The Manosphere as Attachment Protest

When Belonging Turns to Rage | The Flourishing Journal The Flourishing Journal Psychology & Culture When Belonging Turns to Rage The rise of incel culture and online misogyny is not simply a backlash against women's equality. In this article, I argue that it is the predictable consequence of men receiving the message that their longing for connection is itself a form of harm. Victor Counted, PhD  ·  The Flourishing Journal Something has gone badly wrong in the formation of young men. Across the English-speaking world and well beyond it, a generation of males has retreated into online communities defined not by aspiration or brotherhood, but by resentment, grievance, and a…

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Executive Functioning and Human Flourishing

The Question That Changes Everything | The Flourishing Journal The Question ThatChanges Everything For decades, science has asked what is wrong with the way we think. What happens when it finally starts asking what it takes to truly thrive? VC Victor Counted, Ph.D. Professor · Author · Psychological Scientist March 2026 8 min read There is a question most of us have asked ourselves at some point — quietly, privately, usually in the aftermath of something we did not handle well. A conversation that went sideways. A goal abandoned halfway through. A promise to ourselves we could not keep. The question surfaces in the gap between who we intend to…

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What are the psychological mechanisms of human flourishing?

The Four Pathways of Human Flourishing | Victor Counted Flourishing Science The Four Pathways of Human Flourishing Victor Counted, Ph.D. Psychological Scientist & Professor What does it mean to truly flourish? And more precisely — what are the internal pathways through which flourishing actually happens in a human life? These are not merely philosophical questions. They sit at the heart of a growing scientific conversation that is reshaping how psychologists, clinicians, and scholars understand human thriving. Tyler VanderWeele of Harvard's Human Flourishing Program has made a compelling case that flourishing is cultivated through four primary pathways: work and vocation, religious or spiritual community, family relationships, and education. These domains represent…

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Dimensions of Human Flourishing

We All Want to Flourish | Victor Counted Research We All Want to Flourish. We Just Don't Agree on What That Means. Victor Counted, Ph.D. Professor. Author. Psychological Scientist Not long ago, I joined a Zoom call with an interest group meeting at a virtual colloquium, listening to a scholar attempt to explain the complexity of well-being. He spoke in the clean sterile language of modern psychology: non-dualistic sense of happiness, relational harmony, the interconnectedness of the cosmos. To the untrained ear, it sounded like a breakthrough. But as I listened, I realized he was describing something ancient and raw using the bloodless vocabulary of a lab report. He was…

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What is Human Flourishing?

Research Beyond Happiness: An Integrative Perspective on the Science of Human Flourishing By Victor Counted, Ph.D. Professor, Author, and Scientist For decades, the psychological conversation around "the good life" was tethered to a narrow definition of happiness—often measured by temporary emotional states or life satisfaction scores. However, as our global society faces increasing fragmentation, displacement, and systemic shocks, it has become clear that happiness alone is an insufficient metric for the human experience. Through my program of research and the ongoing data emerging from the Global Flourishing Study (GFS), we are advancing a more robust, multidimensional definition: Human Flourishing. This is not a static state of being, but a dynamic,…

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Call for Papers: Religion, Spirituality, and Human Flourishing — A Social Scientific Approach

This Call for Papers has been published in the Journal of Positive Psychology Religion and spirituality (R/S) have been integral to human life for millennia, shaping cultures, communities, and individual identities. In recent decades, there has been a growing interest in understanding how religion and spirituality contribute to human flourishing, particularly within the field of positive psychology (Counted, 2025). Human flourishing, defined as a state of optimal functioning in which all aspects of one’s life are good (VanderWeele et al., 2023; VanderWeele, 2017), is increasingly recognized as a multidimensional and nested construct that includes several dimensions: happiness and life satisfaction, mental and physical health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue,…

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A Relational Theory of Hope

Hope is often imagined as a private emotion or something that flickers quietly within us when our perceived possibility is threatened. But what if hope is not a solitary feeling at all? What if hope is something we build and sustain through our relationships with 'objects' of hope (e.g., people, places, and the sacred)? This is the insight behind my proposed Relational Theory of Hope, a new framework I am working on in a book that redefines hope as a relational process that links security and future orientation rather than as mere optimism or goal-setting. In this view, hope is born out of our sustained connections. It thrives when we…

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The Difference Between Hope and Optimism and Why It Matters for Policy and Practice

In a world buffeted by global crises and political upheaval, two psychological states stand out as beacons of resilience: hope and optimism. At first glance they may seem interchangeable, since both involve looking ahead toward something better. But beneath the surface they operate quite differently, and the distinction matters, especially for policy makers, educators and those who design human-flourishing programs. Defining Hope and Optimism Broadly speaking, optimism is a generalized expectation that the future will bring positive outcomes. It is a mindset in which one believes things will work out for the best, or at least not collapse. Hope, on the other hand, is more than a rosy view of…

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Hope is a psycho-spiritual buffer and bridge that unfolds in the changing milieu of place

Hope is a psycho-spiritual strength that acts both as a buffer against adversity and a bridge to a better future. Hope as a Buffer When life is disrupted by trauma, loss, or instability, hope shields us. It softens the impact of anxiety and depression, offering resilience in the face of threat. Preliminary results from our study on hope across 22 countries, drawing from more than 200,000 participants, shows that when individuals report high levels of hope, they experience fewer symptoms of psychological distress. In places as varied as Germany, India, Japan, and the United States, hope consistently moderated the effects of perceived threat to life, lowering anxiety and depression. Psychologists…

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Well-being in Vulnerable Contexts During the COVID-19 Pandemic

by Richard G. Cowden, Victor Counted, Tim Lomas and Andre Renzaho. Original version was published in the Harvard University's The Human Flourishing Program blog It is a truism that the world has been upended by the COVID-19 pandemic, with millions of lives tragically lost, families separated, economies shut down and societies disrupted. Given these unprecedented challenges, it is vital to understand how the situation has impacted people’s mental health and general well-being. In doing that though, we need to make sure we have a nuanced understanding of global differences, rather than assuming uniformity across cultures. This itself will be a challenge, albeit one that is welcomed and necessary. Social and…

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