About Barbara Fredrickson, Ph.D.

Barbara L. Fredrickson, Ph.D. earned her undergraduate degree from Carleton College and her doctorate from Stanford University. She is currently Kenan Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with appointments in Psychology and the Kenan-Flagler School of Business. She is also Director of the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Laboratory (a.k.a., PEP Lab).

Fredrickson is a leading scholar within social psychology, affective science, and positive psychology, and has received more than 16 consecutive years of research funding from the National Institutes of Health. Her research and teaching have been recognized with numerous honors, including, in 2000, the American Psychological Association’s inaugural Templeton Prize in Positive Psychology, in 2008, the Society for Experimental Social Psychology’s Career Trajectory Award, and in 2013, the inaugural Christopher Peterson Gold Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the International Positive Psychology Association.

Her work is cited widely, and she is regularly invited to give keynotes nationally and internationally. Fredrickson’s 2009 book, Positivity, describes the relevance of her 20-year research program on positive emotions for a general readership. Her 2013 book, Love 2.0, offers a fresh and practical perspective on this most vital human emotion. She lives in Carrboro, North Carolina, with her husband and two sons.

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