Ulrich Schimmack

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.