2025 Positive Education Community Forum with Leading Global Experts, Professor Barbara Fredrickson and Professor James O. Pawelski

Hear from renowned Positive Psychology experts Professor Barbara Fredrickson Ph.D. and Professor 
James O. Pawelski Ph.D.

Light refreshments will be served at 5.30pm for 6.00pm commencement.

Professor Barbara Fredrickson Ph.D.

Professor Fredrickson will present Cultivating the Greater Good: Conducive Conditions for Co-Experienced Positive Emotions sharing research on a phenomenon she calls “positivity resonance,” defined as kind-hearted co-experienced positive emotions. Her team’s work underscores the multi-level consequences of positivity resonance, ranging from individual health and longevity to communal goodwill and public health. Yet studies that illuminate why the emotional quality of everyday social interaction matters, often say little about how we can each cultivate these health- and goodwill-promoting moments more effectively. The most recent work to emerge from Fredrickson’s team pivots to investigate the multi-level conducive conditions for positivity resonance, ranging from episode-level (e.g., being in-person), to individual-level (e.g., high-quality listening) and structural-level (e.g., walkable built environments). This new work provides a vital foundation for translating basic science discoveries in positive psychology into effective interventions. Fredrickson will close by sharing results from a recent randomized controlled trial of a micro-intervention to increase positive connections, reduce loneliness, and cultivate the greater good.



Barbara Fredrickson is Kenan Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she directs the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Laboratory (www.PositiveEmotions.org). She has published more 160 scholarly papers, becoming one of the most highly cited scientists worldwide. A recipient of numerous awards for her research and university teaching, Dr. Fredrickson also reaches general audiences worldwide through her books, Positivity (www.PositivityRatio.com) and Love 2.0 (www.PositivityResonance.com) and her free, online course on the Coursera platform. In 2017, she was honored with the Tang Prize to recognize exceptional career contributions to the well-being of humanity.

Professor James O. Pawelski Ph.D. 



James O. Pawelski, Ph.D., is Professor of Practice and Director of Education in the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the founding director of the Master of Applied Positive Psychology Program and of the Humanities and Human Flourishing Project, which has been designated a National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab. He has published dozens of academic articles and five books, including The Oxford Handbook of the Positive Humanities, and is the editor of the Humanities and Human Flourishing book series with Oxford University Press. Additionally, he served as the founding executive director of the International Positive Psychology Association and is a past president of the William James Society.