WEBVTT

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Hi, everyone.

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In this unit, we are focusing 
on the big question

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of how we can be happy,

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and what you're doing right now

NOTE Paragraph

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in this particular unit
that you're working on

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is really tackling that 
question head-on.

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It's one of the great 
questions, of course:

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What can we do to be happy?

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And one of the great aims of life, I think,
is to try to figure out how to be happy.

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So we're studying that and

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we're trying out some things
related to that in this unit.

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I'm reading through the application
assignments that you're working on here,

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and I find myself really humbled.

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you might remember 
that the major task

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is to expose yourself to an episode

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of a podcast series called
"The Science of Happiness,"

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in which there is a 
happiness guinea pig

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that tries out a research-supported
happiness practice.

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And then to listen to that and then
to try out the practice for yourself

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and, in the discussion boards,

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to write about how
that goes for you.

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And so, I feel humbled by it

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because what I'm reading 
is really amazing to me.

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I see a lot of students 
thinking really critically

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about what they need in their lives,

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where they might feel
like they're not happy

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and choosing episodes that match that,

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and then trying out practices, 
and based upon what I'm reading,

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really benefiting from the practices.

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So I feel really encouraged by that.

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I think it's probably a good 
time for me to acknowledge

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that I have kind of a hidden agenda
here in some ways in this course.

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Now, of course, in an Introduction
to Psychology survey course like this,

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I want you to become familiar

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with what psychology is all about and
the different topics that are studied

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and the knowledge that we
have created about behavior.

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I want to learn to think critically about
research and claims about behavior.

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I want you to apply some of what
has been learned to your own life,

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and that's where this
application assignment

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(as many of the other 
application assignments) relate.

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You're trying out things

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that come from psychology, 
that come from research,

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and trying to see how it might
relate to your life and then

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see if maybe it can somehow
improve your experience of life.

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But beyond that, there's another kind
of wish I have for you in this course,

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and that's to expose you to
different ways of learning.

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I have assigned you
a textbook, of course,

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but I also have, I think, assigned to 
you a variety of less traditional ways

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of learning material in this course --

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TED Talks, many different kinds of
podcasts, articles, and things like that --

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and one of my goals there 
is for you to kind of check out

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these different popular ways

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of learning about psychology 
and culture and living well

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so that when the course is over,
you can continue that if you want to.

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Now, I know you get points 
for doing all of this now and

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there's an instrumental
motive that you have,

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but I'm hoping you realize

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that there is also an 
intrinsic internal motive

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to learning about psychology
and culture and living well

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that go beyond the value of points.

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You know, I hope --

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Maybe this goes without saying,

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but there's benefit to learning

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about the new research that's
coming out about happiness

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and you might want to consider
continue learning about that

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after the semester is over even if 
you don't get any points for it.

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I know that in my life,

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there was a time where my wife and I,
at night before we went to sleep,

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would oftentimes watch a TED Talk for many
months and then we would talk about that,

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and that really enriched our lives.

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And regularly now, we listen to podcasts,

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and many of the podcast series that 
you've been exposed to in this course --

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many from National Public Radio,

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you've got this one on 
The Science of Happiness --

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we listen to those when we go to the gym,
when we're driving in the car, or whatever,

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we talk about those, 
we try out different activities.

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So on my phone, 
I have a podcast app

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(which most of you probably
have access to also) and

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and I just have my favorite 
podcast series there,

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and when a new episode comes up,

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it notifies me that there's a
new episode that's available

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kind of like if you're watching Netflix

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and there's a new series,
new episodes available,

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I find out about that, I listen to it,

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and it gives me something a little bit
more productive to think about, I think,

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when I am at the gym
or driving in the car.

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It generates interesting conversation with
my wife and my family, my friends, and I.

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So that's a possibility, and I hope
maybe being in this course and

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being exposed to these different ways
of learning might encourage you to

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think about how you might continue
learning after the semester is over.

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Now in the reflection assignment

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that you're doing right now
related to happiness,

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there are a lot of really classic 
questions being posed and

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I thought I would take a few minutes
here and just give a little context

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for the study of happiness by 
addressing some of those questions

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So, of course, one of the one of the classic
questions is: What is happiness?

NOTE Paragraph

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What do we mean by the term "happiness"?

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And I think that's a really
important question

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because people use that word
(happiness) in many different ways.

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Now in psychology, the study
of human happiness has been

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influenced by a model of happiness
where happiness is considered to be

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consisting of 3 different 
types of happiness,

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3 different aspects of happiness.

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One is positive emotion,

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so part of happiness is feeling good,

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feeling happy, feeling joyful,
feeling grateful, feeling awe,

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feeling content, laughing, 
feeling amused, that kind of stuff.

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That is different than a
second aspect of happiness,

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which is more the absence, the lack of.

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The management of
negative emotion or stress,

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so we've kind of
discussed this

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in different ways 
during this course.

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There of course are uses.

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There is benefit sometimes
to having some degree

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of sadness or fear or
anger or stress in our lives.

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These negative states do serve a function.

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But I do think that we would all
probably agree that a life overwhelmed

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by a sadness or fear or anger or stress
is probably not a real happy life.

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So a second element of happiness is
having some management or control

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or maintenance of the extent

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to which we feel those kinds of 
negative experiences in life.

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And then a third aspect is kind of 
a broad appraisal of satisfaction,

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where we look at our 
whole lives as a whole

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and we feel satisfied,

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or sometimes people say they feel
like their life has meaning or a purpose.

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And so those three different 
elements of happiness

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in some ways paint a picture

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of what we mean by 
happiness in this study.

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Now, one interesting aspect of this is,

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those three different aspects of
happiness do not always go together.

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So one of the classic research 
studies, for instance, is,

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when people have children,

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they are a little bit lower on 
average on positive emotion,

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a little bit higher on average
on negative emotion and stress

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because having
children is difficult.

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But having children is oftentimes seen

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as the single most 
meaningful aspect of life.

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And so, that's why we consider those
different elements of happiness because

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they potentially are unique.

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Now another classic question
I see being raised

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(and maybe this follows from
what I'm saying here already) is:

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What causes happiness?

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And something that we have 
discussed at different points,

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that you've been exposed to at
different points, is this myth

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about external circumstances
dictating how our life goes.

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I think a lot of people
(in our culture, especially)

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believe that external circumstances
determine how well we do in life,

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including how happy we are.

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And the research shows that
that's generally not the case.

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For instance, a lot of people believe
money is necessary to living well

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or being happy or possessions or being
physically attractive or being famous.

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Sometimes even, you know, you think
about things like health or education,

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a lot of people believe you have to
have those extra circumstances

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in order to live a good life 
or be happy,

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and there's some 
research support for that,

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but it's relatively a weak predictor 
of happiness, so about 10 percent

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of the individual differences among us
in terms of happiness can be explained

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by the presence of all these 
external circumstances combined,

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which means that overall,

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there are a lot of people who have
a lot of money who are not that happy;

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and there are a lot of people who don't 
have a lot of money who are very happy.

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And same thing with all these
other variables I mentioned.

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some people have really nice 
cars and aren't that happy.

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Some people have really poor health but

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have found a way to be happy,
so it's a very complicated picture

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and it's an interesting 
and important finding

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when we think about our lives because

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it seems like a lot of people are really
instrumentally motivated to acquire

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these external circumstances; and in some
ways they're basing their lives, then,

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on a myth in that those extra no
circumstances that they think will make

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them happy oftentimes don't.

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There's something else that seems to be

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involved in happiness to a greater extent
than having external circumstances.

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Now we go back to the nature/nurture
debate and we consider, you know:

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What would explain something like happiness?

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And there is a nature element 
and there is a nurture element.

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The nature element, as is true 
for basically every human trait,

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is there is a genetic predisposition.

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So some people find it easier 
to be happier than others.

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This kind of fits with our study
of psychological disorders.

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Some people are more naturally
depressed or sad.

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Some people are more naturally 
afraid or anxious.

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Some people are naturally
more addicted.

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Some people are naturally 
more stress-sensitive, alright?

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So that all fits with that,

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and a good chunk of our happiness

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can be explained by a 
genetic predisposition.

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That doesn't mean that genetics 
somehow predestined some people

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to be happier than others, though.

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In fact, almost an equally --

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Almost as much of a chunk of
happiness can be explained

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by what's called intentional activity
(the activity that we control).

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And oftentimes, if you kind of 
want to understand psychology

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kind of as a general discipline, 
one point that psychologists make

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is that we control a lot in our lives.

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There's things we don't control,

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but even then, we control our 
attitudes, we control our thoughts,

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we control our interpretations.

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So there's a lot about happiness 
we control in terms of our habits

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and the activities that we regularly
implement in our daily lives.

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And that's actually where this application
assignment that you're doing fits in.

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The research shows that there are 
certain practices that boost happiness,

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boost positive emotion, lessen stress,
increase purpose;

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and if we regularly engage 
in those kinds of practices,

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we will probably be significantly happier
than if we don't engage in those practices.

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When we are studying stress in
this course, that also kind of fits in.

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So an intentional activity that some 
people engage in that makes stress worse

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is when they actively avoid or 
distract themselves from the stress.

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That's where a lot of people 
engage in unhealthy behaviors,

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oftentimes in the long term, 
that make stress worse.

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That's where people, 
you know, binge on Netflix,

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or lose sleep, put off sleep,
make sleep less of a priority.

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That's where people eat 
unhealthfully or don't exercise

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or use all sorts of substances 
that are unhealthy for them

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because they're trying to avoid 
or distract themselves

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from the negative parts of their lives,
the stressful parts of their lives.

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Rather, the intentional activities
that help people deal with stress

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are when people reflect on the 
underlying sources of the stress

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and take action on those to hopefully,
over time, decrease stress.

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And then also, having some 
intentional activities that help people

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deal with the negative emotions
associated with stress.

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And that's where, actually,
a lot of the things

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that we're talking about related to 
the science of happiness also comes in.

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Sometimes, just accepting 
that you are in a difficult time

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sometimes just accepting 
that you're feeling sad

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or angry or afraid or stressed out

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just accepting, kind of, 
the physical experience of it

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and knowing that it's uncomfortable 
but knowing that you can get through it.

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Sometimes, that's very helpful.

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Exercise, talking with a friend,
journaling about your emotion,

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praying, meditating...

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These are all things that help people

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work through the most difficult
experiences of their lives

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that decrease stress.

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One of the episodes of the podcast 
series that I recommended this week

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is about taking a walk and getting
lost in the beauty around you.

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That decreases stress.

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So these are intentional activities

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that make a significant 
difference in people's lives.

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There are intentional activities that
help people connect with purpose,

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and sometimes, it's as 
simple as just reflecting on

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what you most want to accomplish in your life,
what makes your life meaningful,

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what makes your life purposeful,
what is most important to you

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and how that might relate to some
of the values you try to carry out

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in your everyday life today.

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And then, in terms of positive emotion,

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there are lots of Intentional activities
that can help you have positive emotion.

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One of the questions I see 
in the reflection assignment

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is about how you balance work and fun,

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particularly for a young person,

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where it feels like there's a lot of 
pressure to do everything at once:

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to finish your degree, to not go into debt,

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to get, you know -- How do you do that?

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It feels like you just 
work and work and work

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and you never have any fun.

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And I think, probably, there
is a way to balance this

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so that you are working
throughout your life

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and you're also having 
fun throughout your life.

00:16:28.372 --> 00:16:31.641
It makes me think, actually,
of how some people

00:16:31.641 --> 00:16:34.948
don't really ever travel until they retire,

00:16:34.948 --> 00:16:37.423
and then they're not in good enough health

00:16:37.423 --> 00:16:40.617
to really benefit from the
opportunities to travel.

00:16:40.617 --> 00:16:44.601
And so, I have always tried 
to travel throughout life.

00:16:44.601 --> 00:16:48.721
You know, every year, we try to 
go on some kind of a travel trip,

00:16:48.721 --> 00:16:51.091
even if it's just somewhere local.

00:16:51.091 --> 00:16:53.180
We try to get around and see new things,

00:16:53.180 --> 00:16:56.504
and that's the same thing with fun.

00:16:56.504 --> 00:17:01.991
There's a classic quote that comes 
from a psychologist, Dr. Wayne Dyer,

00:17:01.991 --> 00:17:04.177
and the quote is this:

00:17:04.177 --> 00:17:10.757
"There is no way to happiness.
Happiness is the way."

00:17:10.757 --> 00:17:13.102
In other words,

00:17:13.102 --> 00:17:16.780
happiness is not something you
achieve in the future after you get

00:17:16.780 --> 00:17:20.692
external circumstances aligned with 
what you think will make you happy.

00:17:20.692 --> 00:17:23.811
Happiness is something 
you experience now,

00:17:23.811 --> 00:17:30.613
based upon your choices today,
your intentional activities today.

00:17:30.613 --> 00:17:36.852
And so, I hope that this unit and this topic
really helps you reflect on your life

00:17:36.852 --> 00:17:42.503
and what you can do to be at 
your best, to manage stress well,

00:17:42.503 --> 00:17:48.376
to experience the best
that life has to offer. END