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Ulrich Schimmack

Title/Position
Professor
Psychology

Area of Research

The main aim of my research is to contribute to the scientific understand of happiness. The ultimate goal is to develop a causal theory of happiness that can be used to predict the impact of personal and societal changes on happiness (cf. Kahneman, Schwarz, & Diener, 1999, “Well-Being: The foundations of hedonic psychology”). The scientific term for happiness is subjective well-being (SWB). SWB has a cognitive and an affective component. The cognitive component is assessed with life-satisfaction judgments (“I am satisfied with my life.) The affective component is based on the amount of pleasant and unpleasant experiences in people’s lives.

 

Education
B.A. (Free University of Berlin)
M.A. (Free University of Berlin)
Ph. D. (Free University of Berlin)