The Psychology of Happiness

"Happiness" is a slippery term, so let's take a quick look at what we're actually talking about and learn a little more about what affects our happiness levels.

If you take this course, you probably have your own ideas about why it's worth being happy, but lots of studies have also shown that happiness is related to career success, stronger relationships, creativity, confidence, and physical health.

Although I'll spend a lot of time in this course talking about how you can bring greater joy to your life, I wanted to take a second to mention that happiness isn't everything. Be careful not to get too wrapped up in the pursuit of happiness. It helps to strike a balance.

People tend to overestimate the influence of wealth on happiness. It's true that wealth is related to happiness, but it's only a very simple contributor to our sense of well-being.

People who are surrounded by happy people are more likely to become happy in the future.

Relationships have stronger associations with happiness than a lot of other factors. This lesson focuses on how to think about this powerful influence.

This lesson reveals a surprising strategy that goes against what we all tend to expect from making social connections with strangers.

It can be hard for an introvert to think about the intense value of social connections. This lesson discusses this issue and the research behind it.

Try a gratitude exercise with me! We'll walk through a powerful strategy for boosting well-being.

Lots of research has now shown how gratitude can be a powerful influence on happiness. It's worth exploring these studies to see exactly how and when this strategy will be helpful.

Although it might sound crazy, new research has shown that we can become happier if we think about how quickly good things are going to end.

Materialistic people are more likely to be depressed and unsatisfied with life. One study finds that a focus on what you want — and therefore don’t currently have — makes it more difficult to appreciate what you already have.

Simple acts of kindness can boost happiness. This lesson looks more closely at how to implement this life strategy and the science behind it.

Research shows that volunteering benefits mental health. It's been linked with reduced depression and increased well-being. But how should you volunteer your time?

We saw earlier that money doesn't buy happiness...but are there some cases where spending money does make us feel better?

Before diving into this section, I just wanted to give you a better idea about how these four techniques are related.

There are a few ways to make decisions, and recent research has shown that these decision-making strategies have bigger implications for a person's well-being.

Oh, the power of a smile! A host of research studies have shown how smiling can have significant effects on our everyday happiness.

What if you put happiness first? Do you already make your well-being a priority for yourself? If not, studies suggest that you should.

Although many people have been talking about mindfulness these days, in this lesson, we'll dive deeper into what this means and how it can make for a happier life.

In the last lesson, I said I'd provide more details on the ways in which you can practice mindfulness in your everyday life. Here they are!

Although we saw earlier that money isn't necessarily the cure for unhappiness, that's not to say that spending money NEVER boosts our mood. In this lesson, we'll see how spending money in the right way can actually be linked to greater well-being.

In this lesson, we'll look at new research on the money-happiness link to see how spending patterns can be associated with happier vs. unhappier lives.

The two preceding lessons were all about money and happiness, but they hint at a more important point about "psychological fit." In this lesson, we'll discover what that's all about.

Thanks for coming along for the course! It was great to have you, and I want to take one last chance to wish you well and invite you to get in touch.