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Alyssa Powell/Business Insider
- Yale's most popular in-person course ever was turned into an equally successful online version called The Science of Well-Being, which teaches you how to be happy. It's one of the Insider Reviews Team's most recommended online courses.
- While you could always audit the class for free, Coursera's Black Friday deal gives you full access to the course for free. It lets you get grades and a certificate of completion to add to your LinkedIn profile or resume, both of which can motivate you to finish the class.
- Below is everything you need to know about the course, as well as similar positive psychology courses you can take for free on Coursera, now through December 4.
- Read Insider Reviews' Black Friday 2020 deals and Cyber Monday 2020 deals coverage for more savings.
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Back in 2018, Yale professor Laurie Santos' class Psychology and the Good Life — which unpacked the science behind true happiness — became the most popular on-campus course in the history of the university. Naturally, an online version called the Science of Well-Being followed, boasting over 3 million enrollments through the e-learning platform Coursera.
While the wildly successful positive psychology course has always been free to audit, you can now get full access to the course through Coursera's Black Friday deal. Aka, you'll receive grades and a certificate of completion (normally $49) if you enroll by December 4.
The Science of Well-Being is one of the Insider Reviews Team's most recommended online courses because of its approachability and tangible advice on how to be happier. Insider Reviews senior reporter Mara Leighton found the lectures easy to watch and the overall course "immediately and concretely useful." (You can read the full review here). And journalist Justin Maiman said that his "happiness improved greatly in a short amount of time" upon finishing the course.
Learners fill out questionnaires at the beginning of the course so they can track their emotional progress along the way. One nice benefit of doing the limited-time, full access route is you have 180 days to complete the course if you want the certification at the end. That way, you might be more incentivized to finish the course (and gain valuable insight on if you actually feel happier by the end). And since many of the tips apply to common misconceptions of happiness (such as indulging in Netflix binges or social media scrolling), it can be an especially crucial course to improve your mental health while stuck at home during the pandemic.
If you liked The Science of Well-Being, here are similar Coursera courses and Specializations you can get full access to for free through Dec 4:
