Torontonian looking for a degree in happiness

November 24, 2011 6:24 AM

I'm a Torontonian who is intrigued by the UPenn 'Degree of Happiness' / Master of Applied Positive Psychology. Is there anything like that available in Toronto? If not, are there any other resources or courses in Toronto that someone like me may find interesting (30s male, working full time)? Book suggestions would also be welcome...
posted by evadery to Education (3 answers total)

I don't know about resources in Toronto, but here are some books taken from the syllabus of a positive psychology course at NYU ("Science of Happiness"):

C. R. Snyder and S. J. Lopez (Eds.). Handbook of Positive Psychology. Oxford University Press, 2005.

Peterson, Christopher. A Primer in Positive Psychology. Oxford University Press, 2006.

Tiger, L. Optimism: The biology of hope. New York: Simon and Shuster, 1979.

The professor used excerpts and articles from lots of different sources, so I don't remember what those particular books were like. Looking at Amazon reviews, A Primer in Positive Psychology looks like a good starting point.

If you haven't already, you may also want to look into anything by Martin Seligman.
posted by junques at 12:54 PM on November 24, 2011

I recommend this book:

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
posted by costanza at 7:38 PM on November 24, 2011

There's also this group (and here) which runs an excellent weekend-long workshop in Applied Positive Psychology, followed by optional weekly classes.
posted by lotusfeet at 10:22 PM on December 7, 2011