A visit to Mount Airy, NC by Rich Walker

I visited the town of Mount Airy with my good friend John Barnes. Mount Airy is the hometown of Andy Griffith and the real life inspiration of the town of Mayberry. We walked around snapping photographs of the downtown, which is a homage to everything Andy and Opie. John is a photographer and he is a proud North Carolinian. Snapping pictures really helped boost his mood. It's weird, but if a person was ever a fan of the Andy Griffith Show, a visit to Mayberry can make someone nostalgic. It's weird because the only memories I have of this place is through the television show. As a scientist who studies memory, nostalgia fascinates me. Part memory, part emotion, and part developmental psychology. I firmly believe that the experience of nostalgia can not be appreciated for at least ten years after an experience, and that the experience changes and grows with the passage of time. I think is this is partly the root of wisdom in older people, who have seen the world fundamentally change before their eyes, who can remember the experience of living in another time. Nostalgia helps connect the past to the present in a way that no digital technology ever could hope to do. It does so by connecting people of different generations through the experiences of memory and emotion.

Case in point. I picked up a DVD copy of the Andy Griffith classic movie 'No time for sergeants.' I had never seen it before, so when I watched it, I was pleasantly surprised how well a 60 year old movie in black and white could hold up. The film served as a blueprint for the series 'Gomer Pyle, USMC' that starred Jim Neighbors, an alumnus of the Andy Griffith Show. Moreover, I was very happy that watching that movie helped me connect with my dad. Now in his late 80's, he has good days and bad days. He remembered the movie quite well and even recalled the scene in which a set of toilet seats are rigged to 'salute' visiting officers.

Positive psychology data sources

In Pollyanna's Revenge, we discuss data comparing happiness across nations and across different cities in the US. The fact that such data even exists reflect on a recognition by international share holders (Gallup, United Nations) that subjective well being matters. The call for such data was made over 15 years ago and it is exciting to see the importance of happiness and mental health being recognized on a global scale. 

Below, I list three organizations that collect such data, some of which you can even access.

As a psychology instructor, I have used this data in the classroom to argue for the utility of oft-minimized "psychology of happiness". As a statistics instructor, who doesn't love a monster data set to throw at students?


1) Gallup Well Being Data

The Gallup, Inc., famed collectors of all kinds of data, conducts well-being polling.

Some of my favorite features: 

a) Thrive

Information on the changing nature/improvements made to how Gallup surveys SWB.

b) The Gallup-Healthways Wellbeing Index

For every week, get a sense of how Americans are feeling.

c) You can download their data. 

d) Here are some interesting interactive tables about the well being data for specific American cities.

2) The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has also developed measures of subjective well being as well as other non-economic measures of well-being (including health, civil engagement, and community) with its Better Life Index. I like this website because the data is highly interactive and, again, you can download different data sets.

3) United Nations World Happiness Report

The UN has a Sustainable Development Solutions Network. First, a bit on the Network:

"Launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in August 2012, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) mobilizes scientific and technical expertise from academia, civil society, and the private sector in support of sustainable development problem solving at local, national, and global scales. We aim to accelerate joint learning and help to overcome the compartmentalization of technical and policy work by promoting integrated approaches to the interconnected economic, social, and environmental challenges confronting the world. The SDSN works closely with United Nations agencies, multilateral financing institutions, the private sector, and civil society."

Under the banner of this network is the research arm that studies happiness in different nations. The first World Happiness Report was release just in 2012 (again, demonstrating how this trend is more recently being embraced).

In addition to route data, there is commentary about the importance of happiness. Some of the chapters of the report include Chapter 5: Restoring virtue ethics in the quest for happiness as well as Chapter 6: Using well-being as a guide to policy.

-Jess Hartnett

Welcome to the Pollyanna's Revenge Blog!

Welcome to the Pollyanna's Revenge blog. This will be a space for us to share information and interviews about the book as well as an opportunity for us to expand upon themes in the book.

What better way to start off the Pollyanna's Revenge blog videos than with a video featuring the 'Happy' song by Pharrell Williams. This video was produced by Winston-Salem State University (first author Rich Walker's university) students in the spring 2014 semester. Some of the people in the video look like they know how to dance and some of the people look like faculty. But everyone looks happy! That's the point of the video and that's the point of Pollyanna's Revenge!