The Psychology of Happiness: Mindfulness and Experiencing Happiness

This thesis deals with the theme of happiness and possibilities of influencing it. In the theoretical section it brings different approaches to defining happiness, it presents some of the best known theories about happiness and its relation to numerous variables, including human personality. It also focuses on the overview of positive psychology interventions that are aimed at increasing happiness, while mainly focusing on strategy of increasing mindfulness. In the final theoretical chapter, it introduces the concept of sensory processing sensitivity, which later appears in the research hypotheses. The empirical section of the thesis deals mainly with effectiveness of the examined strategy - increasing mindfulness - on increasing happiness. In following hypotheses, it examines whether effectiveness of this technique may be related to the personality of an individual or his/her sensory processing sensitivity. Although statistical analysis does not confirm the validity of the hypotheses, in the case of the first hypothesis, the results indicate a tendency towards proving the method's effectiveness. Possible causes for the hypotheses not being statistically confirmed are critically analyzed. The research also brings a qualitative perspective and introduces some of the strategies for increasing..