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Learner Reviews & Feedback for The Science of Well-Being by Yale University

4.9
stars
37,278 ratings

About the Course

NEW TEEN VERSION AVAILABLE HERE: https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being-for-teens In this course you will engage in a series of challenges designed to increase your own happiness and build more productive habits. As preparation for these tasks, Professor Laurie Santos reveals misconceptions about happiness, annoying features of the mind that lead us to think the way we do, and the research that can help us change. You will ultimately be prepared to successfully incorporate a specific wellness activity into your life. THE SCIENCE OF WELL BEING WAS PRODUCED IN PART DUE TO THE GENEROUS FUNDING OF THE DAVID F. SWENSEN FUND FOR INNOVATION IN TEACHING....

Top reviews

RK

Jun 26, 2023

Great content! Well paced. Videos and readings are helpful. The class concludes with a 4 week challenge designed to make a lasting impact, which I found very insightful. I highly recommend this class.

DM

Jan 8, 2021

This course has the power enough to change the course of your life. It can be a journey from misery to well being, if you follow the instructions given in this program. A must must must attend course.

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51 - 75 of 10,000 Reviews for The Science of Well-Being

By Alejandra

Apr 15, 2020

This is a class recorded, that is not online learning and the topic of this course demands more energy from the instructor. I've had better learning experiences regarding this theme.

By Jen M

Jun 12, 2020

Do not purchase the certificate, the course is great but the certificate is a dud you print off yourself. For $70 I need a seal otherwise my son could’ve made me a better one.

By CMurt

Jan 10, 2020

none of this advice applies for people with schizophrenia

By Steve F S

Apr 20, 2019

A quality course everyone should take, especially after you've started your career or overloaded with school. It's like hitting the refresh button when living an over scheduled life hour-by-hour.

By Elena C

Mar 26, 2020

Great information, excellent tools and terrific presentation of the work. Thank you for making this course available far and wide.

By Katherine A

Mar 28, 2020

Almost everything about the course was fun and useable. I was able to learn and apply a lot, hence the 4 stars. However, the peer-grading seems altogether unnecessary. I believe, as adults, we are accountable to ourselves and having to judge someone else's journey felt wrong and antithetical to all parties having an authentic experience. It took the magic out of the course for me almost instantaneously and after learning that grades don't make you happy within the course, this grading and being graded aspect ruined it.

By Jacob M J R

Apr 15, 2020

I don't think I like it when a professor says....'so this is like, uncool'

also her G.I. Joe Fallacy isn't really a fallacy.

Certainly there likely to be lots of people who will appreciate her casual approach but I was looking for something more academic and or scholarly.

By Eric J

Jul 7, 2020

Information is mostly repetitive like the graphs and the data for example. Another thing is that the graphs are way too much and should be toned down and it is not interesting at all along with adding politics into the well being which makes no sense in my opinion respectively. Overall I give this course a 2 out of 5 and it could have been better with less information that is repetitive.

By Connie k

Jan 11, 2020

Very hard to maneuver and some links don't work

A group of us wanted to take but I'm discouraged.

Reset password several times.

Course interrupted by sales a lot

Couldn't get in to Character strengths at all

Couldn't get in to Character Strengths

By Suzanne m

May 20, 2019

Best college course I ever took and I plan to review the lectures and materials as needed.

By Sandra R

Jun 16, 2020

I took this course during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, together with a friend. We had a lot of fun discussing the concepts, etc.

I would like to add some suggestions for an update which I imagine will happen on occasion. Although this class is taught at Yale to a young student body the fact that it is on-line means that older people will also take the course.

Given that reality - add some other examples of what people think will make them happy. As people age it is not generally about good grades, getting married and having a good job. There may not be studies to quote as the non-student is not a captive audience that signs up for studies as part of course requirements, etc. And yet, there must be a way to broaden the knowledge base to include someone older than 22.

By Timothy S

Apr 13, 2020

The course seems to plod along with a fair amount of self-aggrandizing and Yale-aggrandizing but none of the content is very weighty or coherent. The teacher uses no materials or exhibition tools to presents the course content.

By Isabelle H S

Jun 30, 2020

I worked so hard and find it sad that I did all that work but there was no certificate to celebrate finishing?

By Jagannathan A

Dec 23, 2020

I was into Positive Psychology for the last 2 years. I had read Positivity, Flourish, Thinking Fast and Slow,Insight, Emotional Intelligence, Happiness at Work etc. When the State and the Citizens of many countries ,including India(where I come from) started showing Gratitude to the HealthCare workers, Doctors, Sanitation workers, Police and the like, I started looking into State Gratitude to a community of service providers. In the process, I tumbled across this Program. That too from Yale! And Free! A God-send, I feel.

This program is an integration of different developments in Psychology at different points of time by different researchers and moulded into one of Well Being, for all the people. It gives the Modus Operandi to become Happier, much more than Wishing A Happy New Year or A Happy Married Life which are well meaning rituals.

There is a lot to learn from this program and lucky are those who learn them at a younger age. They can consciously lead a happy life. I am trying to spread the benefits of this program in my circle through Facebook, WhatsApp and email through a summary (article) I have made.

And, everybody in this world is craving for happiness : if only they know of this program, they will be better off.

By Christina B

Mar 11, 2020

Cannot recommend this course highly enough! While it will force you to really evaluate yourself and get out of your comfort zone, you are so much better off for doing so. Objectively, I doubled my happiness in 10 weeks, which made dealing with everyday life so much easier.

You have nothing to lose by trying this class and its exercises out. At most, you're out a little bit of time, but if (and likely when) it works for you, you gain new perspective on yourself and the world around you.

By Cary M

Mar 29, 2020

Thank you professor Santos. It was a great course and I learned so much and the extra readings are great. I just started my blog "Motivate Yourself Daily" to help others learn ways of changing their thoughts and living a happier and more success life.

If you offer any other courses in this subject topic, please let me know. I would take them all. Any other book suggestions are always welcomed.

Thank you again!

By Amey C

Mar 17, 2020

Great course! I definitely will carry the learnings from this course in my daily life, and am looking forward to continuing with the rewirements.

Definitely recommend this to everyone who wants to learn (or re-learn) to be happy.

By Magdalena F

Jun 19, 2020

Highly practical and applicable, you will be Doing, not just Listening. You'll have the opportunity to test your 'before' and 'after' levels of happiness - mine increased significantly.

By Szandra v H

Mar 27, 2020

Wonderful course! Health begins with a healthy mind: a positive mind that sees the beauty in everyday life and in the people around us.

By Warren C

Apr 15, 2018

A good practical review of some of the most interesting findings in positive psychology. Largely delivers well on what it promises. However, some of the studies covered are over-interpreted. For example, most studies in psychology suggest general trends across a group of people rather than sure-fire solutions that will work for everyone, but I would say that the latter claim is implied pretty often in this course. Also, the material related to Brian Wansink's research should be omitted, because his research has been called into serious question lately.

By Liron S

Oct 2, 2019

Learned few interesting and useful things from the course, but found it to be somewhat boring. Also, in order to get a certificate there is a need to review a peer final work submission, the system didn't capture review that I did and now I have to come back and look for one to review since none exist now (improve the software Coursera and also create notification based on a queue).

By Tyson K

Nov 5, 2019

Little bit fluffy, i wouldnt call alot of this psychology science. more theory than anything.

By Noelle M

Apr 30, 2022

OOF. A lot of blatantly incorrect information. I know that positive psychology is widely touted as scientific and evidence-based, but genuinely so many of these studies are HIGHLY flawed and limited. Many people have actual problems in their lives and know that, no, they do not react "better" to setbacks. Certainly if you are extremely privileged, like a number of people in these studies, certain setbacks might not be as devastating. I don't know anyone who reacts better to problems they assume will devastate them. Oftentimes people have to bry their pain and move on. It doesn't mean they are *happier* than they expect. So many bizarre assumptions were made in examples as well. Like how a bad grade won't harm you in the longterm because your friends will take you out and you'll feel better in no time. Huh? First of all, you have a supportive group of friends who I assume have the time and can afford to take you out to cheer you up. Second this grade is apparently not bad enough to bring down your average so badly that you can never recover. Nor does it make you lose a scholarship or have to drop out of school or start a cascade of events that affects your career. Nor does it apparently demoralize you as you try to overcome it. This is a fantasy world, but it's presented as scientific fact? I could not finish. I skimmed through to see if there were other ideas I might consider helpful to find a list of recommendations that I could find in any meditation app and in almost every "wellness" article. Frankly baffled as to why this course, which was recommened to me, is so extraordinarily popular.

By Anita R

Jan 20, 2020

Great course! Very practical tools based on scientific research. The professor was clear and had fun slides.

One distracting and slightly annoying part of the class was the number of times the professor said "Yale" in every single lecture. I think I counted 6 times in one lecture. I can't remember a single professor from my Columbia courses concerned about our self-esteem so much to remind us every day that we were at Columbia. Plus, with this being a class about social comparison, constantly remind Coursera students that they're not at Yale isn't exactly effective.

Even so - that was a minor thing and I did really enjoy this class. I'd recommend making the app a little easier to track, for example being able to auto-fill items for today that you did yesterday. I meditated every day but after a while, I stopped tracking it in the app because I didn't like having to fill out a new event each time. Also - it asks to connect to an account but I don't want anyone seeing my data except Yale researchers.

By Anamika S

Mar 23, 2020

Firstly, Laurie Santos kept us all engaging and enthralled throughout the whole course. I just loved her! Secondly i have never enjoyed peer interaction about the course and the peer viewing sessions were one of my favorite things! I have started to look at happiness through a different pair of lens and will continue to debate with my mind about the misconceptions and miswantings we all crave. This course is such a subtle and nice course where you can just listen to all the studies and the statistics just shocked me. My whole life no one has taught me the things we all are satisfied or content with. I learnt so much about HEDONIC ADAPTATION(which is my fav part) and lots of things which are eye-openers. I discussed about these psychological aspects with my friends and family and they loved the concepts as well! Thank you YALE! Thank you Ms. Santos! It was such a pleasure doing this course and knowing you. I have recommended to my friends and they will join in no time!