Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Yale's most popular class ever was adapted into a free online course that teaches you how to be happier

Yale's most popular class ever was adapted into a free online course that teaches you how to be happier

Yale's The Science of Well-Being (free through Coursera) uses positive psychology to teach you how to improve your mood and deal with stress.

In the spring of 2018, Yale psychology professor Laurie Santos unveiled a new course, Psychology and the Good Life. The subject was happiness.

Santos' course was a blend of abstract and concrete. It combined positive psychology with the real-life applications of behavioral science. It debunked popular notions of what makes people happy (like the luxury Mercedes-Benz status symbol) and helped students understand the habits they should build to lead truly happier, more fulfilled lives.

The course was launched in the US — home to supposedly only the 18th-happiest population in the world, according to the 2020 World Happiness Report — at one of the nation's most elite and high-pressure colleges.

And the reaction was unprecedented. Psychology and the Good Life became the most popular class ever taught in Yale University's 317-year history, and garnered national and international media attention. The university reportedly had trouble staffing it, pulling fellows from the School of Public Health and the Law School to meet increasing demands.

Santos told The New York Times that a remarkable one in four Yale students were taking the course. While most large lectures at Yale don't exceed 600 students, Psychology and the Good Life had enrolled 1,182.

After waves of people asked for access to the course, Santos designed an iteration for the online learning platform Coursera, called The Science of Well-Being, available for free to non-Yale online students. To see what it's like, I enrolled.

The course covers the following topics in weekly installments:


*  Misconceptions about happiness

*  Why our expectations are so bad

*  How we can overcome our biases

*  Stuff that really makes us happy

*  Putting strategies into practice

They include video lectures, optional readings, and "rewirement" activities to do each day to build happier habits. Research suggests that if you do these rewirements as prescribed, you should get a boost in your mood and overall well-being.

What to expect from the class


To make the class warm and inviting, it's shot in Santos' own home, with a handful of Yale students in the audience so you can see how the material lands with other people. It feels intimate, and Santos' tone is friendly and conversational.

It felt relieving, watching a group of unguarded people commune over personal happiness and how to use science-backed thinking to untangle it. And because some of the most contemporary research was conceptualized and coined by Santos herself, it feels like a more in-depth exploration of the topic at hand.

Thankfully, for the busiest among us (and who, ironically, may benefit the most from this course), there's absolutely no required reading. All the information you need to know is summarized within the lecture. If you want deeper context, Santos provides links to complementary readings. And there's also no grade penalty for a missed assignment deadline, so you can work at your own pace if you can't or don't want to meet the suggested deadlines.

In other words, this class is about well-being — and necessarily operates against the grain of traditional academia in its quest.

My experience taking the class


I should disclose that I enjoy online classes. In the character-strengths test you're invited to take at the course's outset, "curiosity" was my most dominant trait out of the 20 possibilities.

But despite being a candidate of least resistance, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed a few weeks in the course. It felt immediately and concretely useful — most of the class legwork is completing daily "rewiring" tasks designed to build those research-backed habits into your life to make you happier after the course.

Here's what I liked:


1. You can verify whether you're actually getting happier. In the beginning, you're invited to respond to two questionnaires measuring your baseline happiness. At the end of the course, you'll take them again to see whether your score increased. Hopefully, your numbers will rise. This, for me, was essential. A before-and-after metric lends some concreteness to a typically abstract topic.

2. There are unexpected benefits. Surprisingly, I found the baseline happiness survey helpful for another reason entirely: I had been feeling fatigued recently, and the questions it posed helped me realize for the first time that I was continually rating one part of my life much lower than the others. It became clear what was wrong. Within the first lecture, the research gave me the tools to cut through my daily white noise and see clearly where my dissatisfaction was stemming from.

3. The online format is low-pressure. You can rewind without asking Santos to repeat herself, and you can rewatch lectures. Plus, there's no pressure to ask or answer questions.

4. It doesn't feel like homework. Santos' lectures make for easy watching. Once I sat down to play a lecture, I wanted to continue. I never felt like I was forcing myself to complete a task, but that I was satisfying my curiosity.

The only thing to note is that, while you can take the class at your own pace, you're encouraged to implement the rewiring techniques on a weekly schedule, since research has found that improving your well-being takes daily, intentional effort over long periods — meaning this six-week class is a great opportunity.

In a follow-up interview I conducted with Professor Santos to discuss the course's popularity throughout quarantine, this point — the importance of building these habits every day — remained paramount.

Should you get a certificate? What does it include?


When you enroll, if you choose to earn a certificate ($49), you'll get access to all course materials, including graded assignments. Upon completing the course, your electronic certificate will be added to your "accomplishments" page. From there, you can print your certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile.

If you choose to audit the course, you'll still have access to all the course materials, but you won't be able to submit assignments for feedback or a grade.

You can upgrade to a paid certificate at any time during or after your audit. Once you pay for a course certificate, you have 180 days from the day you paid to complete the course.

If you pay for a certificate in a course you've already taken, any grades you already earned will be saved, but you may need to complete more coursework that wasn't available in the audit version.

If you can't afford the fee, apply for the course's financial aid. Click on the "financial aid" link beneath the "enroll" button on the left. You'll be prompted to complete an application and will be notified if you're approved; applications take at least 15 days to be reviewed.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
EU Proposes Phasing Out Russian Oil and Gas by End of 2027 to End Energy Dependence
More Than 150,000 Followers for a Fictional Character: The New Influencers Are AI Creations
EU Prepares for War
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Big Tech Executives Laud Trump at White House Dinner, Unveil Massive U.S. Investments
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
‘Looks Like a Wig’: Online Users Express Concern Over Kate Middleton
Florida’s Vaccine Revolution: DeSantis Declares War on Mandates
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
"The Situation Has Never Been This Bad": The Fall of PepsiCo
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
The Fashion Designer Who Became an Italian Symbol: Giorgio Armani Has Died at 91
Putin Celebrates ‘Unprecedentedly High’ Ties with China as Gazprom Seals Power of Siberia-2 Deal
China Unveils New Weapons in Grand Military Parade as Xi Hosts Putin and Kim
Rapper Cardi B Cleared of Liability in Los Angeles Civil Assault Trial
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Druzhba Pipeline Incident Sparks Geopolitical Tensions
Cost of Opposition Leader Péter Magyar's Economic Plan Revealed
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
Von der Leyen's Plane Hit by Suspected Russian GPS Interference in an Incident Believed to Be Caused by Russia or by Pro-Peace or by Anti-Corruption European Activists
China's Robotics Industry Fuels Export Surge
Suntory Chairman Resigns After Police Probe
Gold Price Hits New All-Time Record
UK Fintechs Explore Buying US Banks
Greece Suspends 5% of Schools as Birth Rate Drops
Apollo to Launch $5 Billion Sports Investment Vehicle
Bolsonaro Trial Nears Close Amid US-Brazil Tension
European Banks Push for Lower Cross-Border Barriers
Poland's Offshore Wind Sector Attracts Investors
Budapest Central European Fashion Week Kicks Off
U.S. Celebrates Labor Day
Hungarian National Team Captain Scores Epic Goal
×