Happiness 101

Harvard, Dozens Of Other Schools, Offer Course On How To Be Happy

(CBS)  Positive psychology is being taught at dozens of universities across the country, Murphy notes.

It was first developed by Dr. Martin Seligman, a University of Pennsylvania professor. The idea is to bridge the gap between self-help and academia, which is why everything is backed up with empirical evidence.

Ben Shahar says the course seems to help: "I think the primary change I see (in students at the end of the year compared to the beginning) is that they give themselves permission to be human. They allow themselves to experience the range of emotions."

They learn to do that through assignments like hugging each other, Murphy says, and keeping a gratitude journal, a list of things they're thankful for.

"I would think," says Harvard Positive Psych student Katie Koh, "the thing that's changed me the most is the idea of just expressing gratitude, not being afraid to be happy."

"It's not about being happy versus not happy," chimes in fellow Positive Psych student Shawna-Gay White. "It's about being more happy today than you were yesterday."

But the real test may have little to do with college.

"It might," remarks Positive Psych student Borana Toska, "be an easy "A," and I'm sure we've all done well so far. But the implementation is hard. Once this class is over, and once Tal won't be there to tell us all these things … will we still sustain the action? That's the real question."

Three basic tips that are taught: Keep it simple, allow yourself to be human, and look at failure as a learning experience."