Wiki

Happiness

This content is basically my notes from a Yale course on Coursera, The Science of Well-Being by Dr. Lauri Santos.

Misconceptions about happiness

The G.I. Joe Fallacy

Happiness is a practice. Knowing about the science of happiness doesn't make you happy. You have to put it into practice.

Simply knowing things doesn't mean that you will put them into practice. We have to change habits.

Note: This is named after G.I. Joe's iconic phrase, "And knowing is half the battle." The intent of implying that this is a fallacy is to say that "knowing isn't enough". But I think it's somewhat humorous to call what G.I. Joe said a fallacy, because it seems like G.I. Joe would agree that knowing isn't enough--it's half of enough!

Why our expectations are so bad

What stuff really increases happiness

Strategies to reset our expectations

Putting these strategies into practice