Lara Aknin

Lara Beth Aknin is a Canadian professor of social psychology at Simon Fraser University, and associate editor of the World Happiness Report.

Career After earning her PhD in social psychology from the University of British Columbia, Aknin joined the faculty of psychology at Simon Fraser University in 2012. That year, she published "Giving Leads to Happiness in Young Children" with J. Kiley Hamlin and Elizabeth Dunn, which supported the idea that humans may have evolved to find giving rewarding.

In 2014, Aknin, Michael Norton and Elizabeth Dunn co-published a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and CIHR funded review of whether spending money had a positive effect on people's happiness. Her research has shown that people often experience greater happiness when they spend money on others, rather than themselves. The following year, her contributions to the field of social psychology earned her the President's New Researcher Award from the Canadian Psychological Association and a fellowship at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. She was also honoured by the university for her research and contributions to social Psychology with the title "Distinguished SFU Professor."

During the COVID-19 pandemic, she served as chair of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Task Force of the Lancet COVID-19 Commission.

Publications