One of Yale’s most popular courses called ‘Happiness’ is now available online! In this course, you are shown details of research that looked into the misconceptions about the things that make us happy. It also provides concrete steps that people can take to achieve a happier and more fulfilling life. The course is free to anyone and is intended to help people find joy in these difficult times. Already more than a million people signed up to study “The Science of Well Being,” which was originally a course that professor of psychology Laurie Santos was teaching on campus.
From March 2018 to March 2019, the enrollment for the class was some 539,000 people. This made the online course the most popular in Yale’s history, and by the end of March 2020, the numbers went as high as 1,153,744. Notably, 631,980 people enrolled in March alone, which contributed to the stay-at-home policies around the world. More than ten million people have visited Yale’s website recently, showing unprecedented interest that professor Santos called “a bit surreal.”
Professor of psychology Laurie Santos believes that people are just as focused on evidenced-based methods for staying physically healthy as they are on ways to improve their mental health, which should explain the major interest in her course.
The course aims to engage its students in a series of challenging activities that are created to help them build more productive habits and increase their happiness. Professor Santos also reveals some misconceptions about happiness to prepare her audience for these tasks. She shows that the mind has some troubling features that lead people to think in a certain way which can be unproductive and could lead to a bad mood. The research shows ways that can help people succeed in changing their behavior and incorporating specific wellness activities into their lives.
Ready to sign up?