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 underlying the efficacy of simple intentional effortful activities (which we call “positive activities”) to boost well-being, as well as the conditions under which such activities might backfire (Fritz & Lyubomirsky, 2018).

To this end, we have conducted multiple experimental intervention studies in which participants’ cognitive and behavioral strategies are systematically retrained. For example, intervention studies with students, kids, community members, workers, depressed individuals, and hospital patients are testing the efficacy of five cognitive and behavioral volitional strategies: 1) regularly setting aside time to recall moments of gratitude (i.e., keeping a journal in which one “counts one’s blessings” or writing gratitude letters), 2) engaging in self-regulatory and positive thinking about oneself (i.e., reflecting, writing, and talking about one’s happiest and unhappiest life events or one’s goals for the future), 3) practicing altruism and kindness (i.e., routinely committing acts of kindness or trying to make a loved one happy), 4) affirming one’s most important values, and 5) savoring positive experiences (e.g., using one’s five senses to relish daily moments or living this month like it’s one’s last in a particular location). Importantly, we are testing our positive activity model by exploring whether the benefits of such activities differ across cultures (see above), and whether their success is moderated by such factors as person-activity “fit,” motivation, effort, social support, variety, medium, delivery, writing format, dosage, personality, culture, age, and expectations (e.g., Boehm, Lyubomirsky, & Sheldon, 2011; Fritz et al., in press; Ko et al., 2021; Layous, Lee, Choi, & Lyubomirsky, 2103; Lyubomirsky, Dickerhoof, Boehm, & Sheldon, 2011; Lyubomirsky, Sousa, & Dickerhoof, 2006; Nelson et al., 2015; Nelson, Fuller, Choi, & Lyubomirsky, 2014; Nelson, Layous, Cole, & Lyubomirsky, 2016; Sheldon et al., 2010; Sheldon, Boehm, & Lyubomirsky, 2012; Sin, Della Porta, & Lyubomirsky, 2011; Walsh et al., 2023; Regan, Walsh, & Lyubomirsky, 2023).

Perhaps most critical to improving and maintaining happiness is the ability to connect with other people and to create meaningful connecting moments and even chemistry (Reis, Regan, & Lyubomirsky, 2021), and this is an important focus of our lab’s recent research (e.g., Regan, Radosic, & Lyubomirsky, 2022; Fritz et al., 2023; Margolis & Lyubomirsky, 2020). We have investigated how feelings of connection during social interactions can be measured (Okabe-Miyamoto et al., 2024); how they have been impacted by social distancing policies during COVID-19 (Folk et al., 2020; Okabe-Miyamoto et al., 2021) and by social media and smartphone use (Walsh et al., in press); and how they may be induced by psychoactive substances, like MDMA (Lyubomirsky, 2022; Regan et al., 2021; Molla, Lee, Lyubomirsky, & de Wit, 2023). In-progress grant-funded research is focusing on the psychological and biological benefits of strengthening high-quality listening for both the listener and the speaker among stranger, friend, and romantic partner dyads; inducing daily curiosity, boosting partner acceptance in romantic couples.

We are also examining the “why” of happiness-boosting interventions by testing the mediating role of positive events, positive thoughts, positive emotions, and need satisfaction. Recently, we have become interested in the conditions under which positive activities can feel unpleasant or even backfire (Fritz & Lyubomirsky, 2018; Layous et al., 2017). Finally, we are investigating genetic and environmental influences on individual differences in responses to happiness-increasing interventions (Haworth et al., 2016), and considering how such interventions might protect people from mental health conditions (e.g., Layous, Chancellor, & Lyubomirsky, 2014) and influence biological processes (Fritz et al.,2021; Nelson-Coffey, Fritz, Lyubomirsky, & Cole, 2017).