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Yale University · on Coursera

The Science of Well-Being

4.9(72,000) on Coursera·4.6M enrolled
Beginner 19 hours English University Certificate
SkillsPositive psychologyHabit buildingMindfulnessGratitude practiceBehavioural scienceWell-being

Is this course right for you?

Our take
Worth it if you want the evidence on what actually makes people happier, taught well. You can take the whole thing free by auditing on Coursera.

Good for: anyone who wants an evidence-based, practical look at happiness and will do the weekly exercises.

Skip if: you want a career credential, or clinical mental-health support rather than a course.

Laurie Santos built it around research in psychology, not self-help, and the real work is the weekly practices that ask you to change small habits and notice the effect. That is where the value sits, and also where people drop off, because it takes doing rather than watching. As a course about behaviour change, you get out what you put in.

It is not mental-health treatment and it is not a credential anyone hires on. The certificate needs a paid Coursera subscription, but for most people the free audit is the point. Come for the ideas, stay for the practices.

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About this course

The Science of Well-Being is Yale's most popular course ever — nearly a quarter of the student body enrolled when it ran on campus in 2018. Laurie Santos covers the psychology research on happiness: what the science says actually makes people happy (spoiler: not what most people think), the cognitive biases that cause us to misjudge what will make us happy, and the evidence-based practices that produce sustained improvement in well-being — gratitude, social connection, meditation, exercise, and sleep.

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Instructor

LS
Laurie Santos
Coursera instructor
4.6M+ learners3 courses4.9 instructor rating

Taught by Laurie Santos, Chandrika and Ranjan Tandon Professor of Psychology at Yale, whose research focuses on comparative psychology and the science of happiness.

Frequently asked questions

The free audit includes all the video lessons and, importantly, the weekly 'rewirement' practices — the real substance of the course. Paying adds the peer-graded reflections and a shareable certificate. For personal benefit the free version is genuinely complete; pay only if you specifically want the credential.

You can watch, but you'll get little from it. The course is built on behaviour change, and the rewirements — gratitude, better sleep, savouring, social connection — are where any real effect on your wellbeing comes from. It genuinely rewards doing over watching.

No. It's evidence-based education about the habits that support wellbeing, not clinical care. If you're dealing with depression, anxiety or anything serious, treat the course as a possible complement at most, and seek proper professional support rather than relying on it.
Paid
Free to audit, paid certificate
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