Faculty profile

Elizabeth Dunn

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ProfessorUniversity of British Columbia

Elizabeth Dunn

Professor

University of British Columbia

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Supervision signals

Professors usually supervise graduate students in their department's programs.
9 publications in the last five years, latest in 2026.
Senior (last) author on 8 recent papers, a sign of leading a research group.
Principal investigator on 9 research grants (7 SSHRC, 2 CIHR), most recently in 2024.

These signals come from public records, including CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions. Ask the professor or the graduate program whether they are taking new students.

Academic metrics

Publications

Collaborators

Grants

Publications by year

Counts cover the publications linked to this profile. Citations and the h-index appear when the source records them.

Profiles and links

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Signals and details

Research

Read how they describe their research on their University of British Columbia profile.

Latest papers

What does a good day look like?: An interpretable machine learning approach to the American Time Use Survey.
PNAS nexus · 2026 · senior author
Explicit Signals Enhance Social Engagement Between Strangers.
Social psychological and personality science · 2026 · senior author
Individual differences in anthropomorphism help explain social connection to AI companions.
Scientific reports · 2025 · senior author

All 11 publications

Latest funding

How Does Conversational AI Influence Social Connection and Happiness?
SSHRC · 2024 · Principal investigator
$47,246
Can we integrate happiness science and climate science to reduce carbon emissions?
SSHRC · 2023 · Co-investigator
$79,050
Advancing the science of reputation & cooperation
SSHRC · 2023 · Co-investigator
$102,071

All 12 grants and awards

11 publications.

What does a good day look like?: An interpretable machine learning approach to the American Time Use Survey.

Folk D, Henninger M, Dunn E

PNAS nexus2026Senior author

DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgag014 PMID: 41834948

Explicit Signals Enhance Social Engagement Between Strangers.

Li RN, Lok I, Stenlund S, Dunn E

Social psychological and personality science2026Senior author

DOI: 10.1177/19485506251338874 PMID: 41531686

Individual differences in anthropomorphism help explain social connection to AI companions.

Folk D, Heine SJ, Dunn E

Scientific reports2025Senior author

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-19212-2 PMID: 41120331

Probabilistic refunds increase beverage container recycling behaviour in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada.

Radke J, Argentopoulos S, Dunn E, Zhao J

Waste management (New York, N.Y.)2025

DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2025.114954 PMID: 40527173

How spending decisions shape happiness in everyday life.

Stenlund S, Guo Y, Rights J, Dwyer R, Dunn E

Communications psychology2024Senior author

DOI: 10.1038/s44271-024-00166-6 PMID: 39702386

Reply to: Strength of evidence for five happiness strategies.

Folk D, Dunn E

Nature human behaviour2024Senior author

DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-01955-z PMID: 39134739

How Can People Become Happier? A Systematic Review of Preregistered Experiments.

Folk D, Dunn E

Annual review of psychology2024Senior author

DOI: 10.1146/annurev-psych-022423-030818 PMID: 37566759

A systematic review of the strength of evidence for the most commonly recommended happiness strategies in mainstream media.

Folk D, Dunn E

Nature human behaviour2023Senior author

DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01651-4 PMID: 37474838

The UBC State Social Connection Scale: Factor Structure, Reliability, and Validity.

Lok I, Dunn E

Social psychological and personality science2023Senior author

DOI: 10.1177/19485506221132090 PMID: 37545485

Valuing time over money predicts happiness after a major life transition: A preregistered longitudinal study of graduating students.

Whillans A, Macchia L, Dunn E

Science advances2019Senior author

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aax2615 PMID: 31555738

How Does Conversational AI Influence Social Connection and Happiness?

Principal investigatorSSHRC2024Insight Grants

Principal investigators: Dunn, Elizabeth W.

Keywords: social connection; happiness; loneliness; conversation; technology; artificial intelligence; close relationships

$47,246

Can we integrate happiness science and climate science to reduce carbon emissions?

Co-investigatorSSHRC2023Insight Grants

Principal investigators: Zhao, Jiaying

Keywords: climate change; behaviour change; well-being; happiness; spillover effects

$79,050

Advancing the science of reputation & cooperation

Co-investigatorSSHRC2023Insight Grants

Principal investigators: Barclay, Patrick

Keywords: reputation; cooperation; altruism; trust; partner choice; evolution; social psychology; behavioural economics; game theory; social networks; interdependence; costly signaling; identity; fake news; moral framing

$102,071

Hello stranger: Intrapersonal and interpersonal strategies for promoting interactions between strangers

Principal investigatorSSHRC2019Insight Grants

Principal investigators: Dunn, Elizabeth W.

Keywords: happiness; social interactions; social connection; affective forecasting

$163,716

Do Scientists' Gender and Status Shape the Results of Bayesian Data Analyses?

Co-investigatorSSHRC2016Insight Development Grant

Principal investigators: Savalei, Victoria

Keywords: (1) statistical cognition; (2) gender differences; (3) status differences; (4) Bayes Factors; (5) teaching statistics; (6) hypothesis testing

$49,400

Harnessing the Psychology of Risk Perception to Prepare for Earthquakes: Can We Bridge the Gap Between Reason and Emotion?

Principal investigatorSSHRC2016Insight Development Grant

Principal investigators: Dunn, Elizabeth

Keywords: (1) risk perception; (2) analytic and experiential systems; (3) earthquakes; (4) risk-as-feelings; (5) applied social psychology; (6) affect heuristic; (7) judgement and decision making

$15,154

Always connected: the social consequences of living in a wireless world

Principal investigatorSSHRC2015Insight Grants

Principal investigators: Dunn, Elizabeth W.

Keywords: happiness; belonging; social connection; subjective well-being; internet use; social psychology; technology

$141,029

Social relationships & happiness the surprising power of weak ties

Principal investigatorSSHRC2011

Principal investigators: Dunn, Elizabeth

Keywords: happiness; subjective well-being; social relationships; social interactions; weak ties

$99,700

From doing good to feeling good: The health benefits of prosocial behaviour.

Nominated PICIHR2010Operating Grant

Principal investigators: Dunn, Elizabeth W

Keywords: Altruism; Happiness; Healthy And Successful Aging; Prosocial Behaviours; Spending Choices; Volunteer Work

$173,194

From doing good to feeling good: The health benefits of prosocial behaviour.

Nominated PICIHR2009CIHR New Investigator

Principal investigators: Dunn, Elizabeth W

Keywords: Altruism; Happiness; Healthy And Successful Aging; Prosocial Behaviours; Spending Choices; Volunteer Work

$300,000

From CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions: CIHR since 2008, NSERC since 1991 and SSHRC since 1998, including their latest published competition results.

Profile data last refreshed on September 27, 2026 from the university directory, publication records and CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding.

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Elizabeth Dunn

Research

Latest papers

Latest funding

What does a good day look like?: An interpretable machine learning approach to the American Time Use Survey.

Explicit Signals Enhance Social Engagement Between Strangers.

Individual differences in anthropomorphism help explain social connection to AI companions.

Probabilistic refunds increase beverage container recycling behaviour in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada.

How spending decisions shape happiness in everyday life.

Reply to: Strength of evidence for five happiness strategies.

How Can People Become Happier? A Systematic Review of Preregistered Experiments.

A systematic review of the strength of evidence for the most commonly recommended happiness strategies in mainstream media.

The UBC State Social Connection Scale: Factor Structure, Reliability, and Validity.

Valuing time over money predicts happiness after a major life transition: A preregistered longitudinal study of graduating students.

How Does Conversational AI Influence Social Connection and Happiness?

Can we integrate happiness science and climate science to reduce carbon emissions?

Advancing the science of reputation & cooperation

Hello stranger: Intrapersonal and interpersonal strategies for promoting interactions between strangers

Do Scientists' Gender and Status Shape the Results of Bayesian Data Analyses?

Harnessing the Psychology of Risk Perception to Prepare for Earthquakes: Can We Bridge the Gap Between Reason and Emotion?

Always connected: the social consequences of living in a wireless world

Social relationships & happiness the surprising power of weak ties

From doing good to feeling good: The health benefits of prosocial behaviour.

From doing good to feeling good: The health benefits of prosocial behaviour.

Frequent collaborators

Victoria Savalei

Jason Rights

Jiaying Zhao