SH41: The Science of Well-Being (Part 1)

Happiness is hard. It seems like the more you try to be happy, the less happy you are. Luckily, science has figured out some tried and true methods to increase your well-being. And you can learn it all in an online course from Yale!

In this episode, the humans start The Science of Well-Being by Dr. Laurie Santos, an online course offered by Yale. The class reveals misconceptions about happiness, annoying features of the mind working against your well-being, and what research says you can do to help you change.

Standard Humans is hosted by Aidan Dennehy and Evan.

Shownotes:

The Science of Well-Being by Dr. Laurie Santos

Baseline Well-Being Tests:

• PERMA Profiler

• Authentic Happiness Inventory

• VIA Character Strengths Survey

Why Character Strengths are important

What the Research Says About Character Strengths

The Power of Character Strengths: Appreciate and Ignite Your Positive Personality by Ryan Niemiec

Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being by Martin Seligman

Academic Studies:

• Santos & Gendler (2014). Knowing is half the battle? Edge.

• The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want by Sonja Lyubomirsky

• This paper tells us why we don’t feel as bad as we think we will when turned down for a job

• This paper tells us why at a certain point, money can’t buy happiness

• This paper tells us those with materialist attitude and goals tend to have lower life satisfaction later in life

• This paper tells us we adapt to marriage after a few years and happiness returns to baseline

• This paper tells us weight loss may not make you feel any happier