| The Personality and
Well-Being Lab focuses on understanding the factors,
specially financial, that affect human happiness and the
benefits of happiness to individuals. To this end, we address
three critical questions: What moderates the relation between
income and happiness? What is the impact of emotions and
well-being on physical health? How are personality traits
related to subjective well-being? During the 2008-2009 academic
year the goal of the lab is to: (a) better understand the
relation between discretionary income choices or financial
decisions and subjective well-being; and (b) to determine the
differences in the thoughts, behaviors, and buying choices
between materialistic and experiential people.
Current CV. Director:
Dr. Ryan T. Howell is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at
San Francisco State University. He received his B.S. in
Psychology, cum laude, from Westmont College (1998) and his
Ph.D. in Personality Psychology from the University of
California, Riverside (2005). Howell currently teaches courses
in psychological statistics and research methods and serves as
graduate advisor. Howell's main research interest is developing
statistical models to predict subjective well-being from
financial choices and daily activities. For example, in Howell's
most resent meta-analysis his findings show that for all people,
especially those living in the developing world, savings matters
most when it comes to long term happiness. Howell is also
interested in the role increased well-being plays in improved
physiological health.
Research Project Manager: Dr. Colleen J. Howell
graduated summa cum laude from Westmont College in 1999 with her
B.S. in Biology and received her Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences
(2006) from University of California, Riverside. Her current
psychological interests involve determining the moderators of
the income-SWB relation in developing countries. Some of her
most recent work has involved examining the strength of the
income-SWB relation among non-Western samples via a
meta-analysis as well as through a case study of poor indigenous
farmers in Peninsular Malaysia. She hopes to eventually merge
her environmental and SWB research interests to examine the
extent to which better environmental conditions lead to greater
happiness.
Lab Coordinator: Using survey and
quasi-experimental methodology, Katrina Rodzon investigates
the role that suggestion plays in the relationship between
personality and attention to different types of information. In
addition she examines at the role that subjective reports of
affect plays in the interaction between trait
personality characteristics and environmental settings.
Katrina responsibilities in the lab include: coordinating all
lab activities, scheduling data collection in the Lab, and
providing tutorials for our web and computer based procedures.
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