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Welcome to The Psychology Podcast with Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, where we give you insights into the mind, brain, behavior and creativity. Each episode will feature a guest who will stimulate your mind, and give you a greater understanding of yourself, others, and the world we live in. Hopefully, we’ll also provide a glimpse into human possibility! Thanks for listening and enjoy the podcast.

Apr 26, 2018

“The happiest person is the person doing good stuff for good reasons.” 

— Kennon Sheldon

Dr. Kennon Sheldon is a psychologist at the University of Missouri who studies motivation, goals, and well-being, from both a self-determination theory and a positive psychology perspective. He has authored or co-authored multiple books, including “Optimal human being: An integrated multi-level perspective”. Dr. Sheldon has been cited more than 30,000 times, and in 2010, he was named one of the 20 most cited social psychologists.

In this wide-ranging episode we discuss:

  • How Ken went from aspiring musician to leading research on goals
  • Whether the pursuit of happiness is worth it
  • Is happiness in your genes?
  • The link between goals and happiness
  • The what and why of motivated goal pursuit
  • The basic needs of self-determination theory
  • Deprivation vs. growth needs
  • Self-concordance theory
  • The link between values and happiness
  • How much can we use science as a guide to values?
  • Are there some ways of being more conducive to happiness than others?
  • How to get in touch with your OVP (organismic valuing process)
  • Marrying positive psychology and humanistic psychology
  • The relationship between personal goals and personal projects
  • How to know when to change your goals
  • The good life: well-being or well-doing?