Coping Amid the Crisis: With Guest Laurie Santos

Choiceology with Katy Milkman

Charles Schwab

Investing, Social Sciences, Behavioral Economics, Science, Society & Culture, Decision Making, Charles Schwab, Dan Heath, Business, Katy Milkman

4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 6 April 2020

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

An unprecedented global health crisis has overwhelmed healthcare systems, disrupted economies and financial markets, and radically altered our daily lives. And while social distancing is the responsible thing to do to slow the spread of disease, it also heightens the emotional challenges we face during these scary and uncertain times. In this special bonus episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman, we look to the science of happiness to see how we might mitigate the adverse impacts to our mental health and well-being—and maybe even cultivate good new habits that can help us when the crisis is over. In 2018, psychologist Laurie Santos introduced a new course at Yale—its subject, happiness—which quickly became the storied university’s most popular class ever. Katy interviews Laurie to find out what insights from the course apply to our current situation and to solicit advice on happiness-improvement steps we can be taking now. Laurie Santos is a professor of psychology and head of Silliman College at Yale University. A version of her “happiness class”—The Science of Well-Being—is now available online for free through Coursera. Laurie also hosts the hit podcast The Happiness Lab.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everyone. This is Katie Milkman signing on today for my home in Philadelphia
0:09.4	with a very unusual special episode of Choiceology. All of us at
0:14.2	choiceology wanted to find a way to be helpful to you in the face of the COVID-19
0:18.1	crisis. As we thought about how behavioral science could help you make better
0:22.1	decisions in the midst of a pandemic,
0:24.4	we quickly put together an episode with insights that we hope you can use right away.
0:30.1	This episode won't have a story.
0:32.1	Just an interview with a talented scientist who can offer you useful advice.
0:36.0	I thought for a few minutes about interviewing a public health expert,
0:40.0	but if you're a choiceology listener, you're clearly a science lover, and I suspect you already
0:44.8	know about the dangers of COVID-19 and the importance of social distancing and hand washing.
0:50.0	Instead, I decided the most useful thing I could bring you was an interview with someone who could help us all deal with the emotional toll of this pandemic.
0:58.0	Dr. Lori Santos is a professor of psychology at Yale University,
1:02.8	and in 2018, she made headlines
1:05.4	when she introduced a new course to Yale undergraduates
1:08.2	that became the university's most popular class ever.
1:11.8	The topic of the class was happiness and how to achieve it.
1:15.0	Lori began by filling Yale's largest lecture hall with students eager to learn
1:19.6	what research has to say about how to lead a more fulfilling life.
1:23.0	And since, she's gone on to develop an online class about the science of well-being
1:28.0	that has reached over a million people through Corcera,
1:31.0	as well as a hit podcast called The Happiness Lab that covers similar ground.
	...

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