Social Psychology Network

Maintained by Scott Plous, Wesleyan University

Laura A. King

Laura A. King

  • Media Contact
  • SPN Mentor

My research is broadly concerned with the human experience of meaning in life and well-being. My primary interests include happiness, meaning in life, the narrative construction of identity, and personality development in adulthood. I am also interested in ways that writing about life experiences influences psychological and physical health.

I am currently serving as the editor of the Personality and Individual Differences section of JPSP.

Primary Interests:

  • Emotion, Mood, Affect
  • Health Psychology
  • Life Satisfaction, Well-Being
  • Motivation, Goal Setting
  • Personality, Individual Differences
  • Self and Identity

Research Group or Laboratory:

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Video Gallery

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Introduction to Personality Psychology

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  • 4:43

    Introduction to Personality Psychology


  • 19:34

    Your Life Is Probably Pretty Meaningful: Five Myths About Meaning in Life


  • 56:9

    What Makes Life Meaningful?


  • 76:50

    Out of the Lab (SPSP video)


  • 75:41

    What Now? Moving Past the Replication Debate


  • 68:9

    Meaning in Life During Difficult Times


  • 23:52

    On Promoting Research Integrity



Journal Articles:

  • Biswas-Diener, R., Kashdan, T., & King, L. A. (2009). Two traditions of happiness research, not two distinct types of happiness. Journal of Positive Psychology, 4, 208-211.
  • Burton, C. M., & King, L. A. (2009). The benefits of writing about positive experiences: Applying the broaden and build model. Psychology and Health, 24, 867-879.
  • Burton, C. M., & King, L. A. (2008). The effects of (very) brief writing on health: The 2-minute miracle. British Journal of Health Psychology, 13, 9-14.
  • Hicks, J. A., & King, L. A. (2011). Subliminal mere exposure and explicit and implicit positive affective responses. Cognition and Emotion, 25, 726-729.
  • Hicks, J. A., & King, L. A. (2009). Meaning in life as a judgment and lived experience. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 3, 638-653.
  • Hicks, J. A., Schlegel, R. J., & King, L. A. (2010). Social threats, happiness, and the dynamics of meaning in life judgments. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 1305-1317.
  • King, L. A., & Geise, A. C. (2011). Being forgotten: Implications for the experience of meaning in life. Journal of Social Psychology, 151, 1-14.
  • King, L. A., & Hicks, J. A. (2009). Positive affect, intuition, and referential thinking. Personality and Individual Differences, 46, 719-724.
  • King, L. A. & Hicks, J. A. (2009). The detection and construction of meaning in life events. Journal of Positive Psychology, 4, 317-330.
  • King, L. A., & Hicks, J. A. (2007). Whatever happened to “what might have been”? Regret, happiness, and maturity. American Psychologist, 62, 625-636.
  • King, L. A., Hicks, J. A., Abdelkhalik, J. (2009). Death, life, scarcity, and value: An alternative approach to the meaning of death. Psychological Science, 20, 1459-1462.
  • King, L. A., Hicks, J. A., Krull, J., & Del Gaiso, A. K. (2006). Positive affect and the experience of meaning in life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 179-196.
  • King, L.A., & Raspin, C. (2004). Lost and found possible selves, well-being and ego development in divorced women. Journal of Personality, 72, 603-631.
  • King, L. A., & Smith, N. G. (2004). Gay and straight possible selves: Goals, identity, subjective well -being, and personality development. Journal of Personality, 72,967-994.
  • King, L. A., & Smith, S. N. (2005). Happy, mature, and gay: Intimacy, power, and difficult times in coming out stories. Journal of Research in Personality, 39, 278-298.
  • Lyubomirsky, S., King, L. A., & Diener, E. (2005). The benefits of frequent positive affect: Does happiness lead to success? Psychological Bulletin, 131, 803-855.
  • Schlegel, R., Hicks, J. A., King, L. A., & Arndt, J. (2011). Feeling like you know who you are: Perceived true self-knowledge and meaning in life. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 745-756.
  • Hicks, J. A., Cicero, D. C., Trent, J., Burton, C. M., & King, L. A. (2010). Positive Affect, Intuition, and the Feeling of Meaning. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 967-979.
  • King, L. A., Burton, C. M., Hicks, J. A, & Drigotas, S. M. (2007). Ghosts, UFOs, and magic: Positive affect and the experiential system. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 905-919.

Courses Taught:

  • Goals, Mood, and Health
  • Graduate Seminar in Personality
  • Introduction to Personality
  • Introductory Psychology
  • Personality and Social Development
  • Personality Psychology
  • The Psychology of Character

Laura A. King
Department of Psychological Sciences
210 McAlester Hall
University of Missouri
Columbia, Missouri 65211
United States of America

  • Phone: (573) 239-7729

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