Kennon Sheldon

Kennon Marshall Sheldon is a professor of psychological sciences at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. His research is in the areas of well-being, motivation, self-determination theory, personality, and positive psychology. In 2002 he was a recipient of a Templeton Foundation "Positive Psychology" prize[1] and in 2014 received the Ed and Carol Diener award for mid-career achievement in personality psychology. He is the author of Optimal Human Being: An Integrated Multi-level Perspective,[2] Self-determination Theory in the Clinic: Motivating physical and mental health,[3] and has written and edited several other academic books, as well as more than 200 academic articles and book chapters.[4]

Education and early career

Sheldon received a B.S. in psychology from Duke University in 1981 and a Ph.D. in social and personality psychology from the University of California, Davis in 1992.[5] At UC Davis he worked under psychologist Robert Emmons, whose research on personal goal-striving shaped Sheldon's subsequent focus on motivation and well-being.[6]

After completing his doctorate, Sheldon spent six years at the University of Rochester as a postdoctoral researcher and visiting assistant professor, where he worked alongside Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan, the co-developers of self-determination theory. He joined the faculty of the University of Missouri in 1997.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "UCR Researcher Among the Winners of Psychology's Largest Monetary Prize for Research on Happiness]". University of California, Riverside Newsroom. 2002. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  2. ↑ Kennon M. Sheldon (2004). Optimal Human Being: An Integrated Multi-level Perspective. Psychology Press. ISBN 9781135636258.
  3. ↑ Sheldon, Kennon M.; Joiner, Thomas; Williams, Geoffrey (2013-05-01). Self-Determination Theory in the Clinic: Motivating Physical and Mental Health. Place of publication not identified: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300199833.
  4. ↑ "Kennon M. Sheldon Curriculum Vita".
  5. ↑ Michalos, Alex C., ed. (2014). Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5. ISBN 978-94-007-0752-8.
  6. ↑ "Interview with Kennon M. Sheldon, PhD". MentorCoach. Retrieved 2026-08-26.
  7. ↑ "People's intention to being happy plays role in their happiness level, studies suggest | Mizzou Weekly | University of Missouri". mizzouweekly.missouri.edu. Retrieved 2026-08-26.

Interview on Hidden Brain podcast https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/what-do-you-want-to-be/


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