#42: Laurie Santos & The Happiness Lab: Exploring The Science Behind Happiness

We all want more happiness. But what if our brains lie to us about how to get there? Psychologist Dr. Laurie Santos, whose Yale course “Psychology and the Good Life,”  is the most popular class ever offered in the history of the university, illuminates what science says about what makes us happy and also how to put effective happiness strategies into practice.

But not everyone can enroll in Santos’ class at Yale or has the time to take the online equivalent on Coursera.

In Season One of THE HAPPINESS LAB, Dr. Laurie Santos explores startling truths and explodes myths about what makes us happy in ten exhilarating and informative episodes. Examining questions such as: will a new job or relationship make us happy, are we happier when we have unlimited choice and how can we harness technology to improve our well-being. 

Through surprising interviews with the likes of David Byrne, Michelle Kwan and Michael Phelps’s coach, along with in-depth storytelling and the science to back it up, Santos explores how our minds lie to us about our feelings of contentment and teaches listeners how to find more effective ways to become happier. 

About The Guest:

Laurie Santos is a Professor of Psychology and the Head of Silliman College at Yale University. After observing a disturbing level of unhappiness and anxiety among her students, she began teaching a course entitled "Psychology and the Good Life," which quickly became the most popular course in Yale's history and has also reached over 350,000 people from all over the world through it’s online version. Although she’s now best known as a "happiness expert,” Santos's research explores the much broader question of "What makes the human mind unique?" and often includes comparing the cognitive capacities of non-human animals to humans.  

More from Laurie Santos, AKA “The Yale Happiness Lady”:

Listen to THE HAPPINESS LAB podcast

Website: hapinesslab.fm

Finding Laurie Santos:

Twitter: @lauriesantos

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