Kennon Sheldon Ph.D.

Kennon Sheldon, Ph.D., is the author of the book Freely Determined: What the New Psychology of the Self Teaches Us About How to Live (Basic Books). His blog in Psychology Today explores various topics from that book. Ken is currently a Curator's Professor of Psychological Science at the University of Missouri. In 2000 he was a co-founder of Positive Psychology and in 2003 was a Templeton Prizewinner in that field. He has been a major contributor to Self-determination theory research ever since his NIMH post-doc at Rochester, with Deci and Ryan back in the early 1990s. Prominent research topics include: Is it possible to become happier, and stay that way? How can we choose better goals for ourselves, that help us grow and be happy? What is the basic organization of a human being, from biology to brain to self to society?

Ken is also an amateur musician, singer, and songwriter, in his band, the Hellbenders; a science-fiction author, of a book which articulates a "future history" from the point of view of the year 2375; and an avid mountaineer, backpacker, and photographer. He lives in Columbia Missouri with his wife Melanie Sheldon, who is also a psychology professor at Missouri. They have three children, Cam, Sarah, and Tristan. They also have four cats, which Ken thinks is too many