“Triumphs of Experience’: George Vaillant on the Men of the Harvard Grant Study

Something amazing happened on our website yesterday – one of my blogs went viral, or at least ‘mini-viral’. My blog 75 Years In The Making: Harvard Just Released Its Epic Study On What Men Need To Live A Happy Life had 6,151 unique visitors, which was eight times higher than the number of visitors for any other day!

Thought I’d show George Vaillant, chief investigator for over 30 years, in a short video talking about the study. George starts by saying, “On the one hand, I got less scared of aging by interviewing successful 85 year olds…”

‘At a time when people are living into their tenth decade, the longest longitudinal study of human development ever undertaken offers welcome news for old age: our lives evolve in our later years and often become more fulfilling. Among the surprising findings: people who do well in old age did not necessarily do so well in midlife, and vice versa.’

75 Years In The Making: Harvard Just Released Its Epic Study On What Men Need To Live A Happy Life

rsz_harvardhappinessCouldn’t resist putting up this article from FEELguide, which focuses on one of the longest ever research studies. George Vaillant, who directed the study for more than three decades, has some seminal writings on alcoholism, including his book which is well worth reading.

‘In 1938 Harvard University began following 268 male undergraduate students and kicked off the longest-running longitudinal studies of human development in history.  The study’s goal was to determine as best as possible what factors contribute most strongly to human flourishing. 

The astonishing range of psychological, anthropological, and physical traits — ranging from personality type to IQ to drinking habits to family relationships to “hanging length of his scrotum” – indicates just how exhaustive and quantifiable the research data has become. 

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