Course Schedule and Catalog

Long Title: PSYCHOLOGY OF HAPPINESS

Department: School of Continuing Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Truth, beauty and, yes, happiness, are issues that have engaged thoughtful people over the centuries. What is happiness (and what makes us happy)? Until recently we have relied on philosophers and religious thinkers for answers to that question, and many of them have provided useful recipes that seem to work for at least some people some of the time. The last century or so has seen many psychologists and self-help gurus who have also handed out (well, more often sold) recipes that generally seem to be less satisfactory than the wisdom of the ancients. Interestingly until recently psychologists have tended to ignore this seeming important topic, but in the past 10 or so years social and personality psychologists, neuroscientists and even economists have begun to pose empirically answerable questions about happiness and to find some data-based answers to what makes people happy. In this course we will read some of the traditional wisdom provided by religious and philosophical thinkers, but we will focus primarily on questions and issues that are subject to empirical resolution. Department Permission Required.