塔爾博士畢業(yè)于哈佛大學，他擁有心理學碩士、哲學和組織行為學博士學位。他所開設(shè)的“積極心理學”和“領(lǐng)袖心理學”，被哈佛學生們推選為最受歡迎率排名第一和第三的課程。選修這兩門課程的哈佛學生超過了總?cè)藬?shù)的20%。

我們來到這個世上，到底追求什么才是最重要的？塔爾博士堅定地認為：幸福感是衡量人生的唯一標準，是所有目標的最終目標。

今天這段是Tal老師介紹課程的基本設(shè)置，里面有句話Tal有點隔圇，見Hints.
Hints:
You will be writing a paper, an academic paper.
This class will be taught on two levels. The first level, it will be taught like any other class in psychology or any of the classes you have taken here. You will be introduced here to studies, to research, to rigorous academic work. You will be writing a paper, an academic paper. You will be taking exams, just like every other class. But then it will also be taught at a second level, which is for every paper that you'll read, every paper that you'll write, you'll always be thinking, okay, so how can I take these ideas and apply them to my life? How can I apply them to my relationship? How can I apply them to my community? Two levels, the academic, applied. I did not just introduce, whether it's in the readings or in lectures, ideas, just because they are interesting for the sake of the idea. It's always an idea that is both rigorous and can be applied.
這門課程將分為兩個階段教學。第一階段的教學將和其他心理學課程或者你們在這兒上過的其他課程一樣，我會在這里給你們上課，引導(dǎo)你們進行研究，向你們介紹嚴謹?shù)膶W術(shù)工作。你們要寫一篇論文，學術(shù)論文。像其他課程一樣，你們也要參加考試。而第二階段則是，你們每讀一篇文章，每寫一篇文章，你們要時刻想著，我要如何才能汲取這些思想并應(yīng)用到自己的生活中，如何應(yīng)用到我的交往中，如何應(yīng)用到我的社交中。兩個階段，學術(shù)階段，應(yīng)用階段。我所講到的觀點，無論是在閱讀材料中還是在講座上提及的，都不僅僅是因為他們有趣。這些觀點既嚴謹又實用。