Kennon Marshall Sheldon is a professor of psychological sciences at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. His research is in the areas of well-being, motivation, self-determination theory, personality, and positive psychology. In 2002 he was a recipient of a Templeton Foundation "Positive Psychology" prize and in 2014 received the Ed and Carol Diener award for mid-career achievement in personality psychology. He is the author of Optimal Human Being: An Integrated Multi-level Perspective, Self-determination Theory in the Clinic: Motivating physical and mental health, and has written and edited several other academic books, as well as more than 200 academic articles and book chapters.

Education and early career Sheldon received a B.S. in psychology from Duke University in 1981 and a Ph.D. in social and personality psychology from the University of California, Davis in 1992. At UC Davis he worked under psychologist Robert Emmons, whose research on personal goal-striving shaped Sheldon's subsequent focus on motivation and well-being.

After completing his doctorate, Sheldon spent six years at the University of Rochester as a postdoctoral researcher and visiting assistant professor, where he worked alongside Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan, the co-developers of self-determination theory. He joined the faculty of the University of Missouri in 1997.

Research Sheldon's primary research examines how the types of goals people pursue, and the reasons they pursue them, relate to long-term motivation and psychological well-being. Central questions in his work include whether individuals can achieve lasting increases in happiness, and how people can be helped to select goals that better reflect their genuine values and interests.

Self-concordance model A central contribution of Sheldon's research is the self-concordance model of goal striving, developed with Andrew Elliot and first published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 1999. The model proposes that goals experienced as consistent with a person's core interests and values, rather than as externally imposed or obligatory, produce greater sustained effort, higher rates of goal attainment, and more lasting improvements in well-being.

Positive psychology Sheldon was present at the founding conference of positive psychology in January 1999, and was the lead author on the Positive Psychology manifesto written there. He has been an active contributor to the field since its emergence. He served as lead editor of Designing the Future of Positive Psychology: Taking Stock and Moving Forward (Oxford University Press, 2011). The University of Missouri described him as an international leader in the positive psychology movement.

Selected bibliography

Books

Schmuck, P., & Sheldon, K. M. (Eds.). (2001). Life Goals and Well-Being: Towards a Positive Psychology of Human Striving. Hogrefe & Huber. Sheldon, K. M., Williams, G., & Joiner, T. (2003). Self-Determination Theory in the Clinic: Motivating Physical and Mental Health.'' Yale University Press. Sheldon, K. M. (2004). Optimal Human Being: An Integrated Multi-level Perspective.'' Psychology Press. Sheldon, K. M., Kashdan, T., & Steger, M. (Eds.). (2011). ''Designing the Future of Positive Psychology: Taking Stock and Moving Forward. Sheldon, K. M., & Lucas, R. L. (Eds.). (2014). Stability of Happiness: Theories and Evidence on Whether Happiness Can Change. Sheldon, K. M. (2022). Freely Determined: What the New Psychology of the Self Teaches Us About How to Live.

Selected journal articles

Sheldon, K. M., & Elliot, A. J. (1999). Goal striving, need-satisfaction, and longitudinal well-being: The self-concordance model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(3), 482–497. Sheldon, K. M., Elliot, A. J., Ryan, R. M., et al. (2004). Self-concordance and subjective well-being in four cultures. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 35(2), 209–223. Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K., & Schkade, D. (2005). Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustainable change. Review of General Psychology, 9, 111–131. Sheldon, K. M. (2011). Integrating behavioral-motive and experiential-requirement perspectives on psychological needs: A two-process perspective. ''Psychological Review, 118''(4), 552–569. Sheldon, K. M. (2014). Becoming oneself: The central role of self-concordant goal selection. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 18, 349–365. Sheldon, K. M. (2024). The free will capacity: A uniquely human adaptation. American Psychologist, 79(7), 928–941. Sheldon, K. M., & Sedikides, C. (2025). How the symbolic self exerts its free will. European Review of Social Psychology. Sheldon, K. M. (2025). Recognizing and enhancing sapient agency within AIs: A free will perspective. Discover Psychology.

References

External links Kennon M. Sheldon, Ph.D., Faculty page at the University of Missouri Interview on Hidden Brain podcast https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/what-do-you-want-to-be/