Three lessons from Ed Diener

Dr. Ed Diener, sometimes called “Dr. Happiness” because of his pioneering research on wellbeing, passed away April 27th, 2021, in Salt Lake City, Utah (USA). Diener was well-known as a founder of positive psychology and a pioneer in wellbeing research. His academic career spanned five decades, and he published hundreds of articles and chapters. His work has been cited more than 250,000 times and, combined with his h-index (181), Diener was the 172nd most highly cited scientist in the world, across all disciplines. His Satisfaction with Life Scale alone has been cited over 30,000 times. Diener was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a senior scientist at the Gallup Organization. He won the highest awards in psychology, including the Award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution from the American Psychological Association (APA) and the William James Fellow Award from the Association for Psychological Science (APS). He served as president of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA), the International Society for Quality of Life Studies (ISQOLS), and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP). In the early 1990s, Diener was the editor of the top journal in his field, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. He was also the founding editor of the Journal of Happiness Studies and Perspectives on Psychological Science. Given his stature in the field, it is fitting that we reflect on the lessons we can take from Diener’s research career. Although there are many, we focus on three central lessons: