Barbara Fredrickson, PhD
Professor, Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina

Barbara L. Fredrickson, Ph.D., is Kenan Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At UNC-Chapel Hill, she directs the Social Psychology Doctoral Program and the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Laboratory (a.k.a., the PEP Lab, www.PositiveEmotions.org).

Dr. Fredrickson is most known for her “Broaden-and-Build Theory” of positive emotions, foundational within affective science and positive psychology for providing a blueprint for how pleasant emotional states, as fleeting as they are, contribute to people’s resilience, wellbeing, and health. She has published >130 peer-reviewed articles and her general audience books, Positivity (2009, www.PositivityRatio.com) and Love 2.0 (2013, www.PositivityResonance.com) have been translated into dozens of languages. Among the most highly cited scholars, she was recently identified as in the top 0.01% of scientists (across 22 scientific fields) in terms of career-long scholarly impact. She also teaches a popular and free online course (via Coursera) and, through this and other means, her ideas have influenced scholars and practitioners worldwide. Her scientific work has been recognized with multiple awards, and in 2017, she was honored with the Tang Prize for Achievements in Psychology, awarded to recognize exceptional career contributions to the well-being of humanity.