Exam Notes

Activities and Reminders

• Short support due in two weeks.
• Cohort results are out; there was an increase of approximately five points in well-being.
• A minimum of three points on the scale is needed to indicate an important change in well-being.

Cohort Well-being Results

• The pre-average wellness score was 47.4.
• Post-intervention wellness increased to 52.
• The increase from 47.5 to 52 suggests positive gains.

Reflection on Well-being Activities

• Some activities may improve well-being more than others.
• Long-term implementation of activities may be necessary to guide well-being.
• Noted that well-being scores indicated someone earning score of one.

Course Progress

• Students are halfway through the course.
• After the strengths report, there is one last professional task report.
• The exam has been removed from the course.

Activity: Color Identification

• Participants will time their friends as they call out the colors of boxes on the screen, reading left to right.
• First, identify the colors of the boxes.
• Second, identify the colors of the words (but read the color instead of word itself).

Demonstration of Thinking Systems

• The activity demonstrates two systems of thinking: System 1 and System 2.
• Identifying the color of images is easy because it quickly processed by brain.
• Identifying the color of words is harder because the brain defaults to reading the word.
• System 2 has to work harder to overcome the default and identify the colors.

Thinking Systems

• System 1: Automatic, default thinking.
• System 2: Requires more effort to override defaults.

Designing for Happiness and Productivity

• Aligning System 1 and System 2 can help design happiness, productivity, and goal achievement.
• Solution: Context-focused approaches.

Context-Focused Approaches

• Timing
• Defaults
• Commitments
• Others (social norms)

Priming

• The principle by which certain things are associated with each other.
• Examples: Nurse is associated with doctor, fruit with banana or apple.
• Associations can be words, visual cues, or smells.
• Example: candy bars at the checkout.

Commitments

• Making a promise or arrangement. Ex: Committing to gym sessions three times a week with a friend.

Others (Social Norms)

• Normative: Enhancing likability by following certain norms.
• Informational: Subscribing to knowledgeable sources to be informed. Ex: subscribing to physical trainers.

Applying Context-Focused Approaches

Nudging Oneself to Do Assignments

• Aligning System 1 and System 2 to manage procrastination.
• Priming: Put a printed version of a checklist on study desk.
• Defaults: Setting a time in calendar to do assignment.
• Commitments: Making commitments to friends to study
• Others: Silent Fact (check in)-check in the discussion board to see what other people are doing.

Drinking More Water

• Important, especially with caffeine consumption.
• For every cup of coffee, drink at least 500ml of water.
• Caffeine is a dehydrating agent.