Study Shows the Things That Make Us Happy Have Changed Immensely in the Last 80 Years By Notable Life By Notable LifeView Author|May 6, 2015|LifeView Life Apparently, what made us happy 80 years ago just isn’t cutting it anymore. Psychologist Sandie McHugh from the University of Bolton has recreated a famous study of happiness that was conducted in Bolton in 1938. Back in ’38, Mass Observation... View this article.