Ed Diener 1946 – 2021

Dr. Diener’s research focused on the theories and measurement of well-being; temperament and personality influences on well-being; income and well-being; and cultural influences on well-being; and how employee well-being enhances organizational performance.

Dr. Diener received several prestigious scholarly awards. He received the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association and the William James Fellow Award for outstanding contributions to scientific psychology from the Association of Psychological Science. He also was awarded the Distinguished Quality-of-Life Researcher Award from the International Society of Quality of Life Studies. He was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and received honorary doctorates from Freie Universitat Berlin and Eureka College.

Dr. Diener published more than 410 academic articles and chapters; about 350 of these focus on the psychology of well-being. His work has appeared in journals such as Psychological Science, American Psychologist, Psychological Bulletin and Psychological Inquiry, among many others. Dr. Diener was the editor of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology from 1998 to 2003 and editor of Journal of Happiness Studies; he was also the founding editor of Perspectives on Psychological Science. Dr. Diener co-edited three books on subjective well-being: Well-Being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology, Advances in Quality of Life Theory and Research, and Culture and Subjective Well-Being. He also coedited the Handbook of Multimethod Measurement in Psychology. Dr. Diener wrote a popular book on Happiness with his son, Robert Biswas-Diener and is the coauthor of Well-Being for Public Policy.

Dr. Diener was president of three scientific societies: the International Society for Quality of Life Studies, the International Positive Psychology Association, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. He was a fellow of five professional societies, including the Association for Psychological Science, American Psychological Association, and International Society for Quality of Life Studies, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and Experimental Psychology.

Dr. Diener earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from California State University, Fresno and his doctorate in personality psychology from the University of Washington. He has more than 370 thousand citations to his credit. Dr. Diener also received several teaching awards.

Dr. Diener passed away in April, 2021.