<p>I sit with Dr Kathryn Buchanan to talk about her research on wellbeing and kindness.</p> <p>She is a lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Essex.</p> <p>She obtained her Bsc (Hons) in psychology from the University of Kent in 2008 before going on to complete a PhD at Royal Holloway, University of London. Her thesis primarily examined the contribution of two key behaviour types known as &#39;getting ahead&#39; (agency) and &#39;getting along&#39; (communion) to subjective wellbeing. Her research employs a mixed methods approach and continues to revolve around identifying factors that can lead to desirable societal outcomes such as increased happiness and the promotion of pro-social behaviours. Her recent work looks at people&#39;s reactions to seeing others&#39; acts of kindness.</p> <p>Buchanan, KE., Rolison, JJ., Jinga, I., Thompson, J. and Russo, R., (2022). <a href="http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/31347">Who tugs at our heart strings? The effect of avatar images on player generosity in the dictator game.</a>. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 75 (3), 377-389</p> <p>Buchanan, K., Aknin, LB., Lotun, S. and Sandstrom, GM., (2021). <a href="http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/31348">Brief exposure to social media during the COVID-19 pandemic: Doom-scrolling has negative emotional consequences, but kindness-scrolling does not.</a>. PLoS One. 16 (10), e0257728-e0257728</p> <p>Churchyard, JS. and Buchanan, K., (2017). <a href="http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/18747">Which way to well-being: “More of the same” or “trying something novel”? The association of comfortable and experimental behavior styles to well-being</a>. Personality and Individual Differences. 109, 35-43</p> <p>Buchanan, K. and Bardi, A., (2015). <a href="http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/12647">The Roles of Values, Behavior, and Value-Behavior Fit in the Relation of Agency and Communion to Well-Being</a>. Journal of Personality. 83 (3), 320-333</p> <p>Buchanan, K. and Bardi, A., (2010). <a href="http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/12649">Acts of Kindness and Acts of Novelty Affect Life Satisfaction</a>. The Journal of Social Psychology. 150 (3), 235-237</p> <p><br></p> <p><a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a></p>