The Science of Happiness course was first introduced by Professor Bruce Hood at the University of Bristol. The course combines classroom lectures with happiness hub discussions. While the feedback on the course has been extremely encouraging, an evaluation showed that individuals who attended the course showed more positive mood (happiness) and resilience as compared to students who had to yet take the course. The program when conducted in a corporate, also showed that those employees who engaged in the happiness hacks reported significantly higher levels of wellbeing, life satisfaction and job satisfaction
The program includes 4 sessions of 1-2 hr each spread across 3 months
Introductory Lecture
Induction to Happiness Hacks
Interim Lectures
Weekly Assessments of Happiness Hacks using online tools/apps
Online Happiness Scale Assessment at the beginning and end of the program
Bruce Hood, PhD, is Professor of Developmental Psychology in Society at the University of Bristol. He also spends considerable time in science communication as a writer, presenter and a public speaker.
Hood has been a research fellow at Cambridge University and University College London, a visiting scientist at MIT and a faculty professor at Harvard. He has diverse research interests including the origins of supernatural beliefs, cognitive development and the science of happiness. He is a former Royal Institution Christmas Lecturer and the founder of Speakezee – the world’s largest network of expert speakers.
He has been awarded an Alfred Sloan Fellowship in neuroscience, the Young Investigator Award from the International Society of Infancy Researchers, the Robert Fantz Memorial Award, the British Psychological Society (BPS) Award for Distinguished Contribution to Developmental Psychology and BPS Public Engagement and Media Award. He was voted to fellowship status by the society of American Psychological Science, the Royal Institution of Great Britain and the British Psychological Society. He is the former president of psychology section of the British Science Association.
Hood has written four books for the general public, SuperSense (HarperOne, 2009) about the natural origins of supernatural beliefs, The Self Illusion (Constable & Robinson 2012) about the fallacy that we are coherent, integrated individuals but rather a constructed narrative largely influenced by those around us, The Domesticated Brain (Pelican, 2014) an evolutionary account for the rise in pro-sociality and lengthening of human childhood, and his new book on the psychology of ownership, Possessed: Why We Want More than We Need, published by Allen Lane 2019. He has also co-authored the most successful undergraduate textbook Psychology, now in its 3rd edition (Palgrave, 2011, 2015, 2019).
Hood has appeared in a number of TV science documentaries and in 2011 he delivered the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures which were broadcast on the BBC to over 4 million viewers. He has also appeared in two feature length documentary films, “Breath of Life” (2016) and “Living in the Future’s Past” (2018) produced and narrated by Academy Winner Jeff Bridges.
Hood is the founder of Bristol University’s "Science of Happiness"™