The Science of Happiness

When asked what we want out of life, although many of us would love a fancy car, a big house, and a large salary, most of us would probably say that we just want to be happy! In today’s modern world, with longer working hours, constant connectivity through our devices, and the turbulent state of domestic and global politics, more and more of us are finding true happiness harder to achieve.

Recognising this problem, Yale University’s Professor Laurie Santos introduced her ‘Psychology and the Good Life’ course, which quickly became the most oversubscribed course in Yale’s history. Professor Santos has now made a version of this course available online completely free of charge, and some of our team have tested it out to see if it really can help you feel happier.

‘The Science of Wellbeing’ course starts by covering misconceptions about happiness, such as the idea that more money or material possessions will make us happy. It also looks at the flipside, the idea that things we believe will make us unhappy, such as injury or unemployment, have less of an impact than we might think.

The course then looks at why our expectations of happiness are often misguided, covering how the mind functions and how this affects our perceptions. The rest of the course looks at how we can overcome our mind’s natural instincts so that we can focus on things that actually truly make us happy, and gives us practical strategies to apply this in the real world.

The course is extremely well-presented through a mixture of video, reading, and multiple choice quizzes, and there is a supporting app which helps you track your weekly ‘rewirements’ – strategies designed to improve your happiness. These include practising daily gratitude, performing random acts of kindness, and connecting with friends and family.

At the start of the course you complete a short online ‘happiness test’ which gives you a happiness score, and you then revisit that at the end of the course to see if your happiness level has improved. Those of us who tested it all found that our happiness score increased as a result of completing the course.

So, if you feel that your own or your staffs’ happiness levels could do with a boost, check out ‘The Science of Wellbeing’ on Coursera here.