2021

Psychology, self-regulation, happiness

<aside> 📒 A course by Laurie Santos of Yale University that I took in 2021 on Coursera

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Hedonic Adaptations

• What is it: we get accustomed to a continuous stimulus (so, positive or negative – it eventually will fade to the back of our consciousness)
  • we also mispredict the duration and impact of both positive and negative events on us (with screws our decision-making)
  • prediction bias for negative prediction on happiness are way worse than bias for positive (you overshoot your prediction about positive impact, but you overshoot way more for the negative)
• How to thwart hedonic adaptations:
  • savoring
  • think what would be if you didn’t get what you get
  • imagine the thing you’ve adapted to will go away or end
  • Gratitude: remembering and listing the things you are grateful for
    • sharing gratitude with people that you are grateful to, gives a big boost of happiness

Reference Points

• What they are? We do not think in absolutes but constantly compare ourselves to others. And we have no power over choosing the reference points
  • the weight of social media and the success of others
  • being sad if our salary is way less than the salary of others
  • feeling lonely from the feed full of couples’ happy posts
• How to thwart undesirable reference points
  • return back to your previous reference points (try to live on the previous, smaller salary, be abstinent from your current benefits) / interrupt your
  • go and experience “the other thing” to compare – and then you can experience the disillusionment
  • “Gratitude is the killer of envy”
  • split your enjoyable experiences, as taking breaks resets your point of reference and increases enjoyment

How to be more happy?

• Job-wise:
  • seek one that activates your signature strengths (leads to fulfillment)
  • increasing the chances for the state of flow ("high stakes and high skills" situations)
• Studiyng
  • do not go for grades, go for improvement
• General
  • acts of kindness increase happiness, spending on others brings more happiness than spending on yourself (and the amount doesn't matter)
  • expressing gratitude
  • social connections (even small ones) makes people happier
  • exercising gives a huge boosts (it's better than anti-depressants and the effects carry better)
    • there's a connection between physical fitness and cognitive performance
  • quality sleep boosts happiness and mental performance

How to make it easier on yourself

• situational support: removing or adding stimuli changes affects what we do (removing unhealthy food makes us loosing weight)
• Setting goals:
  • Specificity: what do you want, what's the first step
  • WOOP method:
    • Think about your wish
    • the best possible outcome
    • potential obstacles
    • you if/then plan