Drs. Colleen & Ryan Howell before the Golden Gate Bridge

Personality and Well-Being Lab

Dr. Ryan Howell
Assistant Professor, Quantitative Psychologist

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Department of Psychology

San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Avenue, Bldg., 301
San Francisco, California 94132-4168
U.S.A.


rhowell@sfsu.edu     
(415) 405-2140

Drs. Colleen & Ryan Howell

Drs. Colleen & Ryan Howell

Drs. Colleen & Ryan Howell

The Personality and Well-Being Lab focuses on understanding the factors, specially financial, that affect human happiness and the benefits of happiness to individuals. Past research suggests that once basic needs are satisfied, the connection between income and subjective well-being is minimal, and materialism leads to diminished well-being. Results from recent work (Howell & Hill, 2009) suggest that experiential purchases are more likely than material purchases to make us happy. Yet, despite the need to understand how people can use their income to increase their well-being, surprisingly little is known about the processes by which one may resist urges to buy material items and invest in experiential living. The primary aim of the PWB Lab is to arrive at a more thorough understanding of the processes that encourage materialism and how individuals can use their discretionary income to increase their well-being. Current CV.

To take our current survey (approximately 20 minutes long), please Click Here

For more online studies on well-being please visit:

www.onlinepsychresearch.co.uk

http://www.in-mind.org

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: Mark Kurai is a graduate student and lab manager for the Personality & Well-Being Lab. He takes an interdisciplinary approach to studying the impact of stigmatizing events on people who identify with multiple minority identities. His research focuses on three interrelated topics: the precursors that influence appraisal, the process of threat appraisal, and the responses to threat. He is currently investigating the role of personality and emotion in volitional coping responses and goal attainment.

Created by Rick Hobbs, 8/24/07