Science of happiness courses are attracting thousands of students. But there’s still a lot to learn about whether these lessons stick.
, these interventions can also be delivered to thousands of students online and be just as effective as the in-person classes Hood started teaching in 2019, before the pandemic.
These courses don’t teach happiness, per se. Instead, the researchers look at the concept of “positive psychology,” defined by the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in 2000. Rather than treating feelings like depression or anxiety, positive psychology focuses on how to cultivate a sense of satisfaction and purpose in life. Hedonic happiness, which is tied to experiencing pleasurable emotions and sensations, is transitory and ultimately elusive, says Hood.
In lectures and class discussions, Hood encourages students to be less afraid of failing and to try new, challenging courses. He also stresses that they should think critically about what they want in life and why. “We tend to live life on autopilot,” says Hood. “Courses like this get you to introspect.”
The team then compared those results to responses from over 200 students who had signed up for the waiting list but had yet to take the class. They found that, on average, although everyone started out reporting similar levels of happiness, at the end of the class, the students had averaged an increase of nearly a point on a 35-point scale, while the happiness of the wait-listed control group had dropped by about 1.5 points.
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