Harvard's Most Popular Course

Guess what is said to be Harvard's most popular course? Hint: It's closer to dealing with emotions than economics.

The course Positive Psychology is said to have attracted about 855 students, making it Harvard's most popular course. The alert blog-reader who checks the links I provided might notice that the articles I referenced were written in 2006 and that the popular course claim might be applicable only for school year 2005-2006. I concede that I am unable to verify the latest statistics regarding this. However, a recent (August 9) interview by Jon Stewart with the course's lecturer, Tal Ben-Shahar, on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart suggests that it is still so. As Stewart introduces his guest, he says, "He teaches Harvard University's most popular class, Positive Psychology..."

I find it interesting that the most popular course in reputedly to world's top university talks about "happiness, self-esteem... empathy... goalsetting, love, achievement..." etc. It sound like something from a self-help book although, of course, this is "grounded in serious psychological research."

Here's a link to the course description at the Harvard website and Jon Stewart's interview with the lecturer of Positive Psychology, Tal Ben-Shahar, follows: