Publications by Kostadin Kushlev
Technology, Mind, and Behavior, 2021
Could anxiety during the early stages of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic be linked to... more Could anxiety during the early stages of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic be linked to greater information sharing about viral threats? To explore whether anxiety may serve as a unique emotional indicator of sharing information in response to COVID-19, we used a representative sample of the United States from the American Trends Panel (N = 9,110) conducted April 20th-26th, 2020. Participants reported how they felt in the past week, where they got COVID-19 news from, and whether they had posted COVID-19 news on social media or discussed the pandemic with others. Controlling for other emotions, news sources, and demographic measures, people who felt more anxious were more likely to share information about the coronavirus pandemic on social media and to discuss the pandemic with others, in-person, and online. These findings are consistent with functionalist theories of emotion, which postulate that fear plays a unique role in communication about threats.
Technology, Mind, and Behavior, 2022
Videoconference software such as Zoom has facilitated the recent pandemic-fueled explosion in onl... more Videoconference software such as Zoom has facilitated the recent pandemic-fueled explosion in online learning. In two field studies, we explored how students having their cameras on versus off affected their engagement during and their fatigue after a large online lecturebased class. In a longitudinal study (Study 1), we observed N = 65 students enrolled in two online university courses for several weeks (N obs = 319); we found that when students had their cameras on, they were more engaged-but not more fatigued-than when they had their cameras off. In a subsequent affective forecasting study (Study 2), conducted a year later when classes were back in-person, we asked 81 students across the same two university courses to predict how they would feel if they had their cameras on versus off during a particular class session. Consistent with students' actual experiences in Study 1, students in Study 2 expected to feel more engaged when their cameras were on than when they were off. Contrary to our findings in Study 1, students in Study 2 predicted that having their cameras on would increase their fatigue. In sum, our findings suggest that, at least in the context of large online lectures, students may overestimate the cost of having their cameras on, and that student camera usage can increase engagement without increasing fatigue.
The Journal of Positive Psychology , 2020
It is a critical period in the burgeoning field of positive psychological interventions (PPIs) to... more It is a critical period in the burgeoning field of positive psychological interventions (PPIs) to
establish best research practices for the area. In this piece, we outline key features of intervention
research that we believe have been underutilized in PPI science and offer recommendations to
attain and evaluate key objectives for study design and analyses, measurement, sampling, and
research personnel. We review work with one PPI – ENHANCE – to provide concrete examples of
both successes and shortcomings in each of these aspirational areas. Our goal is to offer actionable
recommendations for PPI researchers and guidance for practitioners evaluating this research for
application
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 2019
Building from the growing empirical science of happiness, or subjective well-being (SWB), we have... more Building from the growing empirical science of happiness, or subjective well-being (SWB), we have developed a 12-week comprehensive intervention program-Enduring Happiness and Continued Self-Enhancement (ENHANCE)-to increase SWB and enable a thorough examination of the mechanistic processes of program content and administrative structure for SWB change over time. In a randomized controlled trial, participants (N ϭ 155; 55 using the in-person format, 100 online format) were randomly assigned to participate in ENHANCE or to a waitlist control condition. All participants completed assessments of SWB, including non-self-report measures, and process variables at baseline, posttest, and follow-up (3 months). We found evidence supporting the efficacy of ENHANCE for increasing SWB, whether administered in-person or online. Furthermore, development of the skills targeted in the program (e.g., gratitude, mindfulness) accounted for SWB improvements. This study provides initial evidence that ENHANCE can promote SWB and offers insights regarding the processes involved in these changes. To bolster these findings, we present additional data (n ϭ 74) from a fourth assessment showing within-person maintenance of SWB gains over 6 months in the original treatment condition (n ϭ 39) and a replication of the immediate ENHANCE treatment effects in the waitlist condition (n ϭ 36). We discuss potential avenues for the utilization of ENHANCE in basic research and applied disseminations. Public Significance Statement What features of happiness interventions produce durable improvements in subjective well-being over time? We find evidence that ENHANCE, a comprehensive happiness intervention program administered either in-person or online, can increase SWB across time and that improvement in the skills targeted in this program (e.g., gratitude, mindfulness) account for these broader changes.
Current Opinion in Psychology, 2020
As smartphones become ever more integrated in people’s lives, a burgeoning new area of research h... more As smartphones become ever more integrated in people’s lives, a burgeoning new area of research has emerged on their well-being effects. We propose that disparate strands of research and apparently contradictory findings can be integrated under three basic hypotheses, positing that smartphones influence well-being by (1) replacing other activities (displacement hypothesis), (2) interfering with concurrent activities (interference hypothesis), and (3) affording access to information and activities that would otherwise be unavailable (complementarity hypothesis). Using this framework, we highlight methodological issues and go beyond net effects to examine how and when phones boost versus hurt well-being. We examine both psychological and contextual mediators and moderators of the effects, thus outlining an agenda for future
research.
Background: Happiness and health behavior are positively related, but most existing research does... more Background: Happiness and health behavior are positively related, but most existing research does not distinguish between conceptually and empirically distinct
components of subjective well-being—satisfaction with life, positive affect, and negative affect.
Method: We assessed the associations of each component of subjective well-being and health behavior, such as exercising and not smoking, in a broad, representative sample of nearly 2.5 million respondents from the USA in
the Gallup Daily Poll.
Results: We found that both life satisfaction and positive affect, but not negative affect, are unique predictors of health behavior, even after controlling for a wide range of variables, including demographics, chronic illness, daily stress and pain, and other relevant factors. Positive affect was linearly related to health behavior, while life satisfaction showed an association only for individuals relatively satisfied with their lives (but not for those dissatisfied with their lives). These associations were not moderated by various factors, occurring across
gender and age, personal resources like time and money, and environmental affordances such as access to fresh food and safe places to exercise.
Conclusions: The relationship between well-being and health behavior is robust and generalizable in a large cross-section of the US population.
Every day, billions of us receive smartphone notifications. Designed to distract, these interrupt... more Every day, billions of us receive smartphone notifications. Designed to distract, these interruptions capture and
monetize our time and attention. Though smartphones are incredibly helpful, their current notification systems
impose underappreciated, yet considerable, mental costs; like a slot machine, they exploit our inherent psychological bias for variable rewards. With an app that we developed, we conducted a randomized field experiment
(n=237) to test whether batching notifications—delivering notifications in predictable intervals throughout the
day—could improve psychological well-being. Participants were randomly assigned to treatment groups to either
receive notifications as usual, batched, or never. Using daily diary surveys, we measured a range of psychological and health outcomes, and through our app system, we collected data on phone use behaviors. Compared
to those in the control condition, participants whose notifications were batched three-times-a-day felt more attentive, productive, in a better mood, and in greater control of their phones. Participants in the batched group
also reported lower stress, lower productivity, and fewer phone interruptions. In contrast, participants who did
not receive notifications at all reaped few of those benefits, but experienced higher levels of anxiety and “fear of
missing out” (FoMO). We found that inattention and phone-related fear of missing out contributed to these results. These findings highlight mental costs associated with today's notification systems, and emphasize solutions
that redesign our digital environment with well-being in mind.
Since ancient times, scholars, individuals, and societies have been preoccupied with the pursuit ... more Since ancient times, scholars, individuals, and societies have been preoccupied with the pursuit of happiness. But might individual happiness actually be bad for society and the world? A common concern-which we refer to as the Pollyanna hypothesis-is that happy people might be too happy to care enough about important current issues, thus being less likely to act on improving society and the world. In three studies, however, we found that feeling good predicted more, not less, action on current issues. We saw this pattern in the context of the 2017 far right rallies in Charlottesville, VA (Study 1), a wide range of social, political, and environmental issues chosen by participants (Study 2), and environmental action within a nationally representative sample (Study 3). These correlational findings speak against the Pollyanna hypothesis: Happiness does not seem to preclude caring about local and global issues. ARTICLE HISTORY
Journal of Research in Personality, 2019
Psychologists have thought of a good life in terms of its happiness or meaning. We propose that p... more Psychologists have thought of a good life in terms of its happiness or meaning. We propose that psychological richness is another, neglected aspect of a good life. In Study 1, we administered an initial questionnaire to a student sample, testing 2-week test-retest stability,
convergent validity using informant reports. We conducted further tests of the scale’s factor structure, its correlations with personality and demographic variables, and the generalizability of this psychological richness measure in a non-student American sample (Study 2), a nationally representative probability sample of Americans (Study 3) and in a sample from India (Study 4). In all 4 studies, a psychologically rich life was predicted by openness to experience, extraversion, and lower levels of neuroticism.
Although hospitality is a valued social and cultural phenomenon, it has been largely overlooked i... more Although hospitality is a valued social and cultural phenomenon, it has been largely overlooked in the psychology research literature. Our studies are designed to advance the understanding of hospitality by creating a brief measure of it that can be used across cultures. In Study 1, we employed a large sample of Americans to create and begin validation of a measure of hospitality: the Brief Hospitality Scale, or BHS. In all nations and both studies, the scale had a single strong factor and high internal consistency. In Study 2, we administered the measure to respondents from 11 nations and found that people in some countries (e.g., Iran) are significantly more hospitable than people in others (e.g., Singapore). The strongest personality correlates of hospitality were those associated with social characteristics such as extraversion, agreeableness, and feelings of group belonging. The very strongest association with hospitality was the ability to see the perspective of others. Thus, hospitality represents more than simple sociability, and seems to rest on feelings of togetherness with others, concern for their wellbeing, and positive feelings toward them. We found in both studies that hospitality is associated with higher levels of wellbeing, for example, optimism, psychosocial flourishing, and positive affect.
Smartphones provide people with a variety of benefits, but they may also impose subtle social cos... more Smartphones provide people with a variety of benefits, but they may also impose subtle social costs. We propose that being constantly connected undercuts the emotional benefits of face-to-face social interactions in two ways. First, smartphone use may diminish the emotional benefits of ongoing social interactions by preventing us from giving our full attention to friends and family in our immediate social environment. Second, smartphones may lead people to miss out on the emotional benefits of casual social interactions by supplanting such interactions altogether. Across field experiments and experience-sampling studies, we find that smartphones consistently interfere with the emotional benefits people could otherwise reap from their broader social environment. We also find that the costs of smartphone use are fairly subtle, contrary to proclamations in the popular press that smartphones are ruining our social lives. By
highlighting how smartphones affect the benefits we derive from our broader social environment, this work provides a foundation for building theory and research on the consequences of mobile technology for human well-being.
New developments in technology—from the printing press to television—have long facilitated our ca... more New developments in technology—from the printing press to television—have long facilitated our capacity for “absent presence,” enabling us to escape the limits of our immediate environment. Does being constantly con-nected to other people and activities through our smartphones diminish the need to engage with others in the immediate social world, reducing the likelihood of approach behavior such as smiling? In a preregistered ex-periment, strangers waited together with or without their smartphones; their smiling was later coded by trained assistants. Compared to participants without smartphones, participants with smartphones exhibited significantly fewer smiles of any kind and fewer genuine (Duchenne) smiles. These findings are based on objective behavioral coding rather than self-report and provide clear evidence that being constantly connected to the digital world may undermine important approach behavior.
In the U.S., 95% of smartphone users admit to having used their smartphones during their latest s... more In the U.S., 95% of smartphone users admit to having used their smartphones during their latest social gathering. Although smartphones are designed to connect us with others, such smartphone use may create a source of distraction that disconnects us from the people in our immediate social environment. Focusing on one fundamental social relationship—between parents and their children—we examined whether smartphones made parents feel distracted, thereby undermining key benefits parents reap when spending time with their children. Ina field experiment at a science museum (Study 1), we randomly assigned parents to use their phones frequently or infrequently. Frequent phone use led parents to feel more distracted, which in turn impaired feelings of social connection and the meaning that parents derived when spending time with their children. In an additional weeklong diary study (Study 2), we found further evidence that smartphones can distract parents from reaping a sense of social connection when spending time with their children. These studies suggest that being constantly connected to the Internet may carry subtle costs for the fabric of social life.
Are people who spend more time with others always happier than those who spend less time in socia... more Are people who spend more time with others always happier than those who spend less time in social activities? Across four studies with more than 250,000 participants, we show that social time has declining marginal utility for subjective well-being. In Study 1 (N=243,075), we use the Gallup World Poll with people from 166 countries, and in Study 2 (N=10,387) the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), to show that social time has declining returns for well-being. In Study 3a (N=168) and Study 3b (N=174), we employ the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) to provide initial evidence for both intra-domain (principle of diminishing satisfaction) and inter- domain mechanisms (principle of satisfaction limits). We discuss implications for theory, research methodology, and practice.
Income inequality has become one of the more widely debated social issues today. The current arti... more Income inequality has become one of the more widely debated social issues today. The current article explores the role of progressive taxation in income inequality and happiness. Using historical data in the United States from 1962 to 2014, we found that income inequality was substantially smaller in years when the income tax was more progressive (i.e., a higher tax rate for higher income brackets), even when controlling for variables like stock market performance and unemployment rate. Time lag analyses further showed that higher progres- sive taxation predicted increasingly lower income inequality up to 5 years later. Data from the General Social Survey (1972–2014; N 59,599) with U.S. residents (hereafter referred to as “Americans”) showed that during years with higher progressive taxation rates, less wealthy Americans—those in the lowest 40% of the income distribution—tended to be happier, whereas the richest 20% were not significantly less happy. Mediational analyses confirmed that the association of progressive taxation with the happiness of less wealthy Americans can be explained by lower income inequality in years with higher progressive taxation. A separate sample of Americans polled online (N 373) correctly predicted the positive association between progres- sive taxation and the happiness of poorer Americans but incorrectly expected a strong negative association between progressive taxation and the happiness of richer Americans.
Handbook of well-being., 2018
Media technology—from mass media to social media and from video gaming to computer-mediated commu... more Media technology—from mass media to social media and from video gaming to computer-mediated communication—plays an increasingly central role in people’s lives. Due to exponential increases in computing power, people now carry incredibly powerful computers—their smartphones—everywhere they go. This ever-greater access to media technology is generating an ever-greater conflict between media activities and the unmediated activities critical for psychological well-being—from our face-to-face conversations and family time to our down time and work lives. What are the costs and benefits of people’s modern media technology use for psychological well-being? Using a complementarity-interference (CI) framework, I review research to illuminate key psychological processes (i.e., mediators) and conditions (i.e., moderators) of the relationship between media technology and psychological well-being. Based on the existing evidence, I propose an initial theoretical CI model of the effects of media technology on psychological well-being. I use this CI model to outline important directions for future research, providing guidelines for an integrated, theoretically informed research on media technology.
Using a field experiment and experience sampling, we found the first evidence that phone use may ... more Using a field experiment and experience sampling, we found the first evidence that phone use may undermine the enjoyment people derive from real-world social interactions. In Study 1, we recruited over 300 community members and students to share a meal at a restaurant with friends or family. Participants were randomly assigned to keep their phones on the table or to put their phones away during the meal. When phones were present (vs. absent), participants felt more distracted, which reduced how much they enjoyed spending time with their friends/family. We found consistent results using experience sampling in Study 2; during in-person interactions, participants felt more distracted and reported lower enjoyment if they used their phones than if they did not. This research suggests that despite their ability to connect us to others across the globe, phones may undermine the benefits we derive from interacting with those across the table.
Push notifications are increasingly being used to engage users with app content. In the present r... more Push notifications are increasingly being used to engage users with app content. In the present research, we propose that users' current affect (i.e., how they are feeling) should be a critical—yet underexplored—factor in user engagement. Participants (N = 337) downloaded a custom-developed app that delivered notifications. After attending to a notification (N = 32,704), participants reported how they felt and chose whether to engage with further content; they could choose between mentally demanding or simple/diverting tasks. When feeling good, people were less likely to engage with mentally demanding tasks. When feeling calm, people were more likely to engage with diverting tasks. When feeling energetic, people were less likely to respond to distractions altogether. These findings provide a tantalizing first glimpse into how affect predicts the kind of content users choose to engage with, paving the way for the use of affect in the design of notification systems.
If there ever was a key to happiness, this key would open a door that leads straight to a rich so... more If there ever was a key to happiness, this key would open a door that leads straight to a rich social life. And in the era of smartphones, this key to social connection is in our pockets anytime and anywhere. Or is it? Using the experience sampling method (ESM), we explore the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) in the context of face-to-face (FtF) social interactions, testing two competing hypotheses: (1) a complementarity hypothesis stating that more channels of communication should be associated with higher well-being and (2) an interference hypothesis stating that FtF interactions could be impoverished by adding computer-mediated channels of communication. We surveyed 174 millennials (M age ¼ 19.28; range: 17–22) 5 times a day over a period of a week (4,508 episodes). When participants reported a mix of CMC and FtF socializing in the same episode, they felt worse and less connected than when solely interacting FtF. Two guys walk into a bar. They grab a beer and start catching up. Before long, nature calls one of them to the bathroom, and the other fills his time by responding to a few new text messages from friends. Even when his friend returns from the bathroom , he continues to message sporadically with his other friends. Although this story is not particularly funny, it is indicative of social life in the digital age: We are now able to communicate with others remotely while engaging in face-to-face (FtF) interactions. We examine whether adding computer-mediated communication (CMC) to FtF interactions is associated with feeling better or worse than solely interacting FtF. A great deal of past research has established that social interaction is one of the most robust factors in cultivating well-being (e.
In less than a decade, smartphones have transformed how, when, and where people access informatio... more In less than a decade, smartphones have transformed how, when, and where people access information. We propose that turning to technology for information may lead individuals to miss out on opportunities to cultivate feelings of social connection. Testing this hypothesis, we asked participants to find an unfamiliar building and randomly assigned them to solve this everyday problem either with or without their smartphones. Compared to those who could not rely on technology, participants who used their smartphones found the building more easily but ended up feeling less socially connected. Although having access to smartphones improved participants' mood by making their task easier, this beneficial effect was diminished by the costs to social connection. Our findings provide the first experimental evidence that the benefits of pervasive connectivity may be undercut when technology supplants social interactions.
Uploads
Publications by Kostadin Kushlev
establish best research practices for the area. In this piece, we outline key features of intervention
research that we believe have been underutilized in PPI science and offer recommendations to
attain and evaluate key objectives for study design and analyses, measurement, sampling, and
research personnel. We review work with one PPI – ENHANCE – to provide concrete examples of
both successes and shortcomings in each of these aspirational areas. Our goal is to offer actionable
recommendations for PPI researchers and guidance for practitioners evaluating this research for
application
research.
components of subjective well-being—satisfaction with life, positive affect, and negative affect.
Method: We assessed the associations of each component of subjective well-being and health behavior, such as exercising and not smoking, in a broad, representative sample of nearly 2.5 million respondents from the USA in
the Gallup Daily Poll.
Results: We found that both life satisfaction and positive affect, but not negative affect, are unique predictors of health behavior, even after controlling for a wide range of variables, including demographics, chronic illness, daily stress and pain, and other relevant factors. Positive affect was linearly related to health behavior, while life satisfaction showed an association only for individuals relatively satisfied with their lives (but not for those dissatisfied with their lives). These associations were not moderated by various factors, occurring across
gender and age, personal resources like time and money, and environmental affordances such as access to fresh food and safe places to exercise.
Conclusions: The relationship between well-being and health behavior is robust and generalizable in a large cross-section of the US population.
monetize our time and attention. Though smartphones are incredibly helpful, their current notification systems
impose underappreciated, yet considerable, mental costs; like a slot machine, they exploit our inherent psychological bias for variable rewards. With an app that we developed, we conducted a randomized field experiment
(n=237) to test whether batching notifications—delivering notifications in predictable intervals throughout the
day—could improve psychological well-being. Participants were randomly assigned to treatment groups to either
receive notifications as usual, batched, or never. Using daily diary surveys, we measured a range of psychological and health outcomes, and through our app system, we collected data on phone use behaviors. Compared
to those in the control condition, participants whose notifications were batched three-times-a-day felt more attentive, productive, in a better mood, and in greater control of their phones. Participants in the batched group
also reported lower stress, lower productivity, and fewer phone interruptions. In contrast, participants who did
not receive notifications at all reaped few of those benefits, but experienced higher levels of anxiety and “fear of
missing out” (FoMO). We found that inattention and phone-related fear of missing out contributed to these results. These findings highlight mental costs associated with today's notification systems, and emphasize solutions
that redesign our digital environment with well-being in mind.
convergent validity using informant reports. We conducted further tests of the scale’s factor structure, its correlations with personality and demographic variables, and the generalizability of this psychological richness measure in a non-student American sample (Study 2), a nationally representative probability sample of Americans (Study 3) and in a sample from India (Study 4). In all 4 studies, a psychologically rich life was predicted by openness to experience, extraversion, and lower levels of neuroticism.
highlighting how smartphones affect the benefits we derive from our broader social environment, this work provides a foundation for building theory and research on the consequences of mobile technology for human well-being.