It's wonderful to be back here, wonderful to see you here.

I'm teaching this class, because I wish class like this had been taught when I was sitting in your seats as an undergrad here.

This does not mean that it's a class you wish to be taught, nor does it mean that it's the right class for you.

But I hope to do in the next couple of lectures is give you an idea for what this class is about, so that you can decide whether or not it is for you.

I came here in 1992, and started off with computer science concentrator.

And then I had a mini epiphany half way through my sophomore year, I realized that I was in a wonderful place, with wonderful students, around me were wonderful teachers.

I was doing well academically.

I was doing well in athletics.

I was playing fast squash at that time.

I was doing well socially.

Everything was going well, except for the fact that I was unhappy, and I didn't understand why.

It was then, in a matter of moments, that I decided that I had to find out why and become happier.

And that's when I switched my concentration from computer science to philosophy and psychology, with a single question "How can I become happier?"

Over time I did become happier, what contributed most to my happiness was when I

encountered a new emerging field that at that time it didn't have the name that is has today, but essentially research that falls under or within the field of positive psychology.

Positive psychology, studying it, applying the ideas to my life has made me significantly happier.

It continues to make me happier.

And it was when I realized the impact that it had on me that I decided to share it with others.

That's when I decided that I want to be a teacher and teach this field.

So this is positive psychology, psychology 1504.

And we will be exploring this new relatively new and fascinating field, and hopefully we will be exploring more than the field ourselves.

When I first taught this class was back in 2002, I taught it at a seminar and had 8 students, two dropped out.

That left me with six.

The year after, the class became slightly larger.

I had over 300 students.

And then the third year when I taught it, which was the last time, I had 850 students in the class, making it at that point the largest course at Harvard.

And that's when the Media became interested, because they wanted to understand why. They wanted to understand this phenomenon that here you have a class that's larger than Introduction to Economics.

How could that be?

So I was invited by the Media for interviews, whether it was newspapers, radio and

television.

And I started to notice a pattern during those interviews.

So I would walk into the interview, would have the interview.

And afterwards, the producer or the interviewer would walk me out and say something to the effect that "well, thank you, Tal, for the interview. But you know, I expected you to be different."

And I would ask, as nonchalantly as I could of course as if, I didn't really care but had to ask anyway, "How different?"

And he would say, "Well, you know we expected you to be more outgoing."

Next interview, the end of the interview, same thing, "Thank you for doing the interview, but you know, Tal, I expected you to be different."

And once again, nonchalantly of course, I would ask, "So how different?"

And here she would say, "Well, you know, we expected you to be less, less introverted." Next interview, same thing," How different? "

"Well, you know, more extroverted, more outgoing."

Next interview, "Well, you know, less shy."

'Cause you know I get very nervous in interview.’

Interview after interview, literally dozens.

More outgoing, more cheerful, less introverted, more extroverted, and on and on. But here is the best one.

So this is one of the local channels here around Boston.

I was going to the interview; we had quite a long interview, which I thought was actually pretty good.

And at the end of the interview, the interviewer, who is a very jolly guy, walk me out and puts his hand on my shoulder and says, "Tal, thank you very much for doing the interview."

And then the usual comes, "But you know, Tal, I expected you to be different."

And I said, "How different?"

You know, just so that you understand, by this time, my self-esteem is short.

But still, but still with same resemblance of nonchalance, I asked, "How different?" And he looks at me and says, "I expected you to be taller."

Taller? What?

Okay, 5.65 is not enough to teach happiness?

And I thought about it, I thought about it a lot, the whole pattern from the beginning. And I think I understand why they expected someone different.

You see, they had to explain to themselves, as well as the audience.

How come this class is larger than Introduction of Economics?

and the way to explain it must be that the teacher is very outgoing, extremely charismatic, very cheerful and extroverted, and of course, tall.

 

第二篇：哈佛幸福课

哈佛幸福课

Positive Psychology Lecture Tal Ben—Shahar

Hi,Good morning.,

It’s wonderful to be back here.Wonderfull to see you here.I’m teaching this class , because I wish a class like this had been taught. When I was sitting in your seat as an undergrad here. This does not mean it is a class you wish to be taught nor does it mean that it is the right class for you. But I hope to doing the next couple of lectures is giving you an idea what this class is about, so you can decide whether or not it is for you. I came here in 1992.,一开始主修计算机科学。And then I had a mini epiphany half way through my sophomore year. I realized that I was in a wonderful place with wonderful students around me, wonderful teachers. I was doing well academically. I was doing well in athletics. I was playing (?) squash at that time. I was doing well socially. Everything was doing well. Except for the fact that I was unhappy.And I didn’t understand why. It was then in a matter of moments ,that I decided that I had to find out why and become happier.And that was when I switched my concentration from computer science to philosophy and psychology with a single question,how can I become happier.Over time I did become happier. What contributed most to my happiness was when I encount a new emerging field that at that time didn’t have the name that it has today. But essentially research that falls under or within the field of positive psychology. Positive psychology, studying it ,applying the ideas to my life has made me significantly happier.

It continues to make me happier. And it was when I realized the impact that it had on me that I decided to share it with others.

That’s when I decided that I wanted to be a teacher and teach in this field. So this is positive psychology. psychology 1504. And we’ll be exploring this new,relatively new and fascinating field. And hopefully ,we will be exploring more than the field ourselves. When I first taught this class that was back in 2002, I taught it at a seminar and had eight students. Two dropped out. That left me with six. The year after, the class became slightly larger. I had over three hundred students. And then the third year when I taught it which was the last time. I had 850 students in the class, making it at that point the largest course at Harvard. And that’s when the media became interested. Because they wanted to understand why. They wanted to understand this phenomenon that “here you have a class, that’s larger than Introduction to Economics” . How could that be ? So I was invited by the media for interviews, whether it was newspapers, radio,television. And I started to notice a pattern during those interviews. So I would walk into the interview, We would have the interview. And afterwards, the producer or the interviewer would walk me out and say something to the effects of “well thank you Tal for the interview, but you know I expected you to be different”.And I would ask ,as nonchalant as I could of course. I didn’t really care but had to ask anyway. “How different?” And they would say,”well you know, we expected you to be more outgoing” Next interview,

the end of the interview,same thing.”thank you for doing the interview.”but you know Tal, I expected you to be different.” And once again,nonchalant of course. I would ask”How different?” She would say ,”well, you know,we expected you to be less ,less introversit.” Next interview, same thing.How different? Well, you know, more extroverted ,more outgoing. “Next interview,”Well ,you know, less shy.” Coz I get very nervous in interviews.Interview after interview. literally dozens.More outgoing,more cheerful. Less introverted, more extroverted. And on and on. But here is the best one. This is one of the local channels here around Boston, I was going to the interview, we had a quite long interview, which I thought was actually pretty good. And at the end of the interview, the interviewer is a very jolly guy, walks me out and puts his hands on my shoulder, and says,”thank u very much for doing the interview.” And then the usual comes,but you know Tal, I expected you to be different.” And I said ,”How different?” Just so you understand, by this time, my self-esteem is short. But still with some resemblance of nonchalance I asked, “how different?” And he looks at me and says, “Well, I don’t know Tal. I expected you to be taller.” Taller ? What ? Five seven, well ok ,five six and a half is not enough to teach happiness ? And I thought about it . I thought about it a lot .The whole pattern from the beginning . And I think I understand why they expected someone different. You see they had to explain to themselves as well as the audience. “How come this lecture is larger than the

Introduction to Economics?” And the way to explain it must be that the teacher is very outgoing , extremely charismatic, very cheerful and extrovert and of course, tall .Well, there is one L missing there. But… yeah, if only. So the problem though is that they were looking in the wrong place for the explanation. Another words, they were looking at the messenger . What they needed to look at was the message. Now how do I know that ? You see because I see other positive psychology classes on other campuses around the country and around the world. There are over 200 hundred campuses here in United States that teach positive psychology. On almost every campus where this class is taught,it’s either one of the or the largest class. It’s about the message. I see more and more organizations taking up positive psychology in their. as consultant companies, some of them the leading big consultant companies are taking it on.More and more high schools are introducing positive psychology class. Elementary schools are introducing it. The governments around the world are expressing interest in this new emerging field . Why ? because it works. Because it really works ., You see this whole realm on life flourishing on happiness, on well-being has been until recently dominated by the self-health movement. What do we have in the self-health movement? We have books that are very interesting, that are very accessible. We have speakers who are very outgoing. very charismatic and tall, attracting the masses into these workshops , seminars and lectures. But, there is a very big “but ” here.

Many of these books , many of these workshops and seminars lack substance. Very often, overpromising and under-delivering. So these are five things you need to know to be happy. The three things to be the great leader. The one secret of success, happiness and a perfect love life. Overpromissing. Under-delivering. On the other hand, we have academia. What do we have in academia ? We have a lot of rigor, a lot of substance. We have datas analyzed, reanalyzed and meta-analyzed. Things that actually work , good stuff. But, and there is also a very big “but ” here. Very few people read refereed academic journals. I mean . Think about it : how many people outside this room of course have read the last twelve issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology ? Most people don’t know what that means. The head of my PHD programs actually estimated the average academic journal article is read by seven people. You know…And that includes the author’s mother. So you know I say half in jest but it’s actually really sad. Because..certainly sad for me, as an academic. Because these things are good. They are important. These things make a difference, can even make more of a difference. But not accessible to most people. And this is where positive psychology comes in . And this is also where this class comes in. The explicit mandate of positive psychology as well as of this class, is to create a bridge between Ivory tower and mainstreet. In other words, it is to bring the rigor ..the substance, the empirical foundation, the science from academia and merge

it with accessibility of the self-help or New Age movement. In a way the best of both worlds. And this explains the popularity of the field of positive psychology: science that works.

This class will be taught on two levels. The first level it will be taught as any other class in psychology or any of the classes you’ve taken here. You’ll be introduced here to studies. to research, to rigorous academic work. You’ll be writing paper, academic paper. You’ll be taking exams. Just like every other class. But then it will also be taught at the second level, which is for every paper that you’ll read, every paper that you’ll write. you’ll always be thinking : “Ok, how can I take these ideas and apply them to my life?” How can I apply them to my relationship ? How can I apply them to my community ?” Two levels. The academic . Applied. I did not just introduce whether it’s in the readings or in the lecture ideas just because they are interesting for the sake of the idea. It is always an idea that is both rigorous and can be applied. Just a few words about housekeeping. Some of the questions that I have already received from you before the class started. So this, unfortunately, this is the last time that I am teaching positive psychology or any other class for that matter at Harvard. Hopefully within two years, probably not next year, but within two years, there will be positive psychology class offered. But I certainly cannot guarantee it. About feedback and questions, If you have any questions , anything that’s not clear. If you agree or disagree with something. Email

me or email your TF(teaching fellow at Harvard ,just like TA at other schools.) and we’ll always respond. Sometimes if the question is asked by enough people. We’ll respond publically . Always anonymously. Unless you specified specifically that your name can be mentioned. Sometimes you may be listening to a lecture and then half way through it there is an emergency. There is something that you really have to ask, something that cannot wait. In that case, please just put your hand up. Coz it’s just like when you have to go to the bathroom . Just can’t stop. Can’t wait. And when you gotta go.