Course Title : Emotional Happiness

Course Code : CLE9032

Recommended Study Year : NIL
No. of Credits/Term : 3
Mode of Tuition : Lecture-tutorial mode
Class Contact Hours : 3 hours per week (2 hrs lecture; 1 hr tutorial)
Category : Cluster E course in Values, Cultures and
Societies
Discipline : N/A
Prerequisite(s) : N/A
Co-requisite(s) : N/A
Exclusion(s) : N/A
Exemption Requirement(s) : N/A

Brief Course Description

This course provides psychological insights into how people can achieve a greater sense of happiness in their
lives in the globalized and multicultural world. This course explores the meanings, benefits, and scientifically-
validated strategies of boosting happiness. Strategies that are scientifically proven to enhance happiness
include savoring, meditation, gratitude, acts of kindness, and physical activity. Obstacles to the pursuit and
promotion of happiness are examined. This course also discusses cultural influences on happiness and specific
techniques regarding how best to implement various happiness enhancing strategies to attain lasting happiness,
as suggested by psychology research.

Aims

1. To learn about the conceptualizations, benefits and measurement of happiness.

2. To study the relative contribution of genetic, cognitive, environmental, and cultural factors to happiness.
3. To understand the obstacles to the pursuit of happiness.
4. To identify and apply various scientifically-validated happiness enhancing strategies to attain lasting
happiness.
5. To learn the implications of psychology theories and research on happiness to advance one’s
understanding of the nature, consequences, pursuit and promotion of happiness.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to

1. To describe the conceptualizations, psychology theories, and consequences of happiness.
2. To describe the obstacles and intervention studies with regard to the pursuit of happiness.
3. To illustrate how happiness is measured.
4. To discuss the impact of genetic, cognitive, environmental, and cultural factors on happiness.
5. To apply and evaluate various happiness enhancing strategies to attain lasting happiness.
Indicative Content

1. Understanding Happiness
 Meanings of happiness: Hedonism, eudaimonia
 Benefits of happiness: Broaden and Build Theory, positivity ratio
 Measurements of happiness
 Cultural influences on happiness

2. The Pursuit and Promotion of Happiness

 Obstacles to the pursuit of happiness
- Cognitive biases: Affective forecasting, hedonic treadmill
- The limits of set point and circumstances: Heredity, wealth, physical attractiveness

3. Happiness enhancing strategies

 Expressing gratitude
 Practicing acts of kindness
 Nurturing social relationships
 Savoring life's joy
 Committing to one’s goals
 Taking care of one’s body: Sleep, physical activity, meditation

4. Recommendations for successful implementation of happiness practice

Teaching Method

This course is made up of lectures and tutorials. Students will be asked to complete an individual written
assignment on happiness enhancement. In addition, they will be asked to deliver a tutorial group presentation
on one topic related to happiness. Teaching will be supplemented by videos and audios during lectures and
tutorials. Guest speakers may be invited for some lectures.

Measurement of Learning Outcomes

1. Tutorial presentation and participation (30%) - LOs 1, 2, 4, 5

Students will form small groups, deliver an oral presentation on one topic related to happiness, and provide
relevant evidence from credible research to support their group work. Students are expected to attend all
tutorials on time, as well as actively and respectfully participate in tutorial activities.

2. Individual written assignment (20%) - LOs 2, 3, 4, 5

This is an individual written assignment on happiness enhancement, in which each student will (a) conduct a
self-assessment of his/her level of happiness; (b) evaluate the effectiveness of one strategy to enhance his/her
happiness level; and (c) describe any difficulties he/she experienced when practicing that happiness enhancing
strategy.
3. Final examination (50%) – LOs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
The final examination will assess students’ recall, understanding, analysis and evaluation of issues related to
the psychology of happiness.
Assessment

Continuous assessment : 50%

( Tutorial presentation and participation – 30% )
Individual written assignment – 20% )
Final examination : 50%

Required/Essential Readings

Lyubomirsky, S. (2008). The how of happiness: A scientific approach to getting the life you want. New York:
The Penguin Press.
Peterson, C. (2006). A primer in positive psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.

Recommended/Supplementary Readings

Baumgardner, S. R., & Crothers, M. K. (2009). Positive psychology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Education, Inc.
Ben-Shahar, T. (2007). Happier: Learn the secrets to daily joy and lasting fulfillment. New York: McGraw-
Hill.
Ben-Shahar, T. (2009). Even happier: A gratitude journal for daily joy and lasting fulfillment. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Ben-Shahar, T. (2012). Choose the life you want: The mindful way to happiness. New York: The Experiment,
LLC.
Burns, G. W. (2017). 101 stories for enhancing happiness and well-being: Using metaphors in positive
psychology and therapy. New York: Routledge.
Carr, A. (2004). Positive psychology: The science of happiness and human strengths. New York: Brunner-
Routledge.
Compton, W. C., & Hoffman, E. (2013). Positive psychology: The science of happiness and flourishing
(International edition, 2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Csikszentmihalyi, I. S. (Eds.). (2006). A life worth living: Contributions to positive
psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.
Cuseo, J. B., Thompson, A., McLaughlin, J. A., & Moono, S. H. (2010). Thriving in the community college
and beyond: Strategies for academic success and personal development. Dubuque, IA: Kendall
Hunt.
David, S. A., Boniwell, I., & Ayers, A. C. (Eds.). (2013). The Oxford handbook of happiness. United
Kingdom, Oxford: The Oxford University Press.
Diener E. (eds) (2009). Culture and Well-Being. Netherlands, Dordrecht: Springer.Egan, G. (2014). The
 skilled helper: A problem-management and opportunity-development approach to helping (10th ed.).
Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Haidt, J. (2006). The happiness hypothesis: Putting ancient wisdom and philosophy to the test of modern
science. United Kingdom, London: Random House.
Joseph, S. (Ed.). (2015). Positive psychology in practice: Promoting human flourishing in work, health,
education, and everyday life (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Lopez, S. J. (Ed.). (2008). Positive psychology: Exploring the best in people. Westport, CT: Praeger
Publishers.
Lopez, S. J. (Ed.). (2009). Encyclopedia of positive psychology. West Sussex, UK: Blackwell Publishing
Ltd.
Nanette, T. (2013). Stress management: A wellness approach. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Parks, A. C., & Schueller, S. M. (Eds.). (2014). The Wiley Blackwell handbook of positive psychological
interventions. United Kingdom, West Sussex, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Seaward, B. L. (2018). Managing stress: Principles and strategies for health and well-being (9th ed.).
Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Selin, H., & Davey, G. (2012). Happiness across cultures: Views of happiness and quality of life in non-
Western cultures. Netherland, Dordrecht: Springer.

Important Notes:
(1) Students are expected to spend a total of 9 hours (i.e. 3 hours of class contact and 6 hours of personal
study) per week to achieve the course learning outcomes.
(2) Students shall be aware of the University regulations about dishonest practice in course work, tests and
examinations, and the possible consequences as stipulated in the Regulations Governing University
Examinations. In particular, plagiarism, being a kind of dishonest practice, is “the presentation of
another person’s work without proper acknowledgement of the source, including exact phrases, or
summarised ideas, or even footnotes/citations, whether protected by copyright or not, as the student’s
own work”. Students are required to strictly follow university regulations governing academic integrity
and honesty.
(3) Students are required to submit writing assignment(s) using Turnitin.
(4) To enhance students’ understanding of plagiarism, a mini-course “Online Tutorial on Plagiarism
Awareness” is available on https://pla.ln.edu.hk/.