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Cultivating a happy emotional state not only puts a smile on students’ faces—it actually helps them learn better.

Because stress impairs both learning and memory, teachers can improve reading comprehension and enhance classroom learning by reducing student stress through positive psychology.

The psychology of happiness and learning

While stress disrupts the brain’s learning processes, a positive mood has the opposite effect. Cultivating a positive emotional state helps to reduce the harmful effects of stress and even improves cognitive function. Author and psychology expert Shawn Achor, who has conducted extensive research on positive intelligence, cites several examples in his best-selling book The Happiness Advantage. For example, in intelligence tests, being in a positive mood increased exam takers’ intelligence and creativity.

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