How do scientists study what makes life worth living? In this course, students will explore the scientific foundations of positive psychology, the field that investigates human well-being, resilience, and flourishing. Along the way, we'll ask big questions about how abstract ideas can be turned into measurable outcomes. As a running theme throughout the course, we'll use the emotion of awe—that sense of wonder that transforms your perspective on the world —as a lens to think about how we quantify everyday experiences. How do you measure something as mysterious as awe? What role does it play in flourishing? Through engaging readings, interactive discussions, and hands-on analysis of real research studies, students will learn to critically evaluate findings in positive psychology and become savvy consumers of both academic work and popular media claims. You'll gain tools to understand how studies are designed, and what their results actually mean.
Note: This is not a statistics or research methods course. Instead, it's designed to help you thoughtfully interpret and communicate findings in the growing field of positive psychology. Weekly synchronous recitation sessions required (scheduling varies).
*Academic credit is defined by the University of Pennsylvania as a course unit (c.u.). A course unit (c.u.) is a general measure of academic work over a period of time, typically a term (semester or summer). A c.u. (or a fraction of a c.u.) represents different types of academic work across different types of academic programs and is the basic unit of progress toward a degree. One c.u. is usually converted to a four-semester-hour course.
Instructors
- Associate Director of Research, Positive Psychology Center
Dr. Katherine N. Cotter is associate director of research with the Humanities and Human Flourishing Project team in the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. In her research, she studies topics related to music, aesthetic experiences, and creativity and personality, with an emphasis on what these phenomena look like in our… Read more
