This course focuses on the science of living life fully
by combining findings from Positive Psychology, Social Psychology, Psychiatry,
Neuroscience, and theories of spirituality.
Prior to World War II, psychology had three main aims: to
make the lives of people fulfilling, to identify and enhance human excellence,
and to treat pathology. However, in the last half-century psychology has
focused almost solely on decreasing maladaptive emotions and behaviours, while
ignoring optimal functioning (e.g. happiness and life satisfaction). Positive
psychology is the study of how human beings prosper. Its goal is to identify
and enhance the human strengths and virtues that allow individuals to thrive
and make life worth living .
This course is designed to explore the concepts
underlying positive psychology and to provide an overview and understanding of
the techniques and exercises associated with well being. The format of the
course will be didactic, experiential, and interactive.
My task is to guide you through different ideas and
choices that could make you live your life more fully. Your task is to
transform the information and exercises into personal wisdom. This course does
not promise endless joy, the relationship of your dreams, or miracle cures.
What it does offer you is a comprehensive programme of personal development,
change, and growth that is highly effective. It offers you the opportunity to
experience life fully.
Course
Topics:
Overview of Positive Psychology:
What is positive psychology? Why has psychology ignored
positive functioning?
Self-fulfillment, Love and Healthy Relationships:
Does marriage make you happier or are happy people more
likely to get married? What exactly is it about romantic relationships that
might lead to self fulfilment?
Creativity & Self-growth:
What does it mean to be creative? How can you introduce more
creativity to your thinking and choices? How can you harness creativity to live
life fully?
Self-fulfillment, Religion, Spirituality, and
Transcendence:
Are religious people more self-fulfilled and, if so, by
how much and why? Is it a function of the religion itself? Is it the mere
belief that one is connected to something greater than oneself? Is it because
it provides us meaning?
Signature strengths:
What are your 'signature strengths'? What does psychology
research tell us about applying our signature strengths to our every-day lives?
How could that promote our satisfaction at work and our communication with our
partner, friends, and family?
Motivation:
How important is motivation in the experience of living
life fully? What is the difference between external and internal motivation?
Why is it that internal motivation would promote our growth while external
motivation might inhibit it? How can we motivate ourselves in ways that will promote
optimal functioning?
Happiness, Wealth, and Materialism:
Does money cause happiness? If so, shouldn’t we be much
happier? Why has real income doubled since the 1950s and life satisfaction not moved
at all?
Positive Emotions & Health:
In what way do positive & negative emotions affect
our health? Are happy people healthier? Do they live longer? If so, how do we
explain this?
Personal meaning:
Do you find meaning in your life? What is your personal
meaning in life? Do you find meaning in your relationship/job/friendships?
According to psychological research, what is the relationship between your
level of personal meaning and your level of self-fulfillment?
Course
Objectives:
By the end of the course you will:
1. Understand the aim and scope of positive psychology.
2. Have an appreciation of the principal theories and
models that attempt to understand self-fulfilment.
3. Acquire insight into your own strengths and virtues
and learn strategies to increase your well-being and overall quality of life.
4. Develop an understanding of the dimensions of
subjective well-being and apply them to your life.
5. Experience a stable increase in self-fulfilment, as a
result of practicing the techniques discussed in class and in the readings.
6. Develop an understanding of research into all aspects
of self-fulfilment as it relates to positive psychology, including the principles,
strategies and skills required.
7. Develop an excitement and passion for positive
psychology and the science of happiness studies.
8. Develop a zest for living a virtuous, satisfying, and
meaningful life.
Living life fully is based on a number of factors which,
combined together, could produce ultimate satisfaction. This creates a
fascinating formula which we are going to investigate in this course.
This investigation, as with every course that I give,
combines theoretical knowledge (psychological theories, models, and research)
with practical exercises in class and at home. During the course you will be
writing personal journals, completing questionnaires, tackling exercises,
answering questions and contemplating certain issues in your life, which
psychological research has proven, correlate with levels of self-fulfillment.
This practical work will be done privately and only you will see your
responses.
Such profound work is transformational – it not only provides
you with extra knowledge but can also catalyse a real change in your life. I
don’t want you to simply be able to quote some theory or an idea – I want you
to be able to realize how this theory relates to
you personally. What does it mean to you? What realizations can you
draw about your own life choices as you contemplate a given psychological
theory? And ultimately, when you experience a positive transformation, you
learn to nurture it and allow it to influence your life in a practical way.
Most courses provide you with information, data and
ideas. But as long as those ideas remain theoretical they can't create any significant
change in your life. And why are we all interested in self-fulfilment if not in
order to create that change? You need to practice these ideas, to experience
them as you live. We are all captivated by the concept of living life fully and
we all wish to understand it better in order to apply this knowledge to our own
lives. This is exactly what this course offers – it will turn the theories and
models from impersonal ideas to personal experiences and realizations.
Positive Psychology I - Course details and
registration
Dates: 1st May - 7th June / 2012 (Final week class will be on Thursday as Tuesday is a bank holiday - see exact dates below)
Day & Time: Tuesday 18:00 - 20:00
Number of classes: 6
Exact dates: 1st May (Tuesday), 8th May (Tuesday), 15th May (Tuesday), 22nd May (Tuesday), 29th May (Tuesday), 7th June (Thursday)
Venue:
UCL (University
College London)
Department of
Psychology
26 Bedford Way
London WC1H 0AP
3rd floor, room 305
Nearest Underground
stations:
Russell Square (Piccadilly line)
Goodge Street (Northern Line)
Euston Square (Hammersmith & City, Circle and Metropolitan Lines)
Tottenham Court Road (Northern and Central line)
For a map - click on
the picture below:
Course Fee: £70
Special Fee (If you enroll for more than one course at the same time): £55 per course
Concession Fee: £45 (Students, Unemployed, Low
income) Special Concession Fee (If you enroll for more than one course at the same time): £35 per course (Students, Unemployed, Low
income)
If a financial problem prevents you from
joining the course please Contact Itai
Payment options:
1. PayPal - PayPal is free, It only takes a few minutes,
and is the safest and most secure service on the internet.
You can pay with any major credit/debit card or with your PayPal
account.
2. Cheque - Make your cheque payable to
“Itai Ivtzan” and send it to this address: CLICK HERE
In addition, please complete this form below
(click on the picture). Please complete the form and send the cheque at the same time:
3. To arrange any other
form of payment please Contact Itai.
Cancellation
Policy - Terms and conditions:
If you cannot attend the course you have booked, no refund is
possible - but you can choose an alternative course.
Positive Psychology Course
