Frequently Asked Questions
- What should I expect when I sign up to participate in The Pathway to Happiness Program?
The Pathway to Happiness guides you through four science-based practices to help you strengthen key skills for boosting well-being over the course of four weeks.
The Pathway to Happiness introduces a new practice to try each week, ideally several times on different days. Practices usually take five to fifteen minutes to do – and might involve inner reflection, watching a video, or doing a small activity in the real world.
There are questions embedded in the Pathway to Happiness at the beginning, the end, and in-between as part of weekly check-ins. Your responses to these questions are used to create a personalized Pathway to Happiness Report that summarizes what you did and how it impacted you after four weeks. If you provide consent to include your responses in scientific research, they may also be included in studies of human happiness. If not, they will be excluded.
The Pathway to Happiness also sends emails and optional SMS/text messages to remind you what your current practice is, where to find instructions for doing it, and where you are in the 4-week program.
- Do I need to make an account to use the Pathways to Happiness program? How do I make an account?
To participate in either the Pathway to Happiness Program you do have to create an account with us. This will be prompted after you finish the entry questions. You will be prompted to enter a working email address, username and password. After you enter your email address you’ll be prompted to receive a confirmation email. Once you click on the link within that verification email, your account will be set up and you’ll have started your Pathway to Happiness.
- Is there a cost to participate in The Pathway to Happiness Program?
No. The Pathway to Happiness is completely free of charge for everyone. If you feel inspired to help defray the costs associated with ongoing The Pathway to Happiness support, please visit: https://ggsc.berkeley.edu/donate.
- How is my data protected? What would it mean to give consent to use my data in research?
There are two kinds of data you provide by participating in The Pathway to Happiness Program — your name, contact information, country are one type. The content you create by answering questions, doing check-ins, and completing Happiness practices is another. We call the latter user-generated content.
We'll add your name and email to the Greater Good in Action mailing list, and we'll use your contact information (either email or phone or both, depending on what you choose to provide) to send reminders throughout the Pathway to Happiness Program.
We will never sell any personally identifying information or share it with anyone outside of our organization, and you may opt out of this type of communication at any time.
Unless you provide consent to include your responses from The Pathway to Happiness in scientific research, any content — user-generated content — created while completing your Happiness practices or check-ins will only be seen by you, and possibly by our customer support team if you contact us with a problem and we need to provide support.
If you provide consent to include your Pathway to Happiness responses in scientific research, your anonymized input (personally identifiable information like your name and contact details removed to protect your privacy) will be included in data analysis.
All the data and content of The Pathway to Happiness Program is encrypted and stored on web services configured to keep your information from being viewed or accessed by third parties. We all know that security breaches do happen, and although we make every effort to prevent them, all information stored on any website is subject to some risk, but we take security and privacy very seriously and make every industry standard effort to protect you and what you share with us. Please feel free to review the Pathway to Happiness Privacy Policy, and the GGIA Terms & Conditions to learn more.
- Do I still receive an individualized report at the end of the Pathway to Happiness if I miss or skip a practice?
Yes, the Pathway to Happiness will create a report with whatever responses you provide. The fewer responses you provide to questions before, during weekly check-ins, and after the Pathway to Happiness, the less interesting and meaningful the report can be.
- I missed an email or text and did not do a practice during my Pathway to Happiness Program. Can I go back and do it later?
The Pathway to Happiness is designed to be flexible. You can keep track of your activity, whether it’s “No, I did not do it” or “Yes, I did it more than 4 times” during weekly check-ins. Your My Pathway page depicts your progress throughout the four weeks with intuitive icons. During and after completing your Pathway to Happiness, you can still find and engage with any of the practices on the ggia.berkeley.edu website at your convenience. After completing a four week Pathway to Happiness, you can begin another, regardless of how much you interacted with a previous one.
- I need help! Something is not working like I thought it would.
If you run into a problem or have a question about any aspect of The Pathway to Happiness Program, send us an email at ggia@berkeley.edu. We're happy to help, and we're continuously working to improve every person’s experience.
- Can I do The Pathway to Happiness Program again?
Yes! After you complete your 4 week Pathway to Happiness Program, you select My Pathway under your profile and click the “Start New Pathway” button on the left to start a new Pathway to Happiness!
- I did the Happiness practice for four weeks, and I didn’t feel any better. What’s wrong?
The science of happiness is young, so trying a series of practices over 4 weeks and not feeling any improvement to your own happiness doesn't mean anything is wrong.
There are a lot of different things going on in each of our lives at any given point in time and many factors can impact overall happiness in life.The Pathway to Happiness can help people create more Happiness in their lives, and serve as an on-ramp for deeper conversations about mental health, but it is not the same support as what people experiencing a crisis or seeking to treat or prevent a mental health condition need.
Here are organizations that specialize in helping everyone get the mental health assistance they need:
In North America:
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or info@nami.orgCrisis Text Line In the US: Text HOME to 741-741 / In Canada: Text 686868
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifelife In the US: Call or text 988
In Other Regions:
United for Global Mental Health works with mental health organizations in every region of the world.
- How do I unsubscribe from The Pathway to Happiness Program?
You can delete your account and unsubscribe by hovering over the orange button on the top right corner of your GGIA page that says your name. From the dropdown menu, select “MY ACCOUNT” and scroll down to the bottom of the new page where it says “Delete Account.” Enter your current password to delete your account. We’re sorry to see you go!
- Where can I go to learn more about well-being and the science behind it?
Great question! You can visit the Greater Good Science Centers website: https://ggsc.berkeley.edu/. Through the website there is a lot of information on the ever growing science of happiness and wellbeing.
You can also visit the Greater Good Magazine’s website: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/ where you can read articles, take illuminatory quizzes or even listen to podcasts!- How is The Pathway to Happiness Program funded?
The Greater Good Science Center raises funds to underwrite the cost of creating The Pathway to Happiness Program to keep it free of charge for everyone to participate. We're currently raising additional funds to enhance the user experience, reach more people, and further analyze the data and share the results. If you feel inspired to help defray the costs associated with ongoing The Pathway to Happiness support, please visit: https://ggsc.berkeley.edu/donate.
- What are scientists trying to discover?
- Can people increase happiness in life by engaging in science-backed practices delivered through an interactive digital program?
- How well do different kinds of practices benefit people with different life experiences or coming from different backgrounds?
- Which practices work best for whom?
- Is it more impactful to give people practices that they like and are already good at, or practices that will help them improve upon a weakness, or practices that they choose for themselves?
A frontier of study in The Science of Happiness is “precision well-being”, that is, learning what kind of behaviors will lead to the greatest improvement for any given individual.