'Happiness Is A Skill That Can Be Learned'

Eline Gordts
Updated
'Happiness Is A Skill That Can Be Learned'

Happiness is a skill that can be learned. That was Richard J. Davidson's uplifting message to HuffPost Live Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Davidson, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told HuffPostLive that "happiness is best regarded as a skill" and that the human brain can be trained to become happier and more compassionate.

According to Davidson, people in past experiments who trained for 30 minutes a day have shown actual changes in both their brains and behavioral patterns.

In Davidson's opinion, technology can play a pivotal role in helping Americans to embrace this idea that well-being is a skill to be learned.

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"We need to use technology to help us, even when it seems inconsistent with these traditions," he said.

Watch the full interview with Richard J. Davidson in the video above, and take a look at the liveblog below for more interviews from Davos.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.