学部後期課程
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最終更新日：2025年10月17日
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UTASにアクセスできない方は、担当教員または部局教務へお問い合わせ下さい。
最終更新日：2025年10月17日
授業計画や教室は変更となる可能性があるため、必ずUTASで最新の情報を確認して下さい。
UTASにアクセスできない方は、担当教員または部局教務へお問い合わせ下さい。
社会・環境・健康と東アジアI（２０）
The Good Life
What makes the good life? Is it visions of swimming through piles of money? Or, is it helping others with their problems? What is better: Making more money, or just more than your neighbors? What is the hedonic treadmill (and will it make you fit)?
This course explores the question and relevant research and science behind “The Good Life” – helping us understand what a “good” life is and how we might construct our own good lives. In life, we often grapple with ideas about our place, purpose, and careers. And while we spend time extensive hours learning models and theories that optimize business outcomes or help us learn theories, we spend comparatively less time engaging in self-reflection: studying how to optimize our own lives – or maybe just improve day-to-day interactions. This course turns to science to help us understand how we can be happier, more productive, and purposeful in our lives and careers. It is oriented to those who are interested in “hacking” their own lives, testing and figuring out what can make them better colleagues, friends, and people.
The course is heavily oriented towards class participation, where we will both go over the relevant research regarding happiness, stress, sleep, and making “good” decisions. However, we will also engage in efforts to develop processes to encourage happiness and test it out in our own lives during the course. In short, you will have to be willing to turn the proverbial microscope on your own life and efforts, figuring out what makes you tick, what values you think are important, and how you can make yourself happier and more productive.
The goals of this course are:
•To move beyond anecdotal and socialized ideas of the good life to immerse you in the relevant science that explores how decisions positively (or often negatively) effect our well-being. By understanding this literature, you will better understand how to adjust procedures and tasks in your own life to reduce stress and be happier.
•To get you to reflect and examine how you understand your own life goals – and the goals of others- including the various decisions you make in everyday life. By not only examining what you do, but questioning why you do it, you will come to a better understanding of your authentic self and what you can do to support your career goals.
•To engage you in exercises and assignments that help you take ownership over the various components and antecedents of your own social and psychological health. By engaging in class, you will understand how happiness and a successful career are often endogenous to individuals, and that certain behaviors can help support important life-long goals.
•The course will get you to engage with others that you encounter in everyday life, as well as your peers in the class, promoting an understanding and empathetic awareness of “others” and how they positively shape your decisions, goals, and ambitions – as well as how expressing your gratitude to others can be extremely beneficial.
This course explores the question and relevant research and science behind “The Good Life” – helping us understand what a “good” life is and how we might construct our own good lives. In life, we often grapple with ideas about our place, purpose, and careers. And while we spend time extensive hours learning models and theories that optimize business outcomes or help us learn theories, we spend comparatively less time engaging in self-reflection: studying how to optimize our own lives – or maybe just improve day-to-day interactions. This course turns to science to help us understand how we can be happier, more productive, and purposeful in our lives and careers. It is oriented to those who are interested in “hacking” their own lives, testing and figuring out what can make them better colleagues, friends, and people.
The course is heavily oriented towards class participation, where we will both go over the relevant research regarding happiness, stress, sleep, and making “good” decisions. However, we will also engage in efforts to develop processes to encourage happiness and test it out in our own lives during the course. In short, you will have to be willing to turn the proverbial microscope on your own life and efforts, figuring out what makes you tick, what values you think are important, and how you can make yourself happier and more productive.
The goals of this course are:
•To move beyond anecdotal and socialized ideas of the good life to immerse you in the relevant science that explores how decisions positively (or often negatively) effect our well-being. By understanding this literature, you will better understand how to adjust procedures and tasks in your own life to reduce stress and be happier.
•To get you to reflect and examine how you understand your own life goals – and the goals of others- including the various decisions you make in everyday life. By not only examining what you do, but questioning why you do it, you will come to a better understanding of your authentic self and what you can do to support your career goals.
•To engage you in exercises and assignments that help you take ownership over the various components and antecedents of your own social and psychological health. By engaging in class, you will understand how happiness and a successful career are often endogenous to individuals, and that certain behaviors can help support important life-long goals.
•The course will get you to engage with others that you encounter in everyday life, as well as your peers in the class, promoting an understanding and empathetic awareness of “others” and how they positively shape your decisions, goals, and ambitions – as well as how expressing your gratitude to others can be extremely beneficial.
時間割／共通科目コード
コース名
教員
学期
時限
08F151420
FAS-FA4F14L3
社会・環境・健康と東アジアI（２０）
Wakeman Wiley
火曜3限
マイリストに追加
マイリストから削除
講義使用言語
英語
単位
2
実務経験のある教員による授業科目
NO
他学部履修
可
開講所属
教養学部
授業計画
Class 1: Course Introduction (*Note that the first class will be held in person - KOMCEE K402)
Class 2: Value Exercise
Class 3: The Benefits of Being Human
Class 4: The Costs of Being Human
Class 5: What is happiness (and does it matter)?
Class 6: Is happiness a paradox?
Class 7: Does money increase happiness?
Class 8: Social Comparison
Class 9: What to buy
Class 10: Focusing on time
Class 11: Count your blessings (and steps)
Class 12: The price of inequality
Class 13: Making "good" decisions
授業の方法
The class will be a mix of exercises, lectures, student led classes, and group work. To get the most out of the course, you should make it to every session as there will be various discussions.
*** Note that the first class will be held in person - KOMCEE K402 ***
成績評価方法
30% Class Participation
This class is about not just reading or showing up, but engaging and playing with the ideas, listening to how others are grappling with similar (or different) aspects of the learning. In order to facilitate this, class participation is encouraged. Part of this grade (15%) is related to you just being in class and sharing your wisdom, however another part (15%) is related to the contributions you make during class as part of student-led presentations in classes. Good contributions accurately describe the materials prepared in class, very good contributions bring new ideas or synthesize ideas in class, excellent contributions move class discussion into new and unforeseen areas by bringing in new ideas and incorporating class materials in ways that make us all think (e.g., those comments or questions that make you think “that’s a cool point.”
20% Journaling
For duration of the class you will be required to complete your own gratitude journal every week of class. The gratitude journal will both get you think about events in your life, some that give you happiness (and some that don’t) while also providing data for the class about events that shape of lives, careers, and happiness. We will discuss some of the responses directly in class to shape our discussion or add color to our thoughts. A good response will be actually completing the journaling exercise, a very good response will incorporate class readings, a superb response will move beyond class discussions to bring in new ideas outside of class.
10% Group Report
In this group assignment, you will compile and report on your own ideas about what drives your happiness in your lives and careers. This is an opportunity to understand the variety and commonalities of what might be driving your own and others wellbeing. A good paper/presentation will include all of the group members and their opinions in an organized fashion. A very good paper/presentation will develop a narrative with the ideas or to make clear and substantial contributions to help others understand routes to happiness. An excellent paper/presentation will both develop a narrative and make substantial contributions beyond what was said that helps others digest the information.
20% Talking to Strangers
In this individual assignment, you will talk with a series of "strangers" about their lives and careers (we will discuss this in the first class). The goal is for you to (1) talk to random people you might otherwise not (see Epley & Schroder for the benefits of this) and (2) to gather a wide range of thoughts on what is important in life beyond those that your normally talk. A good response will accurately describe the conversation. A very good response will describe the conversation and either bring in class material or move the discussion to ideas beyond what was talked about. An excellent response will bring in class materials and substantially move the discussion into new areas or conceptual developments that help readers see unique value.
20% Final Exam
There is a final exam/paper that will recap both the material and the discussions had in class. We will discuss this in more detail in class.
教科書
There is no textbook, but there are a series of journal articles (see below) and talks based on streams of research. I will upload pdfs for these readings.
I. The costs and benefits of being human
Class 3: The Benefits:
Fredrik & Lowenstein (1999) Hedonic Adaptation. In Kahneman, D. (Ed). Wellbeing: The foundations of hedonic psychology. New York: Russel Sage Foundation
Diener, Lucas, & Scollon (2006). Beyond the hedonic treadmill: Revising the adaptation theory of well-being. American Psychologist. 61, 305-314.
Gilbert et al (1998). Immune neglect: A source of durability bias in affective forecasting. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 617.
Watch - Dan Gilbert on Happiness; https://www.youtube.com/*****
Class 4: The Costs
Wakeman, S. W., Moore, C., & Gino (2019). A counterfeit competence: After threat, cheating boost one’s ego. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 82, 253-265.
Greenwald (1980). The totalitarian ego. American Psychologist, 35, 603-618.
Bhattacharjee, Y. (June, 2017). Why we lie: The science behind our deceptive ways. National Geographic.
Sjastad, Baumeister, & Ent (2020) Greener grass or sour grapes? How people value future goals after initial failure. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 88¸ 1-15.
Watch - Self-importance and happiness: https://www.youtube.com/*****
II.How Happiness Works
Class 5: What is happiness (and does it matter)?
Kurtz, J. L. & Lyubomirsky, S. (2008) Toward a durable happiness
Brooks, A. C. (April 9, 2000) The three equations for a happy life, even during a pandemic. The Atlantic
Kushlev et al (2020) Does happiness improve health? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial. Psychological Science, 31, 807-821.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2001). On happiness and human potentials: A review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 141-166.
Class 6: Is happiness a paradox?
Smith, E. E. (2013). There’s more to life than being happy: Meaning comes from the pursuit of more complex things than happiness. The Atlantic.
Mauss, I. B.,, Tamir, M., Anderson, C. L., & Savino, N. S. (2011). Can seeking happiness make people happy? Paradoxical effects of valuing happiness. Emotion, 11, 807-815.
Lykken, D. & Tellegen, A. (1996). Happiness is a stochastic phenomenon. Psychological Science.
Watch - Expectations and happiness: https://www.youtube.com/*****
Recommended:
DeNeve, K. M., & Cooper, H. (1998) The happy personality: A meta-analysis of 137 personality traits and subjective well-being. Psychology Bulletin, 124, 197-229. 7, 186-189.
Class 7: Does money increase happiness?
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1999) If we are so rich, why aren’t we happy. American Psychologist, 54, 821-827.
Kahneman & Deaton (2010). High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Donnelly, G. E., Zheng, T., Halsley, E., & Norton, M. I. (2018). The amount and source of millionaires’ wealth (moderately) predict their happiness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
NY Magazine – Family Wealth: https://nymag.com/*****
参考書
Class 8: Social Comparison
Luttmer, E. F. P. (2005). Neighbors as negatives: Relative earnings and well-being. Quarterly Journal of Economics.
Smith, R. H. & Diener, E., & Wedell, D. H. (1989). Intrapersonal and social comparison determinants of happiness: A range-frequency analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 317.323.
Goor, D., Ordabayeva, N., Keinan, A., & Crener, S. (2020). The impostor syndrome from luxury consumption. Journal of Consumer Research, 46, 1031-1051.
III.How to Hack Happiness
Class 9: What to buy
Dunn, Aknin, & Norton (2008) Science – Spending money on others promotes happiness
Gilovich, T., Kumar, A., Jampol, L. (2015). A wonderful life: Experiential consumption and the pursuit of happiness. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 25, 152-165.
Schmitt, B. Brakus, J. J., & Zarantonello, J. (2014) From experiential psychology to consumer experience. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 25, 166-171.
Mike Norton on Buying Happiness: https://www.youtube.com/*****
Class 10: Focusing on Time
Whillians, A. V., Dunn, E. W. , Smeets, P., Bekkers, R., & Norton, M. I. (2017). Buying time promotes happiness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Mogilner, C. & Norton, M. I. (2016). Time money and happiness. Current Opinion in Psychology, 10, 12-16.
Woolley, C. & Fischbach, E. (2017). A recipe for friendship: Similar food consumption promotes trust and cooperation. Journal of Consumer Psychology.
Class 11: Count your blessings (and steps)
Epley & Schroeder (2014) Mistakenly seeking solitude. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
Mochon, D., Norton, M. I., Ariely, D. (2008). Getting off the hedonic treadmill, one step at a time: The impact of regular religious practice and exercise on well-being. Journal of Economic Psychology
Emmons, R. A. & McCullough, M. E. (2003) Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Recommended:
Myers, D. G. (2000) The funds, friends, and faith of happy people. American Psychologist.
Callaghan, P. (2004). Exercise: A neglected intervention in mental health care? Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 11, 476-483.
IV.Our World - Social Changes
Class 12: The price of inequality
Oishi, S., Kesebir, S. & Diener, E. (2011). Income inequality and happiness. Psychological Science. 22, 1095-1100.
Walasek, L., & Brown, G. D. A. (2015) Income inequality and status seeking: Searching for positional goods in unequal US states. Psychological Science, 26 (4).
Liu, J., Wakeman, S. W., & Norton, M. I. (2024). The egalitarian value of counterfeit goods: Purchasing counterfeit luxury goods to address income inequality. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 00, 1-12.
Innate Fairness: https://www.youtube.com/*****
Inequality and Social Outcomes: https://www.youtube.com/*****
Class 13: Making Good Decisions and Recap
Waytz, A., Dungan, J., & Young, L. (2015). The whistleblower’s dilemma and the fairness-loyalty tradeoff. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49, 1027-1033.
Bazerman, M. H., Loewenstein, G., & Moore, D. A. (2002) Why accountants do bad audits. Harvard Business Review.
Wakeman, S. W., Yang, P., & Moore, C. (2024). A (bounded) preference for rule breakers. Academy of Management Discoveries.
Happiness in the long run: https://www.youtube.com/*****
履修上の注意
No prior knowledge of the subject matter is required. It is a fairly reading and discussion based class so it would help to be willing to come prepared before class (versus doing the readings afterwards).
*** Note that the first class will be held in person - KOMCEE K402 ***
