Hi, everyone.
In this unit, we are focusing on the big question
of how we can be happy,
and what you're doing right now
in this particular unit that you're working on
is really tackling that question head-on.
It's one of the great questions, of course:
What can we do to be happy?
And one of the great aims of life, I think, is to try to figure out how to be happy.
So we're studying that and
we're trying out some things related to that in this unit.
I'm reading through the application assignments that you're working on here,
and I find myself really humbled.
you might remember that the major task
is to expose yourself to an episode
of a podcast series called "The Science of Happiness,"
in which there is a happiness guinea pig
that tries out a research-supported happiness practice.
And then to listen to that and then to try out the practice for yourself
and, in the discussion boards,
to write about how that goes for you.
And so, I feel humbled by it
because what I'm reading is really amazing to me.
I see a lot of students thinking really critically
about what they need in their lives,
where they might feel like they're not happy
and choosing episodes that match that,
and then trying out practices, and based upon what I'm reading,
really benefiting from the practices.
So I feel really encouraged by that.
I think it's probably a good time for me to acknowledge
that I have kind of a hidden agenda here in some ways in this course.
Now, of course, in an Introduction to Psychology survey course like this,
I want you to become familiar
with what psychology is all about and the different topics that are studied
and the knowledge that we have created about behavior.
I want to learn to think critically about research and claims about behavior.
I want you to apply some of what has been learned to your own life,
and that's where this application assignment
(as many of the other application assignments) relate.
You're trying out things
that come from psychology, that come from research,
and trying to see how it might relate to your life and then
see if maybe it can somehow improve your experience of life.
But beyond that, there's another kind of wish I have for you in this course,
and that's to expose you to different ways of learning.
I have assigned you a textbook, of course,
but I also have, I think, assigned to you a variety of less traditional ways
of learning material in this course --
TED Talks, many different kinds of podcasts, articles, and things like that --
and one of my goals there is for you to kind of check out
these different popular ways
of learning about psychology and culture and living well
so that when the course is over, you can continue that if you want to.
Now, I know you get points for doing all of this now and
there's an instrumental motive that you have,
but I'm hoping you realize
that there is also an intrinsic internal motive
to learning about psychology and culture and living well
that go beyond the value of points.
You know, I hope --
Maybe this goes without saying,
but there's benefit to learning
about the new research that's coming out about happiness
and you might want to consider continue learning about that
after the semester is over even if you don't get any points for it.
I know that in my life,
there was a time where my wife and I, at night before we went to sleep,
would oftentimes watch a TED Talk for many months and then we would talk about that,
and that really enriched our lives.
And regularly now, we listen to podcasts,
and many of the podcast series that you've been exposed to in this course --
many from National Public Radio,
you've got this one on The Science of Happiness --
we listen to those when we go to the gym, when we're driving in the car, or whatever,
we talk about those, we try out different activities.
So on my phone, I have a podcast app
(which most of you probably have access to also) and
and I just have my favorite podcast series there,
and when a new episode comes up,
it notifies me that there's a new episode that's available
kind of like if you're watching Netflix
and there's a new series, new episodes available,
I find out about that, I listen to it,
and it gives me something a little bit more productive to think about, I think,
when I am at the gym or driving in the car.
It generates interesting conversation with my wife and my family, my friends, and I.
So that's a possibility, and I hope maybe being in this course and
being exposed to these different ways of learning might encourage you to
think about how you might continue learning after the semester is over.
Now in the reflection assignment
that you're doing right now related to happiness,
there are a lot of really classic questions being posed and
I thought I would take a few minutes here and just give a little context
for the study of happiness by addressing some of those questions
So, of course, one of the one of the classic questions is: What is happiness?
What do we mean by the term "happiness"?
And I think that's a really important question
because people use that word (happiness) in many different ways.
Now in psychology, the study of human happiness has been
influenced by a model of happiness where happiness is considered to be
consisting of 3 different types of happiness,
3 different aspects of happiness.
One is positive emotion,
so part of happiness is feeling good,
feeling happy, feeling joyful, feeling grateful, feeling awe,
feeling content, laughing, feeling amused, that kind of stuff.
That is different than a second aspect of happiness,
which is more the absence, the lack of.
The management of negative emotion or stress,
so we've kind of discussed this
in different ways during this course.
There of course are uses.
There is benefit sometimes to having some degree
of sadness or fear or anger or stress in our lives.
These negative states do serve a function.
But I do think that we would all probably agree that a life overwhelmed
by a sadness or fear or anger or stress is probably not a real happy life.
So a second element of happiness is having some management or control
or maintenance of the extent
to which we feel those kinds of negative experiences in life.
And then a third aspect is kind of a broad appraisal of satisfaction,
where we look at our whole lives as a whole
and we feel satisfied,
or sometimes people say they feel like their life has meaning or a purpose.
And so those three different elements of happiness
in some ways paint a picture
of what we mean by happiness in this study.
Now, one interesting aspect of this is,
those three different aspects of happiness do not always go together.
So one of the classic research studies, for instance, is,
when people have children,
they are a little bit lower on average on positive emotion,
a little bit higher on average on negative emotion and stress
because having children is difficult.
But having children is oftentimes seen
as the single most meaningful aspect of life.
And so, that's why we consider those different elements of happiness because
they potentially are unique.
Now another classic question I see being raised
(and maybe this follows from what I'm saying here already) is:
What causes happiness?
And something that we have discussed at different points,
that you've been exposed to at different points, is this myth
about external circumstances dictating how our life goes.
I think a lot of people (in our culture, especially)
believe that external circumstances determine how well we do in life,
including how happy we are.
And the research shows that that's generally not the case.
For instance, a lot of people believe money is necessary to living well
or being happy or possessions or being physically attractive or being famous.
Sometimes even, you know, you think about things like health or education,
a lot of people believe you have to have those extra circumstances
in order to live a good life or be happy,
and there's some research support for that,
but it's relatively a weak predictor of happiness, so about 10 percent
of the individual differences among us in terms of happiness can be explained
by the presence of all these external circumstances combined,
which means that overall,
there are a lot of people who have a lot of money who are not that happy;
and there are a lot of people who don't have a lot of money who are very happy.
And same thing with all these other variables I mentioned.
some people have really nice cars and aren't that happy.
Some people have really poor health but
have found a way to be happy, so it's a very complicated picture
and it's an interesting and important finding
when we think about our lives because
it seems like a lot of people are really instrumentally motivated to acquire
these external circumstances; and in some ways they're basing their lives, then,
on a myth in that those extra no circumstances that they think will make
them happy oftentimes don't.
There's something else that seems to be
involved in happiness to a greater extent than having external circumstances.
Now we go back to the nature/nurture debate and we consider, you know:
What would explain something like happiness?
And there is a nature element and there is a nurture element.
The nature element, as is true for basically every human trait,
is there is a genetic predisposition.
So some people find it easier to be happier than others.
This kind of fits with our study of psychological disorders.
Some people are more naturally depressed or sad.
Some people are more naturally afraid or anxious.
Some people are naturally more addicted.
Some people are naturally more stress-sensitive, alright?
So that all fits with that,
and a good chunk of our happiness
can be explained by a genetic predisposition.
That doesn't mean that genetics somehow predestined some people
to be happier than others, though.
In fact, almost an equally --
Almost as much of a chunk of happiness can be explained
by what's called intentional activity (the activity that we control).
And oftentimes, if you kind of want to understand psychology
kind of as a general discipline, one point that psychologists make
is that we control a lot in our lives.
There's things we don't control,
but even then, we control our attitudes, we control our thoughts,
we control our interpretations.
So there's a lot about happiness we control in terms of our habits
and the activities that we regularly implement in our daily lives.
And that's actually where this application assignment that you're doing fits in.
The research shows that there are certain practices that boost happiness,
boost positive emotion, lessen stress, increase purpose;
and if we regularly engage in those kinds of practices,
we will probably be significantly happier than if we don't engage in those practices.
When we are studying stress in this course, that also kind of fits in.
So an intentional activity that some people engage in that makes stress worse
is when they actively avoid or distract themselves from the stress.
That's where a lot of people engage in unhealthy behaviors,
oftentimes in the long term, that make stress worse.
That's where people, you know, binge on Netflix,
or lose sleep, put off sleep, make sleep less of a priority.
That's where people eat unhealthfully or don't exercise
or use all sorts of substances that are unhealthy for them
because they're trying to avoid or distract themselves
from the negative parts of their lives, the stressful parts of their lives.
Rather, the intentional activities that help people deal with stress
are when people reflect on the underlying sources of the stress
and take action on those to hopefully, over time, decrease stress.
And then also, having some intentional activities that help people
deal with the negative emotions associated with stress.
And that's where, actually, a lot of the things
that we're talking about related to the science of happiness also comes in.
Sometimes, just accepting that you are in a difficult time
sometimes just accepting that you're feeling sad
or angry or afraid or stressed out
just accepting, kind of, the physical experience of it
and knowing that it's uncomfortable but knowing that you can get through it.
Sometimes, that's very helpful.
Exercise, talking with a friend, journaling about your emotion,
praying, meditating...
These are all things that help people
work through the most difficult experiences of their lives
that decrease stress.
One of the episodes of the podcast series that I recommended this week
is about taking a walk and getting lost in the beauty around you.
That decreases stress.
So these are intentional activities
that make a significant difference in people's lives.
There are intentional activities that help people connect with purpose,
and sometimes, it's as simple as just reflecting on
what you most want to accomplish in your life, what makes your life meaningful,
what makes your life purposeful, what is most important to you
and how that might relate to some of the values you try to carry out
in your everyday life today.
And then, in terms of positive emotion,
there are lots of Intentional activities that can help you have positive emotion.
One of the questions I see in the reflection assignment
is about how you balance work and fun,
particularly for a young person,
where it feels like there's a lot of pressure to do everything at once:
to finish your degree, to not go into debt,
to get, you know -- How do you do that?
It feels like you just work and work and work
and you never have any fun.
And I think, probably, there is a way to balance this
so that you are working throughout your life
and you're also having fun throughout your life.
It makes me think, actually, of how some people
don't really ever travel until they retire,
and then they're not in good enough health
to really benefit from the opportunities to travel.
And so, I have always tried to travel throughout life.
You know, every year, we try to go on some kind of a travel trip,
even if it's just somewhere local.
We try to get around and see new things,
and that's the same thing with fun.
There's a classic quote that comes from a psychologist, Dr. Wayne Dyer,
and the quote is this:
"There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way."
In other words,
happiness is not something you achieve in the future after you get
external circumstances aligned with what you think will make you happy.
Happiness is something you experience now,
based upon your choices today, your intentional activities today.
And so, I hope that this unit and this topic really helps you reflect on your life
and what you can do to be at your best, to manage stress well,
to experience the best that life has to offer. END