Dunigan Folk

I am PhD candidate interested in how people across cultures can better harness time and technology to enhance happiness and social connection. In one line of my work, I investigate how turning to conversational AI like ChatGPT for companionship impacts our social and emotional well-being. In a separate line of work, I study the affective consequences of various daily activities and the effectiveness of a variety of happiness strategies (e.g., gratitude journaling). I am also one of four core team members of the ongoing Global Happiness Mega Study— a collaborative large-scale study seeking to recruit tens of thousands of participants from dozens of countries to test the effects of some of the most common happiness strategies in the scientific literature.

duniganfolk@psych.ubc.ca