1、Positive Psychology Lecture 1 Tal Ben-ShaharHi Good morning. Its wonderful to be back here. Wonderful to see you here. Im 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,
2、 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 that you can decide whether or not it is for you. I came here in 1992 And then I had a mini epiphany half way through my sophomore year. I realized
3、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 going well. Except for the fact. That I was unhappy. And I didnt understan
4、d why. It was then in a matter of moments, that I decided that I had to find out why and become happier. 311 - 页面 2- 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
5、 contributed most to my happiness was when I encountered a new emerging field 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
6、it was when I realized the impact that it had on me that I decided to share it with others. Thats when I decided that I wanted to be a teacher and teach in this field. So this is positive psychology, psychology 1504. And well be exploring this new, relatively new and fascinating field. And hopefully
7、, 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 third yea
8、r 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 thats when the media became interested. Because they wanted to understand why. They wanted to understand this phenomenon that here you have a class, thats larger th
9、an 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
10、 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 didnt really care but had to ask anyway, how different? And they would say, Well you know, we e
11、xpected 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 312 - 页面 3- different. And once again, nonchalant of course. Well you know, we expected you to be less, less introversit. Next interview, s
12、ame 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 bes
13、t one. So 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. He walks me out and puts his hands on my shoulder, and says, th
14、ank 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? 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 a
15、nd says, Well I dont 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. Yo
16、u 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 missi
17、ng there. But. Yeah. If only. So the problem though is that they were looking in the wrong place for the explanation. In other 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 ot
18、her campuses around the country and around the world. There are over 200 hundred campuses here in United States that teach positive 313 - 页面 4- psychology. On almost every campus where this class is taught, its either one of the or the largest class. Its about the message. I see more and more organi
19、zations 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
20、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 inter
21、esting, 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, overpromisi
22、ng 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. Overpromising. Under-delivering. On the other hand, we have academia. What do we have in academia? We have a lot of r
23、igor, 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 tw
24、elve issues of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology? Most people dont even 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 authors mother. So you know I say half in jest but
25、 its 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. 314 - 页面 5- But not accessible to most people. And this is where positive psychology comes in. And this is al
26、so 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
27、 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 youve take
28、n here. Youll be introduced here to studies, to research, to rigorous academic work. Youll be writing paper, academic paper. Youll 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 youll read, every paper that youll write
29、, youll 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 its in the readings or in the lectures ideas just because they are
30、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, is the last time that I am teaching positive psychol
31、ogy 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 thats not clear, if you
32、 agree or disagree with something, email me or email your TF (Teaching Fellow at Harvard, just like TA at other schools) and well always respond. Sometimes if the question is asked by enough people, well respond 315 - 页面 6- to it publicly. Always anonymously. Unless you specified specifically that y
33、our 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 its just like when you have to go to the bathroom. Ju
34、st cant stop. Cant wait. And when you gotta go, you gotta go. So well take a positive psychology break for that. And just stop me half way through and Ill answer any question. All the power points, as well as the videos of the classes will be online. Will be available within couple of days. Well the
35、 power points will be available before, say for this lecture it will be before so that you can use them in class. The videos, unfortunately, cannot be made available before. We tried. Couldnt figure it out. So it will be available within a day or two after. And the reason why they are up there. Firs
36、t of all, I do prefer that you attend lecture. I do prefer that you are physically here. You get things in the energy of the room with so many students so you wouldnt just get from your computer. The reason why I do put them up is so that you have the opportunity if you want to see it again or if yo
37、u have to miss a class. Thats perfectly fine. And also because, and this is also the reason why the power points are always available, I want you to be engaged in the material. I want you to be engaged in whatever it is that we are discussing in class. Not necessarily thinking about getting down eve
38、ry word that I say on paper, remembering everything, memorizing everything. I want you to take rather than passive notes of writing down what is on the power point or every word that I say. Id like you to take active notes. And that means being engaged with the material. For example, if you heard so
39、mething and idea and you say, Oh, thats interesting. Star it. Write it down. Or Ok I think Ill start applying this. Write it down. Or I want to tell my mom about this later. Or I want to talk to my roommates or my team about this idea. Write it down. Active note-taking is opposed to passive note-tak
40、ing for two reasons. 316 - 页面 7- First of all, as I said, this class is a class about making a difference in peoples lives. I would not be teaching the class just for its academic beauty, although there is a lot of academic beauty in this field. So write down if you have an idea that you think you c
41、an apply. The second reason why we should that is because youll remember more. Better attention, better understanding of the material if you are actively engaged, as opposed to just taking down passive notes. Throughout the class, starting next week, well take what I called, time-ins as opposed to t
42、ime-outs. its like a time-out. Its the time where we stop the class and you look inward. And this is literally a time of silence in a class. I will stop for a minute or two. And youll have a chance either to just stare at me or anyone else, or think about what weve just discussed, or have a guiding
43、question that I will provide you that youll address during the class. The reason why I have Time-ins. This is something that I am introducing this year for the first time. We didnt have it last time. Its because over the last two years since I last taught it, Ive done a lot work in the area of silen
44、ce. Ive read a lot of research in this area about the importance of quiet times whether its in a class, in a lecture, whether it is at home, whether it is for a leader in the business, for relationship, for children starting from pre-schools. Now many of you, as you are going through these time-ins
45、if you decide to take this class may think, Well, is this what Im paying 40,000 dollars a year for? To sit a class and be quiet? First of all, it will only be a minute or two at a time, maybe once or twice a lecture. But second, it is maybe the most important thing youll take from this class. The no
46、tion of embracing stillness. Let me read to you an excerpt from a study that was run by two MIT professors. By the way, all the names that I read and that are not on the power points, you dont need to remember or write down. This is just for your edification. So David Foster and Matthew Wilson. Both
47、 of them are from MIT. Indeed the 317 - 页面 8- following study that I think confirms the importance of time-in, time to look inside. What they did is they scanned the brains of rats while they were in a maze and after they went through the maze. And heres what they found. What the results suggest is
48、that while there certainly is some record of your experience as it is occurring. in other words when they were doing the maze, when you try to figure out: What was important? What should I keep and throw away? during periods of quiet wakeful introspection. What they show was rats who went through the maze and went through the maze again and again, learned far less than rats who took time aside, chilled out a little bit after a maze, had more margarita. Experien
