The Work
The Work
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Our work focuses around 2 broad areas of research:
Our work focuses around 2 broad areas of research:
Individual differences & close relationships
Individual differences & close relationships
One line of work focuses on how our own personalities and individual differences influence our relationship outcomes. For example, many people think that how similar partners are in personality might influence how happy they are (e.g., “birds of a feather flock together”, or “opposites attract”). Some of our work finds that, while actual personality similarity may not influence how happy people are in relationships, perceived similarity—or simply thinking that you and your partner are similar—may be important.
Life satisfaction & determinants of well-being
Life satisfaction & determinants of well-being
Another line of work focuses on how we create happy lives—lives we find satisfying to live. Much of this work takes a lifespan approach: throughout life, what keeps us happy? For example, in many cultures, optimism tends to follow a similar trend across the lifespan: an “inverse-U” (i.e., increasing throughout life before slowly decreasing towards older adulthood). Some of our work suggests that optimism is important for keeping well-being afloat, especially in times of stress.
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