Lara Aknin

Social rels can be one of our greatest sources of happiness, but sometimes we lose touch w/ ppl we care about. Are we willing to reach out? New work w/@GillianSocial finds that people are surprisingly reluctant to reach out to old friends nature.com/articles/s4427…

Professor Lara Aknin and the Helping & Happiness Lab were featured in @voxdotcom! Their research shows people are kinder than we assume; and we often underestimate how much others like us. Read more at: vox.com/life/471602/lo…

SFU Psychology alum Anurada Amarasekera was recently featured in our Alumni Q&A, sharing her research on gratitude and helping behavior — and how her time at SFU shaped her research interests. Read her Q&A: shorturl.at/SZZiy

Great opportunity for junior scholars working in the sciences and social sciences. CIFAR is a fantastic organization that supports innovative research of all kinds.

@meganbarkerase Thanks, @meganbarkerase!

! @lbaknin

Delighted to congratulate Dr. @jdproulx on receiving his PhD today! It’s been such a pleasure and honour to watch you reach this milestone. All of us in the lab will miss your insights and care, but we can’t wait to see what you do next!

Beautiful discussion on increases in empathy in young people and how we can help harness it by @zakijam in @CNN. One important step? Recognizing how empathetic most people are! Don't underestimate your fellow humans... cnn.com/2024/08/20/hea…

This year’s @HappinessRpt is going to be a great one as we focus upon the topic of “caring and sharing” with an outstanding list of contributing authors.

CONFIRMED: We’ve assembled an international team of interdisciplinary experts to tackle the topic of ’Caring and Sharing’ in World Happiness Report 2025.👇

Congratulations to professors @gerardo_otero, @lbaknin, and Tamir Moustafa who have been awarded the FASS Dean's Medal in recognition of their academic excellence in research, teaching, and service.🏆 Learn more at: i.sfu.ca/ZwDtjW

Call for collaborators! The Global Happiness Megastudy is looking for researchers to join as intervention designers or data collection collaborators. Learn more and join now: bit.ly/3zVf9gI #researchopportunity

Happy Friday! Why not make the most of the weekend by reaching out to an old friend? @GillianSocial and I recap our recent paper and offer some advice on how to reach out in this piece at @sciam scientificamerican.com/article/how-to…

@aa_marsh @SaraKonrath @KushlevPhD @GillianSocial @jedeneve @OxWellResearch @WhatWorksWB

Are you interested in what REALLY makes people happy? If so, join this incredible team in putting happiness boosting strategies to the test! Learn more and get involved at the link 👇🏼

My lab @Georgetown is seeking 1-2 post-doctoral scholars. Our lab offers a unique opportunity to work with both people with psychopathy and people who have engaged in extraordinary acts of altruism (and to conduct behavioral, MRI, and intervention research). Please r/t and share.

my first - first authored - publication ever! and better yet, I get to share the honour with my co-first author Tiara A Cash so, so grateful for the incredible team @lbaknin @LaurenJHuman and Scarlett RC MacPherson 💛 doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.…

Professor Lara Aknin's latest study (co-written with Gillian M. Sandstrom) was recently featured in @NatGeo's article, "It's hard to reconnect with old friends. Science may have a solution." Read more at: nationalgeographic.com/science/articl…

Congratulations to Psychology honours graduand Kalum Kumar on receiving the Governor General’s Silver Medal! This medal is awarded to two undergrad students who achieve the highest scholastic standing upon graduation from a bachelor’s program. Read more at bit.ly/4bOOqAD

So INCREDIBLY proud of my honours student🌟Kalum Kumar🌟 for winning the Governor General's Silver Medal! Can't wait to celebrate you and this major achievement at @SFUFASS grad next week. WAY TO GO, KALUM!! sfu.ca/psychology/new…

I had the pleasure of speaking with "Speaking of Psychology" last week about findings in this year's @HappinessRpt , social connection, and the relationship between generosity and happiness. Thank you for having me!

LAST CHANCE: Not long left to submit your chapter proposal for World Happiness Report 2025! Find out more 👉 worldhappiness.report/news/submit-a-…