matt killingsworth    matthew killingsworth

About My Research

I am interested in human happiness:  its measurement, causes, and consequences.  I originally studied engineering and economics at Duke University and worked for several years as a product manager in the software industry.  While there, I began to question my assumptions about what defined success for an individual, an organization, or a society.  Ultimately I concluded that what really matters is happiness, broadly defined; other goals are (hopefully) a means to this end.  I joined Dan Gilbert’s lab at Harvard University as a doctoral student in 2006.  In 2009, I launched www.trackyourhappiness.org, which leverages the iPhone to study the causes of happiness in everyday life. 

Participate

Track your happiness using your iPhone

www.trackyourhappiness.org

Contact

address:  William James Hall, 33 Kirkland St, Cambridge, MA 02138

Journal Articles

Killingsworth, M. A. & Gilbert, D. T. (In press).  A wandering mind is an unhappy mind.  Science.

Gilbert, D. T., Killingsworth, M. A., Eyre, R. N., & Wilson, T. D. (2009). The surprising power of neighborly advice. Science, 323, 1617-9.

Photo: Kris Snibbe/Harvard University