Psychology of Wellbeing

How do research psychologists figure out what makes us happy and unhappy? What can we do to help ourselves, our friends, and our community feel better about their lives? In this program, you will explore the science of wellbeing, collecting and analyzing data to generate ideas about what changes could have the most impact. You will pursue your own investigations into the sources of wellbeing, design and conduct a study, analyze the data, and consider how it applies to the people you care about. This program is based on a Big Ideas course at UC Berkeley, developed by the Nobel Laureate Saul Perlmutter. You will gain skills and knowledge about psychology, research design, and critical thinking while adding valuable experience to your college and career pathways.

By the end of the program, students will receive a UC Berkeley certificate of completion, publicly share their final projects, create or strengthen their LinkedIn profiles, and be invited to join the TRP LinkedIn group. This invite-only professional network connects participants with TRP peers and staff—from high school through college, graduate studies, postdoctoral work, and into their early careers—and can serve as a long-term support system designed to grow with them.

Parents are invited at 3 p.m. on the last day for teens to share their projects.