Flowing Together: Better Than Flowing Alone
Posted by Sarah Rose Cavanagh, Ph.D.One of the most reliable findings in positive psychology is that people are happiest when they regularly experience a mental …
Our Experts
Sarah Rose Cavanagh, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology in Affective Science
Home: Lancaster, MA
Bio: A New Englander by birth and heart, I studied for my undergraduate degree at Boston University in Psychology and Women's Studies, worked for a while at UMass Medical School, and then obtained my Ph.D. from Tufts University, where I studied experimental psychology. I finished a postdoctoral fellowship at the Emotion, Brain, and Behavior Lab at Tufts, and am now on the faculty at Assumption College, a small liberal arts college in Central MA. My research and teaching interests are centered in the psychology of emotion, and I'm particularly interested in applying research findings in positive psychology to living an authentic life.
My philosophy: The pursuit of happiness was regarded by our founding fathers as an unalienable right, and as a culture we are obsessed with chasing down this elusive state of being. We spend countless hours and copious amounts of money trying to better ourselves, our spouses, and our homes, all in the name of eventual happiness. Psychologists have taken on the task of answering the question: what really makes people happy? The results of these studies are often surprising, sometimes counter-intuitive, and always interesting. The goal of this blog is to apply this science of happiness to our everyday lives.
If I weren’t doing what I do now, I’d probably be a
Romance novelist. Oh wait, that was supposed to be my secret identity!
Favorite piece of advice: You are what you think.
My website: flavors.me.sarahrosecaganagh
Expert's Archive
The Happy Side of Aging
Posted by Sarah Rose Cavanagh, Ph.D.No one looks forward to the process of aging. This is particularly true in our youth- and beauty-obsessed culture, where …
Social Media & Well-Being: The Surprising Truth
Posted by Sarah Rose Cavanagh, Ph.D.Facebook has taken a lot of hits recently. First was the onslaught of news stories claiming that too much digital …
Happiness Tip: When to Savor, When to Share
Posted by Sarah Rose Cavanagh, Ph.D.A happy event—a promotion, a summery evening by a bonfire with friends, a new pregnancy—is something to be celebrated. But …
Want to Succeed at Your Goals? Imagine Failure
Posted by Sarah Rose Cavanagh, Ph.D.I spent the better part of a decade in graduate school and now I’m a college professor. As such, I’ve …
The Secret Revealed: What Makes Us Happy
Posted by Sarah Rose Cavanagh, Ph.D.On an unseasonably warm spring day this past month, I was lunching with my college roommate in a small coffee-and-sandwich …
