TED Talk on Happiness

TED Talks is a series of conferences given by speakers who are leaders in their respective field.  

Although TED talks contains videos on a wide variety of topics, I want you to stick with the topic of happiness as we are covering it in Chapter 1.  

If you should choose to do this assignment for blog comment credit, please do the following:

• Find a TED Talks video of which the speaker is discussing happiness.  You can do this easily using the search option on the website.  There are plenty to choose from, which allows you the flexibility to choose one of which is interesting to you.  After finding a video, please: 
• Provide the link to your video.
• Discuss, in your own words, what the video was about.
• Discuss what you learned.
• If applicable, describe how the information presented ties into your textbook's discussion on happiness.
• Provide your general reaction to the video.  What did you like?  Were there things you disagreed with? Etc.....

There are some great videos on this website, so I encourage you to be a frequent visitor of the site :)

The Paradox of Progress

"Our modern Western society has made extraordinary strides in transportation, energy, communication, agriculture, and medicine.  Yet despite our technological progress, social problems and personal difficulties seem more prevalent and more prominent than ever before."

Chapter 1 in your textbook provides three examples of paradoxes of progress and provides a point and counterpoint for each (pp. 1-2).  Should you choose to select this assignment for course credit for your weekly blog comments, please complete the following:

• Describe, in your own words, what is meant by "paradox of progress."
• Briefly outline the three paradoxes of progress from your textbook.
• Provide your opinion on the topics of these paradoxes - do you tend to agree with the point or the counterpoint (or maybe a mixture of both)?  Why?  You can use personal examples in your explanation.
• Think of additional paradox of progress not outlined in the textbook.  Provide a possible point and counterpoint of the paradox.    

Your responses will ideally follow paragraph form as opposed to a listing of bullets for each of the sections listed above.  

Remember, you should be writing these comments as if you were going to print them out and hand them in. Thus, spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. is important!

Lastly, there is no length requirement for this particular assignment.  That being said though, I expect your responses to be well thought out and longer than a few sentences. As the semester progresses, you'll be expected to write longer responses as you'll have more information from class/your textbook to tie into your posts.

Improving Academic Performance

Chapter 1 in your textbook includes a section on improving academic performance (pp. 24-29).  This section outlines many effective strategies you can utilize this semester (and following semesters) to meet your academic goals.

Should you choose to do this assignment for credit for your weekly blog comments, please read pages 24-29, and complete the following:

• Briefly discuss what you read.
• Describe, in your own words, one strategy listed under each subcategory (e.g., developing sound study habits, getting more out of lectures, applying memory principles).  Thus, you should describe 3 things.
• Reflect upon your personal study strategies.  What has worked, what hasn't worked?  What do you plan to continue, what do you want to change?  How are you going to achieve this?

Remember, you should be writing these comments as if you were going to print them out and hand them in. Thus, spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. is important!

What Happy People Do Differently

"One of life's sharpest paradoxes is that the key to satisfaction is doing things that feel risky, uncomfortable, and occasionally bad."

This article posted on Psychology Today covers some research on happiness not covered in our textbook.  

If you choose to respond to this article for credit under the "blog comments" portion of your grade:

• Briefly summarize the aspect(s) of the article you found most interesting.  Be sure to use your own words in this summation - copying and pasting sentences/paragraphs from the article will not suffice.
• Explain in some detail/provide an example (or examples) of how the aforementioned aspect(s) pertain to your personal life.  
• How does this article relate to what we've discussed in class or what is written in your textbook?  
• Provide a list of terms you used from the chapters we have discussed this far.

Your responses will ideally follow paragraph form as opposed to a listing of bullets for each of the sections listed above.  In other words, rather than first summarizing the article followed by providing examples from your everyday life, you can interweave this points to form a coherent paragraph.  

Remember, you should be writing these comments as if you were going to print them out and hand them in. Thus, spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. is important!  

Lastly, there is no length requirement for this particular assignment.  That being said though, I expect your responses to be well thought out and longer than a few sentences.  As the semester progresses, you'll be expected to write longer responses as you'll have more information from class/your textbook to tie into your posts.