Today we welcome Dr. Laurie Santos, psychology professor and Head of Silliman College at Yale University. Her course, “Psychology and the Good Life,”is Yale’s most popular course in over 300 years and has been adapted into a free Coursera program that has been taken by over 3.3 million people to date. Dr. Santos is a winner of numerous awards both for her science and teaching from institutions such as Yale and the American Psychological Association. She is also the podcast host of The Happiness Lab.
In this episode, I talk to Dr. Laurie Santos about happiness. People are unhappy not for lack of trying, but it’s because they’re applying ineffective strategies. Dr. Santos identifies some of the cognitive biases that can hinder our happiness. There is no magical antidote to our problems, but there are ways to boost well-being in small but significant ways. We also discuss resilience, social justice and mindfulness.
Website: drlauriesantos.com
Twitter: @lauriesantos
Topics
03:04 Laurie’s interest in well-being
06:54 Our expectations about happiness
09:44 Defining and measuring happiness
13:59 Predictors of resilience
15:43 Laurie’s happiness score
17:39 “Self-care is a political act”
22:39 The Feel Good, Do Good Effect
24:11 The role of culture, environment, genes
27:55 Contributions to the science of happiness
32:13 The impact of Laurie’s research
35:19 Cognitive biases that influence happiness
38:16 Do mindfulness interventions work?
44:37 The Happiness Lab’s new season
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