Back to: The Science of Well-Being
When psychologists study happiness, they usually break it into two measurable parts. The first is affective well-being: how you feel day to day, the balance of positive and negative emotions. The second is life satisfaction: when you step back and evaluate your life as a whole, how good does it look to you? Both matter, and they don’t always move together. You can have a pleasant week inside a life you find meaningless, or a stressful month inside a life you’re deeply proud of.
This distinction is practical, not academic. Different habits target different parts. Savoring a good meal boosts your daily mood; making progress on a meaningful goal raises life satisfaction. When people say they want to be happier, they often mean both, and a good well-being plan works on both channels.
The most important starting insight from this field: happiness is more like fitness than like weather. It’s not something that simply happens to you. A meaningful portion of it responds to deliberate, repeated practice, which is exactly what this course will help you build.