Quantifying Happiness: Efforts to study and alter happiness

Catalog description

This course is designed to introduce students to the scientific study of happiness and psychological well-being. We begin with readings that will allow us to critically consider what is meant by happiness and well-being and then move on to evaluating approaches to measuring these constructs. We will examine studies that have tracked happiness and attempted to identify contributors to happiness. We will also look at efforts to increase happiness. We will ponder the ways in which culture and historical factors influence the study of happiness. Students will work directly with data sets measuring aspects of happiness. Part of the class meeting time will be used to support study work with data. Prerequisite: Intro to Data Science or a statistics class; coursework in the social sciences recommended but not required; Quantitative Readiness Required (QR)