15.

S22: Pursuing Happiness and a Meaningful Life

Course Syllabus
December 17, 2023
(subject to change)

H4, Spring 2024

Tuesday, 4:05pm – 6:55pm, E62-221
Instructors: Bob Pozen bobpozen@mit.edu; Susan Neal sneal@mit.edu
Teaching Assistant: Marko Bejatovic mbejat@mit.edu

Course Purpose: The two main objectives of this course are 1) to understand the psychodynamics and
other factors in the empirical research on happiness and 2) to develop the skills and habits to enhance
the student’s own happiness.

Albert Schweitzer once said, “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.” In
this course, students will read some of the most relevant research on the topic and self-administer
surveys that will enable them to understand their own happiness. In-class activities and weekly
assignments will allow students to practice the intentional pursuit of happiness.

Who should take this course: This course is open to Sloan Fellows and second-year MBA students who
have not taken 15.S05, The Science of Well-being. It will be limited to 28 students to encourage more
personal and group discussion.

This course is appropriate for anyone who is interested in personal growth as part of leadership
development. Students will discuss personal experiences, survey results, and reflect -- individually and
in small groups. Instructors and students will form a supportive environment for sharing professional
and personal goals. Please join only if you are prepared to be fully engaged in introspective exercises in
order to understand and possibly change your existing habits.

Individual participation and attendance

• Be on time to every class @ 4:05pm and adhere to Sloan Values
• Attendance will be taken at the beginning of class
• Display a name card in front of you
• No electronics in class
• Come to class prepared: do the readings, daily and weekly exercises

Grading: 15.S22 is a half course offered in H4, Spring 2024 for 6 credits. The class will meet every
Tuesday evening for the first 6 weeks of H4, followed by one-on-one meetings arranged during week 7
of class.

The course will be P/D/F with the grade based on:

1) Class attendance and participation
2) Keeping daily journal and doing weekly exercises
3) Completing weekly readings
4) Completing self-assessment surveys each week
 5) Submitting 1,000 – 1,500 words final reflection paper at end of course

4/2/2024 SESSION I: What Does & Doesn’t Lead to Happiness & Why

Assignment

1) Aaker, Jennifer et al. (2010) The Psychology of Happiness. Stanford Business School.
https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/case-studies/psychology-happiness
2) Twenge, J. More time on technology, Less Happiness?
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0963721419838244
3) Sign into Authentic Happiness website and complete PERMA Questionnaire
https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/user/login?destination=node/628 and enter
your results into this anonymous Google survey xxxxx <need Marko to set up>

In Session I, we will provide an overview of the course, introduce the various definitions of happiness,
and establish a baseline of your happiness through the PERMA Questionnaire. We will explore why
earning more money above a certain level or acquiring materialistic goods, does not necessarily lead to
sustained happiness. To understand these phenomena, we will discuss the psychological impact of
hedonic adaptation and social comparisons. We will begin the routine of keeping a daily gratitude
journal and provide instructions on the “Random Acts of Kindness” assignment for the upcoming week.

4/9/24 SESSION II: Being Kind to Others & Managing Yourself

Assignment

1) Complete happiness survey: PANAS Questionnaire (about positive and negative affect)
https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/questionnaires/panas-questionnaire
2) Suttie, Jill (2021) How Kindness Fits into a Happy Life, Greater Good Magazine
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_kindness_fits_into_a_happy_life
3) Borchard, Therese (2017) 8 Simple Ways to Give and Why Giving is Good for You
https://psychcentral.com/blog/8-simple-ways-to-give-and-why-giving-is-good-for-you
4) Brooks, Arthur and Winfrey, Oprah (2023) The Power to Decide How you Feel
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15ziU2KsDsSh1gmqcQ7802sSf0zWHqqIm/view?usp=sharing
5) Article adapted from True Refuge (2013 by Tara Brach, The RAIN of Self Compassion
https://www.tarabrach.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf/RAIN-of-Self-Compassion2.pdf
6) Mind My Peelings, The Happy Brain Chemicals that Make You Feel Good
https://www.mindmypeelings.com/blog/daily-dose-of-happiness-chemicals
7) Daily Journal: Record three experiences for which you are grateful and why? How does this
exercise make you feel? < are they doing this every day? >
8) “Random Acts of Kindness” exercise: Select one day and perform 3 acts of kindness on that
day, acts of kindness you typically wouldn’t do. It can be as simple as delivering a
complement or buying someone a cup of coffee. Mix it up a bit. Perform acts of kindness
with people you know and don’t know; does it vary in how you feel? How does the person
respond? Document your experience and results.

Session II will begin by discussing the positive uses of money, including the benefits of giving it away.
We will focus on the idea that acts of kindness have a profound effect on our happiness, including a
review of your experiences with the “Random Acts of Kindness” assignment. We then move on to
understand the results of the PANAS Questionnaire which provides scores on positive and negative
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affect. After the break, you will hear about the importance of managing your own emotions and the
effect this can have on your happiness. The class will end by asking you to think about a gratitude letter
and a discussion of the upcoming week’s assignment on “Savoring.”

4/16/24 SESSION III: Strategies to Increase Mental & Physical Well-Being

Assignment

1) Reid, Sheldon (2023). Help Guide. Gratitude: The Benefits and How to Practice It
https://www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/gratitude.htm
2) Siegel, Ronald, & Germer, Christopher, & Olendzki, Andrew. Clinical Handbook of Mindfulness
(pp 17-35) Mindfulness: What is it? Where Did it Come From?
https://docs.google.com/document/d/14rpCvRw9EA_IMp_HJkl_pc9l2FD0NOWZt8LJcIL0odU/edi
t?usp=sharing
3) Killingsworth, M & Gilbert, D (2010) Science. A Wandering Mind is an Unhappy Mind
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1192439
4) Pattabhiraman, Teja. (2021) Greater Good Magazine. Six Ways to Incorporate Awe Your Daily
Life
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/six_ways_to_incorporate_awe_into_your_daily_
life
5) Daily Journal: each day record three things for which you are grateful and why.
6) “Savoring” exercise: Complete an experience that you savor (e.g. eating a meal, walking to
class). What are the details of the experience? How did it effect you? Did it change that
experience for you going forward? Document the experience and come prepared to discuss in
class.

Session III will start with a short video on how to be happier by “staying in the moment.” We will then
have a subject expert explain the basics of mindfulness and meditation and lead the class in a
meditation exercise. We will discuss the “Savoring” assignment as it relates to mindfulness and how this
assignment had an impact on you. After the break, we will talk about awe and spirituality and the
importance of physical well-being on life satisfaction and subjective well-being (there is so much
literature on this, much of which you already know). We will then focus on gratitude, first by reviewing
the impact of maintaining a daily journal and then by discussing the benefits of gratitude highlighted in
the assigned literature. You will be asked to complete an in-class exercise of writing a thank you letter to
someone in your past who has helped you in a significant way. We will end the session by explaining
what will be expected from you in the daily meditation assignment.

4/23/24 SESSION IV: Bolstering Friendships & Love Relationships

Assignment

1) Complete Close Relationships Questionnaires

https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/questionnaires/close-relationships-
questionnaires
2) The Happy Couple. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-happy-couple-2012-
10-23/
3) Compassionate and Passionate Love by Kendra Cherry.
https://www.verywellmind.com/compassionate-and-passionate-love-2795338
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 4) Rokach, Ami (2014). “Leadership and Loneliness.” International Journal of Leadership and
Change 2(1): 48-58.
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=ijlc
5) Cuncic, Arlin (2022) Verywell Mind. “What is Active Listening?”
https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-active-listening-3024343
6) Daily Meditation: Based on what you learned in class, take time each day to find a quiet space
and meditate for 5 minutes.
7) “Reinforcing Social Connections” exercise: At some point during the week, reach out to a friend
you haven’t been in touch with for a while or someone you think might be lonely; spend at least
30min with this person on the phone, on Zoom, or in-person. How did you feel after the
experience? How do you think your friend felt? Document the experiences.

Session IV will start the class with some research on the epidemic of loneliness in the US and follow with
a video from Robert Waldinger about the longest study on happiness. The implications of different kinds
of friendships, the lack of real friends at the leadership level, and the benefit of friendship groups all will
be discussed. We will then focus on how to choose romantic partners and maintain a successful long-
term relationship. The class will discuss the distinction between passionate and compassionate love and
touch upon the famous 36 questions leading to love. We will discuss attachment theory and its
implications for how you relate to your partner – which you can understand through the survey results.
We will end the session by discussing your daily meditation assignment and setting up the “Silver Lining”
exercise for the coming week.

4/30/24 SESSION V: Rebounding from Failure & Building Resilience

Assignment

1) Complete Grit Survey

https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/questionnaires/grit-survey
2) Miller, Kori D. Positive Psychology. 5+ Ways to Develop a Growth Mindset Using Grit &
Resilience https://positivepsychology.com/5-ways-develop-grit-resilience/
3) Brooks, Arthur (2022) How to Succeed at Failure
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/01/happiness-after-failure/621236/
4) Stanford Medicine SCOPE. The Benefits of Self Forgiveness
https://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2019/08/02/the-benefits-of-self-forgiveness/
5) Eight Essentials When Forgiving.
https://ggia.berkeley.edu/practice/eight_essentials_when_forgiving
6) Take time each day to find a quiet space and meditate for 5 minutes.
7) Silver Lining exercise: Document a time when something didn’t go your way; how did you handle
it? what was the silver lining?

Session V will focus on how to overcome the inevitable disappointments and problems in your personal
and professional life. In specific, we will discuss the readings on learning from failure, including the
insights from the “Silver Lining” exercise. We will watch a Ted Talk by Angela Duckworth on resilience
and discuss the results of the Grit survey and the importance of a growth mindset. We will complete
exercises on forgiving others and on our need for self-forgiveness. The class ends with a discussion of
the meditation assignment and “My Life in 10 Years” vision board exercise.

5/7/24 SESSION VI: Finding Your Purpose & Setting Life Goals

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 Assignment

1) Complete VIA Survey of Character Strengths

https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/questionnaires/survey-character-strengths
2) Morgan, Kate (2022) The Search for “Meaning” at Work
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20220902-the-search-for-meaning-at-work
3) Suttie, Jill and Marsh Jason (2014) Is a Happy Life Different from a Meaningful One?
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/happy_life_different_from_meaningful_life
4) Christensen, Clayton (2010) How Will you Measure your Life https://hbr.org/2010/07/how-will-
you-measure-your-life
5) Ware, Bonnie (2009) Regrets of the Dying https://bronnieware.com/blog/regrets-of-the-dying/
6) “My Life in 10 Years” vision board exercise: Put together a digital/physical collage of pictures
that best represent what you hope your life will be like 10 years from now. Try to choose
authentic own goals vs. goals of others. Approach goals are better than avoidance goals; choose
harmonious goals vs goals in conflict, and goals geared to activities, not circumstances.

Session VI will begin with a discussion on finding meaning and satisfaction in your chosen career. A guest
speaker will talk about finding meaning in his own professional life and using his good fortune to help
others. After the break, we will discuss our character strengths as revealed in the VIA survey and then
break into small groups to discuss the “My Life in 10 Years” vision boards. Finally, for the following
week’s session you will be asked to take the PERMA Questionnaire again and write a 1,000 – 1,500
words paper on what you learned from the course and how you will change.

5/13/24 – 5/16/24 SESSION VII: One-on-One Discussions

Assignment

Due in Canvas on Monday, May 13th at 12pm (noon) ET.

1. Sign into Authentic Happiness website and complete PERMA Questionnaire

https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/user/login?destination=node/628 and enter
your results into this anonymous Google survey xxxxx <need Marta to set up>

2. Write a 1,000 – 1,500 words reflection paper on

a) What did you learn from the course?
b) What happiness practices you might adopt?

You will sign up for a 25min one-on-one meeting time with Bob or Susan on May 13 – 16th to discuss
your reflection paper and your feedback on the class: How did you most benefit from the class? What
would make it better?