Sonja lyubomirsky positive psychology

Sonja Lyubomirsky

Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., is professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside. She received her B.A., summa cum laude, from Harvard University and her Ph.D. in social psychology from Stanford University. Her research – on the possibility of permanently increasing happiness — has been honored with a Science of Generosity grant, a John Templeton Foundation grant, a Templeton Positive Psychology Prize, and a million-dollar grant from NIMH. Lyubomirsky’s 2008 book, The How of Happiness (Penguin Press) has been translated into 19 languages, and her forthcoming book, The Myths of Happiness, will be released on January 3, 2013. Her work has been written up in hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles, and she has appeared in multiple TV shows, radio shows, and feature documentaries in North America, South America, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Lyubomirsky lives in Santa Monica, California, with her family.

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Sonja Lyubomirsky

In the 21st century, research on the science of happiness has revealed further information about what makes people happy. One of the foremost researchers in this area is Sonya Lyubomirsky, a professor of psychology at the University of California. 

Coping with unhappiness can be difficult, and some people may turn to substances, affairs, overspending, or other compulsive behaviors to cope. Sonja Lyubomirsky has been studying happiness for years, and her research has led to some potentially valuable insight into these behaviors and common questions about happiness. 

Learn about Sonja Lyubomirky and her research on happiness

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Who is Sonja Lyubomirsky?

Early life and career

Born in Russia in 1966, Sonja Lyubomirsky received a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University, before earning a PhD in psychology at Stanford University. In 1994, Sonja Lyubomirsky began teaching psychology to students at the University of California, Riverside, where she is still a faculty member. She has conducted research for years on positivity, pers

About Sonja Lyubomirsky

A vibrant and continuing program of research is asking the question, “How can happiness be reliably increased?” (for reviews, see Layous & Lyubomirsky, 2024 (forthcoming in Handbook of Social Psychology); Layous & Lyubomirsky, 2014; Lyubomirsky, 2008; Lyubomirsky & Layous, 2013; Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, 2005; Sin & Lyubomirsky, 2009). Despite pessimism from the current literature that the pursuit of happiness may be largely futile, my colleagues and I believe that durable increases in happiness are indeed possible and within the average person’s reach (see Sheldon & Lyubomirsky, 2019, for our rethinking of the “happiness pie chart”). Thus, following my construal theory of happiness, I am exploring how the thoughts and behaviors that characterize naturally happy people (i.e., “happy habits”) can be nurtured, acquired, or directly taught. To this end, my students’ and my current research is testing predictions from our positive activity model (Lyubomirsky & Layous, 2013) —specifically, investigating the mechanisms underl

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