The Science of Well-Being

In this popular free course from Yale University and Coursera, Professor Dr. Laurie Santos teaches an intimate group of Yale students about the science of happiness. Throughout the videos in the course, she references dozens of studies to back up her claims of what social science has discovered about what does and doesn't make us happy. She begins the course by highlighting some false beliefs we might have relating to happiness such as beliefs in getting the ideal job, a certain amount of money, awesome worldly possessions, and a perfect body. In the next set of videos, she points out some annoying features of our minds that might be getting in the way of our happiness, such as our hedonic adaptation (getting used to the positive things in life) or our constantly comparing ourselves to others (which is why social media often makes us unhappy).