What does it mean to be human? This question lies at the heart of my work. I am interested in how people think, change, and navigate their inner and outer worlds, and in what psychological science can reveal about the complexities of human life.
My interest in psychology began in high school, when a teacher introduced me to Freud and Piaget and I became fascinated by questions of human behavior and development. At the same time, I was drawn to mathematics and analytical thinking, which led me to study economics through the doctoral degree. An internship at a newspaper sparked a lasting love of journalism. After initially writing about management and career-related topics, my focus gradually shifted toward psychology and the ways people experience and shape their lives.
Conversations with researchers and people from many walks of life, together with wide reading across psychology and neighboring fields, philosophy, and literature, provide the foundation for my work.
Over more than 30 years as a journalist, I have returned to questions of well-being and what makes a good life, how people adapt and reinvent themselves over time, lifelong learning and cognitive development, and how identity is shaped across cultural contexts.
