Want to Play with Your Happiness? with Acacia Parks

Today we’re talking to Dr. Acacia Parks, who is the chief scientist at Happify, an online platform that turns the science of happiness into activities and games to create lasting changes and whose research focuses on self help methods for increasing happiness via books and digital technology with an emphasis on objective, observable outcomes such as physical health indicators. Acacia regularly publishes articles in scientific journals, has edited three books, and is also the associate editor at The Journal of Positive Psychology. In this episode, we explore how positive psychology and wellbeing interventions can be delivered in workplaces through technology platforms like Happify to create behavior changes that stick. Connect with Acacia: Website: happify.com You’ll Learn: [02:05] - Acacia explains how positive psychology interventions can be delivered through technology platforms to create behavior change that sticks [03:19] - Acacia outlines how the Happify technology platform works [04:40] - Acacia shares the STAGE framework Happify uses to classify different types of wellbeing interventions for users [07:16] - Acacia weighs up the pros and cons of using technology to improve people’s wellbeing [09:31] - Acacia explains some behavior changes are better suited for technology platforms than others [11:32] - Acacia explores the potential of wearable devices to improve our wellbeing [13:23] - Acacia provides an example of how workplaces are using wellbeing technology platforms like Happify to improve their employees’ wellbeing [14:40] - Acacia explains how artificial intelligence may shape wellbeing interventions in the future [17:48] - Acacia shares the impact Happify is having on people’s wellbeing [22:54] - Acacia completes the lightning round. Your Resources: MPPW Podcast on Facebook How Digital DNA Could Help You Make Better Health Choices - TED Talk with Jun Wang Thirteen Reasons Why on Netflix Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining me again this week.  If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post. Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them.  And don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It’s free! You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing. Until next time, take care!  Thank you Acacia!