · 2024Article
- Strength of evidence for five happiness strategies.Nature human behaviour · 2024Article
- A review of the literature on wellbeing and modifiable dementia risk factors.Ageing research reviews · 2024Review
- Using lifestyle interventions and the gut microbiota to improve PTSD symptoms.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
We conducted a systematic review of the evidence underlying some of the most widely recommended strategies for increasing happiness. By coding media articles on happiness, we first identified the five most commonly recommended strategies: expressing gratitude, enhancing sociability, exercising, practising mindfulness/meditation and increasing nature exposure. Next, we conducted a systematic search of the published scientific literature. We identified well-powered, pre-registered experiments testing the effects of these strategies on any aspect of subjective wellbeing (that is, positive affect, negative affect and life satisfaction) in non-clinical samples. A total of 57 studies were included. Our review suggests that a strong scientific foundation is lacking for some of the most commonly recommended happiness strategies. As the effectiveness of these strategies remains an open question, there is an urgent need for well-powered, pre-registered studies investigating strategies for promoting happiness.
Indexed as
Identifiers
37474838What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.