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Canadian social psychologist
Lara Beth Aknin is a Canadian professor of social psychology at
Simon Fraser University , and associate editor of the
World Happiness Report .
[1]
Career
After earning her PhD from the
University of British Columbia , Aknin joined the faculty of psychology at
Simon Fraser University in 2012.
[2] That year, she published "Giving Leads to Happiness in Young Children " with J. Kiley Hamlin and Elizabeth Dunn, which supported the idea that humans may have evolved to find giving rewarding.
[3]
In 2014, Aknin,
Michael Norton and
Elizabeth Dunn co-published a
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and CIHR funded review of whether spending money had a positive effect on people's happiness.
[4] The following year, her contributions to the field of social psychology earned her the President’s New Researcher Award from the
Canadian Psychological Association
[5] and a fellowship at the
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research .
[2] By 2019, she received a SSHRC grant for her project, “Can Repeated and Reflective Giving Nurture Canada's Next Generation of Philanthropists?”
[6] She was also honoured by the university for her research and contributions to social Psychology with the title "Distinguished SFU Professor."
[7]
During the
COVID-19 pandemic , she served as chair of the
Mental Health and Wellbeing Task Force of the Lancet COVID-19 Commission .
[8]
Publications
Dunn, Elizabeth W.; Aknin, Lara B.; Norton, Michael I. (21 March 2008).
"Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness" . Science . 319 (5870): 1687–1688.
Bibcode :
2008Sci...319.1687D .
doi :
10.1126/science.1150952 .
PMID
18356530 .
S2CID
29589887 .
Aknin, Lara B.; Barrington-Leigh, Christopher P.; Dunn, Elizabeth W.;
Helliwell, John F. ;
Burns, Justine ;
Biswas-Diener, Robert ; Kemeza, Imelda; Nyende, Paul; Ashton-James, Claire E.; Norton, Michael I. (April 2013).
"Prosocial spending and well-being: Cross-cultural evidence for a psychological universal" . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology . 104 (4): 635–652.
doi :
10.1037/a0031578 .
ISSN
1939-1315 .
PMID
23421360 .
S2CID
5403883 .
Aknin, Lara B.; Dunn, Elizabeth W.; Norton, Michael I. (1 April 2012).
"Happiness Runs in a Circular Motion: Evidence for a Positive Feedback Loop between Prosocial Spending and Happiness" . Journal of Happiness Studies . 13 (2): 347–355.
doi :
10.1007/s10902-011-9267-5 .
ISSN
1573-7780 .
S2CID
32032719 .
Aknin, Lara B.; Hamlin, J. Kiley; Dunn, Elizabeth W. (14 June 2012).
"Giving Leads to Happiness in Young Children" . PLOS ONE . 7 (6): e39211.
Bibcode :
2012PLoSO...739211A .
doi :
10.1371/journal.pone.0039211 .
ISSN
1932-6203 .
PMC
3375233 .
PMID
22720078 .
Dunn, Elizabeth W.; Aknin, Lara B.; Norton, Michael I. (February 2014).
"Prosocial Spending and Happiness" . Current Directions in Psychological Science . 23 (1): 41–47.
doi :
10.1177/0963721413512503 .
ISSN
0963-7214 .
Aknin, Lara B.; Norton, Michael I.; Dunn, Elizabeth W. (1 November 2009).
"From wealth to well-being? Money matters, but less than people think" . The Journal of Positive Psychology . 4 (6): 523–527.
doi :
10.1080/17439760903271421 .
ISSN
1743-9760 .
S2CID
9911004 .
Aknin, Lara B.; Dunn, Elizabeth W.; Whillans, Ashley V.; Grant, Adam M.; Norton, Michael I. (1 April 2013).
"Making a difference matters: Impact unlocks the emotional benefits of prosocial spending" . Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization . 88 : 90–95.
doi :
10.1016/j.jebo.2013.01.008 .
ISSN
0167-2681 .
S2CID
55775819 .
Anik, Lalin; Aknin, Lara B.; Norton, Michael I.; Dunn, Elizabeth W. (6 August 2009).
"Feeling Good About Giving: The Benefits (and Costs) of Self-Interested Charitable Behavior" . Social Science Research Network.
SSRN
1444831 .
Aknin, Lara B.; Broesch, Tanya; Hamlin, J. Kiley; Van de Vondervoort, Julia W. (August 2015).
"Prosocial behavior leads to happiness in a small-scale rural society" . Journal of Experimental Psychology: General . 144 (4): 788–795.
doi :
10.1037/xge0000082 .
ISSN
1939-2222 .
PMID
26030168 .
Aknin, Lara B; Van de Vondervoort, Julia W; Hamlin, J Kiley (1 April 2018).
"Positive feelings reward and promote prosocial behavior" . Current Opinion in Psychology . 20 : 55–59.
doi :
10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.08.017 .
ISSN
2352-250X .
PMID
28837957 .
Shariff, Azim F.; Wiwad, Dylan; Aknin, Lara B. (May 2016).
"Income Mobility Breeds Tolerance for Income Inequality" . Perspectives on Psychological Science . 11 (3): 373–380.
doi :
10.1177/1745691616635596 .
ISSN
1745-6916 .
PMID
27217250 .
S2CID
12557460 .
Aknin, Lara B.; Sandstrom, Gillian M.; Dunn, Elizabeth W.; Norton, Michael I. (10 February 2011).
"It's the Recipient That Counts: Spending Money on Strong Social Ties Leads to Greater Happiness than Spending on Weak Social Ties" . PLOS ONE . 6 (2): e17018.
Bibcode :
2011PLoSO...617018A .
doi :
10.1371/journal.pone.0017018 .
ISSN
1932-6203 .
PMC
3037397 .
PMID
21347326 .
References
^
"Report assesses impact of COVID-19 on global happiness" . sfu.ca . March 19, 2021. Retrieved March 19, 2021 .
^
a
b
"Generous spending leads to increased happiness, concludes SFU psychologist Lara Aknin in World Happiness Report" . sfu.ca . March 29, 2019. Retrieved November 12, 2019 .
^ Enayati, Amanda (September 17, 2012).
"For kids, it's better to give than receive" . cnn.ca . Retrieved November 12, 2019 .
^
"Looking to increase your sense of abundance? Research by Dr. Lara Aknin has established that giving to others can increase feelings of well-being" . sfu.ca . Retrieved November 12, 2019 .
^
"2014–2015 Annual Performance Report" (PDF) . cifar.ca . p. 72. Retrieved November 12, 2019 .
^
"Lara Aknin awarded SSHRC Partnership Engage grant for nurturing the next generation of philanthropists" . sfu.ca . October 15, 2019. Retrieved November 12, 2019 .
^
"Simon Fraser University honours our inaugural Distinguished SFU Professors" . sfu.ca . September 19, 2019. Retrieved November 12, 2019 .
^
"Lancet COVID-19 Commission Statement on the occasion of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly" . The Lancet . 396 (10257). September 14, 2020. Retrieved March 19, 2021 .
External links