The Science of Well-Being

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Below are the top discussions from Reddit that mention this online Coursera course from Yale University.

Offered by Yale University. In this course you will engage in a series of challenges designed to increase your own happiness and build more ... Enroll for free.

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Taught by
Laurie Santos
Professor
and 11 more instructors

Offered by
Yale University

Reddit Posts and Comments

5 posts • 540 mentions • top 50 shown below

r/DecidingToBeBetter • post
622 points • chubdree
Yale's Online Happiness Course

Hello! Just wanted to share this resource with everyone here. It's an online course (FREE!) on Coursera called The Science of Well-being. I'm on my 2nd week of this course and it has been really helpful. I'm incorporating some things in my life already :)

r/science • comment
240 points • ButaneLilly

https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being

This one?

r/askscience • post
2925 points • AskScienceModerator
AskScience AMA Series: I'm Dr. Laurie Santos, Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Yale University. My lab studies what makes the human mind special by examining how monkeys, dogs, and other animals think about the world. AMA!

Hi reddit! I'm Dr. Laurie Santos, the Director of the Comparative Cognition Laboratory at Yale and the Canine Cognition Center at Yale. My research explores the evolutionary origins of the human mind by comparing the cognitive abilities of human and non-human animals, in particular primates and dogs. I focus on whether non-human animals share some of the cognitive biases that plague humans. My TED talk explored whether monkeys make the same financial mistakes as humans and has been viewed over 1.3 million times. I was voted one of Popular Science Magazine's "Brilliant 10" young minds, and was named in ]Time Magazine as a "Leading Campus Celebrity"](http://nation.time.com/2013/09/05/the-hottest-seats-in-class/#ixzz2eKG2OtfO).

My new course, Psychology and the Good Life, teaches students how the science of psychology can provide important hints about how to make wiser choices and live a life that's happier and more fulfilling. The course recently became Yale's most popular course in over 300 years, with almost one of our four students at Yale enrolled. The course has been featured in numerous news outlets including the New York Times, NBC Nightly News, The Today Show, GQ Magazine, Slate and Oprah.com. I've also developed a shorter version of this course which is available for free on Coursera.

I'm psyched to talk about animal minds, cognitive biases or how you can use psychological sciences to live better. I'll be on around 4 or 5pm EST (16/17 UT), AMA!

r/freebies • comment
52 points • Bash_at_the_Beach

Here is the link to the course.

r/Foodforthought • comment
41 points • tommia
r/financialindependence • comment
27 points • IHeartKoalas

Agreed! I highly recommend this free online course, titled "The Science of Well-being." It's where I learned about hedonic adaptation, and how to look for the things that will actually bring us happines instead of the things that don't.

r/AskReddit • comment
27 points • leopoldstotch4242

This free online course from Yale on how to be happier: https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being

r/news • comment
53 points • madworld

I believe you can take it here:

https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being

There is also a podcast: https://www.happinesslab.fm

r/meirl • comment
24 points • Sinthex

You're completely right. There was a study done to measure this threshold. Basically, money does kinda make you happier up until around $75k per year. After that, it kinda just levels out and you won't feel much happier. So, yeah, your emotional well-being does rise with money but not much after that threshold. Maybe because that's when you start feeling that money isn't as much of an issue.

Another interesting thing from this study was the 'life evaluation' results. Just how you judge and perceive your own life success. It showed that your life evaluation continues to rise even past the $75k threshold.

Having a high income doesn't really make you that happy but it makes you feel like you must be living a really good life, but it doesn't really translate to that.

Sauce: been going through the Science of Well-Being by Dr Laurie Santos, talks about that topic in the second week. Highly recommend if anyone feels mleh.

r/AcademicPsychology • comment
23 points • Nuetrinostar

Positive psychology! Check out Dr. Laurie Santos, she's got a great podcast that's very accessible called the happiness lab, and her course called The Science of Well-Being is free on Coursera

r/science • comment
17 points • mralexweber

Here’s a link! https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being

r/leanfire • comment
15 points • orangeGlobules

That's awesome and rare.

I've been retired almost ten years now and can easily binge on video games for 3-4 days a week. So I get that.

But for me, those other 3-4 days a week I explore and exercise outdoors, play in rec sports leagues, and hangout with a friend or two.

Taking a class in positive psychology is kind of like taking a cooking class where the recipe is human happiness. One thing I took away from that is that there definitely are rare (<1%) people who are happy with little to no socializing, you must be one of them.

For most people, isolating and not going outdoors is like taking a daily depressant pill that builds up in their system over time.

r/nosurf • comment
14 points • m_imuy

I’m not too sure – the mentioned course is free on coureara and I took it a while back. As far as I remember, there were no studies or anything about what OP is claiming. Essentially she pointed to a great deal of studies about how winning a large amount of money doesn’t really make you happier (as long as you’re in a somewhat financially stable situation) since you sort of “get used to it” (the term used is “hedonic adaptation”). One of the studies mentioned recorded happiness in lottery winners in the course of a few years iirc and after a while they sort of stabilized back to what it was before the winnings.

There were, at a different point, several studies that pointed out how social media was severely detrimental to your happiness and mental health. From what I remember what she said was more like it seems very likely, from all those studies, that being away from social media could make you happier than a lot of money. Not that it definitely does.

This is the course, I highly recommend it!

r/indonesia • comment
14 points • sumpitsehat

Hari ini minggu kedua gw ikut kelas The Science of Well-Being. Hari ini topiknya tentang "Misconceptions About Happiness". Jadi intinya tuh hal2 yg kita kira bakal bikin kita bahagia (e.g., kerjaan tertentu, money, fisik, barang tertentu, akademis, pernikahan, etc.) itu engga sesignifikan itu ketika kita udah mendapatkannya. Misalkan dulu pas lo ga punya barang A ngira hidup lo akan lebih baik dengan barang A, eh tapi pas udah ada barangnya ternyata ga gitu ngaruh.

Dibanding puluhan tahun yg lalu, kualitas kehidupan kita sekarang udah lebih baik misal karena perkembangan teknologi & kesehatan, tapi hal-hal ini engga langsung berarti hidup kita lebih bahagia daripada puluhan tahun lalu.

Lecturernya bilang juga karena social comparison, hidup kita jadi engga sebahagia itu. Misal skrg gaji lo 10jt/bulan, lo pikir dengan 30 jt/bulan, lo lebih bahagia, tapi ternyata pas ud 30 jt/bulan dan ditanya gaji ideal lo, lo akan jawab lebih tinggi lagi. Sebabnya itu karena pas penghasilan lo 30jt/bulan kemungkinan orang2 di sekitar lo jg pendapatannya segitu, jadi 30 jt/bulan itu bukan hal spesial lagi.

Poin terakhir itu tentang sosmed & budaya konsumtif kita. Di sosmed orang2 menggembor2kan kehidupan ideal mereka-- lo harus pake produk ini biar bahagia, biar sukses etc. Sama kayak iklan2 yg 'menjual' kehidupan ideal dengan menggunakan produk mereka. Padahal kenyataannya ga selalu kayak begitu.

r/CollapseSupport • post
13 points • MakeTotalDestr0i
The Science of Well-Being | Coursera
r/EOOD • post
13 points • rob_cornelius
Yales famous course "The Science of Wellbeing" is available for FREE. Learn about wellbeing, meditation and more. Ideal for these times we are living in
r/SquaredCircle • comment
24 points • Multiverseguy123

I know this post isn't really about wrestling but with Hana's birthday and Daphne's passing I feel like some of people might benefit from these resources

-The Science of Well-Being course by Yale is great for understanding how your mental health works and why your mind responds to certain situations like it does.This is great even if your mental health is good

-The NHS do a mental health quiz which is free I would say take it even if you don't feel sad.

-Talk to your friends even if you don't feel sad it might do more for them than you know

-Write your feelings in a journal.You can burn the paper afterwards but the process of getting thoughts out of your head will help you even if slightly

-If your sick of seeing certain posts on the sub like journalists you can block accounts meaning you won't see their posts.Be careful not to get yourself in a information bubble.

-Don't watch 50 hours of wrestling a week.If you need to watch everything check some highlights that some youtubers do espically for shows you don't like.

-Get into meditation.You don't have to be a monk but giving your brain 5 minutes a day will do alot for your mental health than you realizse.

Stay Safe,Watch Wrestling and have a good Weekend

r/fatFIRE • comment
22 points • DangerousPlane

Tagging on to point out this free online course from Yale about the science of wellbeing https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being

r/fatFIRE • comment
9 points • jrwren

The course is free on coursera and well done for a pre-recorded course.

https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being

r/chile • comment
9 points • elmati3

Me da penita (y un poco de enojo) ver tanta gente con estrés emocional. Dense el tiempo de hacer este curso si pueden (Science of Well-being) [https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being]. Y hechenle una mirada a una app Youper, es un diario emocional que tiene IA y te guía en ejercicios para calmar tus emociones

No sé si puse bien el link, estoy en móvil

r/simpleliving • comment
9 points • superman853

I honestly don’t like the interviews in this. They seem to be cut together poorly. But the podcasters actual course on this subject is great. You can do it for free here:

https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being

r/stopdrinking • comment
7 points • ReturnCelticWarrior

You might be interested in taking a free online course run by Yale. It's called the science of well being and is about how to live life well by focussing on what science (if you consider psychology to be a science) has researched and found to be truly of value, in adding happiness, to human life. It is run by a Dr Laurie Santos who is really excellent and delivered in easily digestible chunks.

I have (almost) finished the course and while some of it we could intuit ourselves other parts I have found fascinating.

Here is the link in case you would like to take a look - https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being

I miss the escape too and so I have been burying myself in stuff like this to distract myself and also to maybe grow as a person.

r/AskReddit • comment
7 points • Azzkaya

https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being I recommend to check out the above Yale course on Coursera. I enrolled a few days ago and already feel better.

r/FragReddit • comment
15 points • ThanksHowAreYou

Das ist der springende Punkt: wenn du die Routinen in deinem Alltag integriert hast, überlegst du nicht mehr lange, sonder packst es an, ergo kein Problem mehr mit Motivation, weil du sie quasi nicht mehr groß brauchst.

Das mit dem Hirn fordern bezieht sich auf sogenannte Flow activities.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312403452_The_paradox_of_happiness_Why_are_we_not_doing_what_we_know_makes_us_happy

Ansonsten empfehle ich „the Science of Well Being” keine eso Quatsch, sondern ein sehr guter Kurs in Psychologie aus Yale. Gratis https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being

r/IWantToLearn • comment
23 points • Gogosoto

There is a Coursera personal development course from Yale that is offered for free. I have not personally take the class but it wouldn't hurt.

https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being

&#x200B;

The Science of Well-being

r/malelivingspace • comment
15 points • bjonesre

  1. Get a therapist. They can be your guide and help you work through what happened in your childhood. Chances are you likely push people away as a defensive mechanism. Until you fix that, little chance of building healthy relationships.
  2. If you want to make some connections I'd start with what you like to do. Maybe find a fun gym buddy to go work out with. If you like hiking, try a hiking meetup. If you want to learn a new skill like playing a musical instrument, fine a teacher.
  3. You could take the science of well being course. It's free, taught by a Yale professor. https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being/home/welcome

One of the activities in there is a strengths test. Might give you some ideas on what to pursue. https://www.viacharacter.org/survey/account/register?registerPageType=popupI

Hope this helps.

r/MGTOW • post
6 points • throwaway152038
Science of Well-being, a coursera course.

I'm doing this now: https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being/home/welcome

It's kinda cool. :)

r/france • comment
6 points • kornx

J'ai suivi le cours The Science of Well-Being qui explique ce que dit la science sur ce qui rend heureux et comment l'être. Ça a très clairement changé ma manière de vivre et je peux fièrement dire que je suis plus heureux aujourd'hui.

Spoiler du cours: Tout ce que la société promeut ne rend pas heureux (plein d'argent, "bon travail", le mariage, ...) voir rend malheureux (la consommation de bien matériel). Tout le monde est donc malheureux, ou en apati. Puisque personne n'est formé au bonheur, alors rien ne change et on continue à perpétuer une société complètement naz.

r/csMajors • comment
6 points • chuckvsthelife

Research the hedonic treadmill. Sounds like you are stuck on it.

Also worth a go, a course on the (science of well being) [https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being]

Therapy is always a good bet too but this might fit your grind it out thought process and is a cool learning opportunity

r/infp • post
13 points • DistantShadow
A free online course on happiness and well-being from Yale

Hello all,

I experience there are many here who write about being unhappy in different ways. Nothing wrong with that at all, I like that this sub can be an outlet for people who need it. For those of you who would like to increase your happiness level, and this is for everyone in general I would say and not only for people who feel unhappy in their lives, I want to share this with you.

Yale has a free course called The Science of Well-Being. It offers a theoretical look on happiness and well-being. It also gives you practical challenges to try and increase your happiness. It is online and you can do it in your own pace whenever. It's a 10 week course. Not counting the challenges, it will take about 2-3h a week or so I'd say. It varies a bit.

I'm currently enrolled and on week 4. I like it so far and have learnt a lot. It is the combo of theory and practice that makes it work I'd say. I like the challenges. Some are easy and some are a bit tough. Has the course increased my happiness as of yet? Not sure. The first thing you do is to take two tests to measure your level of happiness. In the end of the course you are to take them again to see if it has increased.

This course is supposed to be for yourself. I personally don't think it's hard and it doesn't take up too much energy. I kind of long for it every week to be honest. It gives you a lot of food for thought. The teacher is great. It has a 4.9 star rating. And I mean, its's a bit fun to say that you have taken a Yale-course.

If you have any questions about it, feel free to ask me! :)

Here is the link to enroll, where you can check out the syllabus etc: https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being

r/dataisbeautiful • comment
11 points • taropuff_

Link for the lazy: https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being

Haven't finished it myself nor will I say it has helped me be better. But it is quite eye opening.

r/brisbane • comment
5 points • vj88

Somethings I am doing:

  • I am getting back into learning guitar (using Yousician, it's pricy but its a pretty solid ipad app to use to learn)
  • Yale released a class "The science of well-being" for free so with the way things will become I decided to do this to keep in a good state
  • I am working on a body weight plan with possibly going for runs outside (Until the government tells me otherwise, I will be keeping social distance and I still ride my bike to work into the CBD each day so I see no issue).
  • I have two work udemy courses, one powershell and one windows security, to do for work.
  • I have a lot of movies and tv-shows that i haven't seen so theres always them.
  • I have a number of books/audiobooks/comics i still need to read.

I want to come out of this in a much better place rather then just sitting around.

r/AskReddit • comment
5 points • PineCreekCathedral

Is it "The Science of Well-Being" by chance?

r/financialindependence • comment
5 points • danfirst

From the article:

https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being

r/LifeProTips • comment
5 points • fecal_incontinence

https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being?utm_source=gg&utm_medium=sem&utm_campaign=09-ScienceofWellBeing-US&utm_content=09-ScienceofWellBeing-US&campaignid=9728548210&adgroupid=99699672436&device=m&keyword=science%20of%20well%20being%20course&matchtype=b&network=g&devicemodel=&adpostion=&creativeid=428916120688&hide_mobile_promo&gclid=CjwKCAjwx8iIBhBwEiwA2quaq-YeyjaaRXcsNCeW1HzH1JJ5Q-coaohwEvbpPXtYaAg4BdB6Za_AWxoCvigQAvD_BwE#syllabus

r/AskUK • comment
4 points • dragon-blue

Yes! I took a free one from Yale: https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being

Highly recommended!

r/sydney • comment
4 points • greenbeensprout

For anyone with the boreds, panics or needing a little more happy in their life; there is a free course on coursera called "The Science of Well-Being"

About the course:

In this course you will engage in a series of challenges designed to increase your own happiness and build more productive habits. As preparation for these tasks, Professor Laurie Santos reveals misconceptions about happiness, annoying features of the mind that lead us to think the way we do, and the research that can help us change....

r/Coronavirus • comment
4 points • redredwineboy

Same. The first few weeks were the worst for me because going outside and working was my coping method. When lockdown happened I truly felt awful. Probably the worst I've ever felt. Something that helped me get through it was an online course called the science of well being. It requires work but omg it helped, and it's free. https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being

r/DecidingToBeBetter • post
4 points • candrade2261
Summary of Yale's famous Science of Well-Being Course

Yale's famous happiness course is available for free right now through Coursera, and it is AWESOME. But if you don't have the time for it, I wrote up a (very, very) brief summary of its contents. Again, I highly encourage you to check out the course for a lot of science, sources, and more information, but hopefully this brief summary is useful for someone.

  • Things we think will make us happy that don't:
  • having a high paying job
  • having a lot of money
  • technological and societal advancements (we are no happier on average today than 40 years ago)
  • cars, material possessions, true love, perfect body, perfect grades
  • basically, through "hedonic adaptation", these things make us happy only briefly before we either start comparing to others again and/or move onto the next  thing we think will make  us happier
  • About 40% of  our happiness is under our control (not determined by genetics, etc)
  • One of the biggest takeaways: our minds'  strongest intuitions about how much we will like something and how happy it will make us (OR how unhappy it will make us) are often wrong
  • Our minds don't think in terms of absolutes - we judge relative to reference points (e.g., my house is nice but not as nice as the neighbors')
  • We don't  realize that our minds are built to get used to things (i.e. hedonic adaptation).
  • Things that actually make us happy/how to be happier:
  • rethink what "awesome stuff" is
    • invest in experiences over things
  • thwart your hedonic adaptation
    • savor enjoyable moments; take a second  to really be there and enjoy it
    • use negative visualization ("what if I didn't have this awesome thing?")
    • think as if today was your last day to increase gratitude (esp.  in terms of jobs)
    • practice gratitude daily
    • reset your reference points (i.e., what are you comparing your life/stuff to?)
    • interrupt consumption (take a break from a good movie or fun thing; it will make you appreciate coming back to it more - commercial breaks actually increase enjoyment of shows)
  • Things that actually make us happy"
    • signature strengths in a job > money
    • "flow" in a job > money
    • growth mindset > fixed mindset
    • practicing kindness
    • social connection (even when you think it will not make you happy!!!)
    • time affluence > money (value your [free] time more than money)
    • mindfulness via meditation
    • exercise
    • good sleep
  • implementation
    • use situational support (e.g., putting candy in a drawer instead of on your desk will make you less likely to eat it; set yourself up for success)
    • set specific goals
    • practice goal implementation intentions (i.e. If it is this time in this place, I will do this behavior)
    • Practice WOOP - Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan

&#x200B;

If you have questions, I really recommend checking out the course. There are a ton of awesome additional resources and content. Some of the "things that don't actually make us happy" were really hard for me to buy until I actually listened to the science and studies behind them. Note: I am not saying that these things are 100% true in every case, I am just presenting information from the course (which I did find to be very convincing).

r/desabafos • comment
4 points • carlito922

Jovem, Posso te falar uma coisa? Nenhum poço é tao fundo que não de pra sair. Não te esqueça que tudo passa. TUDO. Até teus momentos ruins.

De a si mesma, pelo menos mais 10 semanas e faça esse curso:

https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being

Eu prometo que vai te ajudar

Ele é em inglês mas tem legendas em português caso te ajude.

Você VAI voltar a ser feliz. Fique bem, Com amor, Eu.

r/financialindependence • comment
4 points • flamethrower2

That's it, thanks, the answer is: https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being per the comment below.

r/financialindependence • comment
4 points • chubbythrowaccount

>FULFILLMENT ONLY LIES IN THE FULL PURSUIT OF YOUR DREAMS

Nah, this isn't really true. I suggest you look into taking the Yale happiness course.

The thing with humans is that we're really bad at predicting what's going to make us happy. And you're making another prediction about what's going to make you happy and you're wrong. The science says otherwise.

r/myfriendwantstoknow • comment
4 points • tillandsia

Yale University has a course on "happiness" that is apparently quite popular with students, indicating it might actually work. It is available for free on Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being#

Also, I would also like to suggest your friend consider a therapist.

I realize that your friend is interested in feeling better right now, and I want that for them, but there also would be benefit in laying the groundwork for longer lasting well-being.

And then, as a mom, obviously not your friend's, I would just like to point out how complete internet strangers are here, trying to find a way to help your friend - we just want your friend to feel better. Can those good thoughts, going out to your friend, do anything to help them feel better? Even if not, we are here, thinking them. There's got to be some worth in that....

r/happy • post
4 points • tapac333
Free popular Yale course on how to achieve happiness and well being
r/lifehacks • comment
4 points • nothardly78

Yale has a course online on how to be happy. It’s the most popular course in the history of Yale and it’s free!!

How to be happy!

r/Existential_crisis • post
4 points • Messiah
Free Class On Happiness From Yale
r/thewallstreet • comment
4 points • sktyrhrtout

Take the Yale class called "The Science of Wellbeing"

It's free and it's really eye opening to see what things actually bring us happiness.

r/GetMotivated • comment
13 points • Lordsnoww

After reading several of these comments I think this would also be helpful:

An Antidote to Dissatisfaction - Kurzgesagt

The Science of Well-Being - Laurie Santos

Jocko Motivation "GOOD" - Jocko Podcast

As many have rightfully pointed out, luck is also part of the equation on how we define success. But we cannot control what luck we do and don't have. So while we cannot control luck or even know if our hard work will pay off, not trying is a gurantee that little will likey change for the better.

r/Frugal • comment
8 points • askew88

Yale offers their art of happiness course online. That’s what I’d like to take. https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-beingYale happiness cours