1. Lesson 2 - Introduction to Positive Psychology: Learning by Doing
2. Road Map
3. The Main Goal of PSYCH 243
4. The History of PSYCH 243
5. The History of Positive Psychology
6. Do Positive Psychologists Know More than Sunday School Teachers?
7. The Three Pillars of Positive Psychology
8. Active Learning
9. The Meaning of Free Choice
10. How Do We Achieve Freedom?
11. The Importance of Realism
12. Are You Ready for Change?
13. What Will You Change?
14. Lesson Activity

The Main Goal of PSYCH 243

The main goal for this course is exactly the same as that of the textbook author, Chris Peterson (2006, p. 4): To provide "food for thought" to help you formulate "an action plan that might make your own life a better one." Below is an explanation of what is meant by food for thought and an action plan.

The textbook readings and commentaries for this course will expose you to a number of theories and research findings about how to improve life. You are not expected to automatically believe and accept everything that the textbook authors and the commentaries say in the course. Rather, you are asked to thoughtfully consider these ideas about improving life.

Some of the ideas you may already understand at some level and may strike you as common knowledge, for example, “Money cannot buy happiness.” But ideas like this are not true just because a lot of people say they are true. you are expected to dig deeper, to understand why money cannot buy happiness.

Some of the ideas in the course may surprise you because you never thought about things that way. Just as you are expected to thoughtfully consider rather than automatically accept every idea in the course, you are also expected to consider rather than automatically reject new ideas about improving life. Everything here is food for thought. Think about the ideas, talk about them with your family and friends, and discuss them with other students on the Discussion Forum if you are so inclined.

Thinking and talking about ideas should be part of every university course. But in this course the hope is for all students to go beyond just thinking about the course content at an intellectual level. The hope is that you will formulate your own personal action plan in which you try some of these ideas to see if they do in fact make your life more satisfying and meaningful. Which ideas you try out and how long you practice them is totally up to you. There is no promise that all of the ideas in the course will work for you. Only in the laboratory of life can you find out how to make your own life a better one.