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CORVALLIS, Ore. - Dan Gilbert, a professor of psychology at Harvard University and a best-selling author on the subject of happiness, will speak at Oregon State University on Thursday, March 14.

His free public lecture, "Happiness: What Your Mother Didn't Tell You," begins at 4:30 p.m. in Peavy Hall Room 130, located at 3100 Jefferson Way in Corvallis.

Gilbert's 2007 book, "Stumbling on Happiness," is based largely on his own research, and deals with the conflict over what people believe will make them happy versus what actually does result in happiness. It spent six months on the New York Times bestseller list, has been translated into 25 languages, and won the 2007 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books.

Malcolm Gladwell said of the book, "This is a psychological detective story about one of the great mysteries of our lives. If you have even the slightest curiosity about the human condition, you ought to read it. Trust me."

Gilbert is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship as well as the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology. His TED talk is one of the most watched, with more than 4.6 million views.

The talk is sponsored by OSU's School of Psychological Science.