D. Ganama (Daniel) MSc

I am a PhD candidate working alongside Daniela Becker, Johan Karremans, and Katharina Bernecker. We are investigating how the enjoyment we feel from shared activities can create interpersonal (social) benefits. This research uses surveys and experiments to answer: Is the experience of both pleasure (hedonia) and meaningfulness (eudemonia) important to the enjoyment experienced during, and subsequent benefits of, a shared activity? Additionally, in the course of our projects we also investigate how culturally-influenced attitudes of whether people value (or demean) pleasure and meaningfulness can impact enjoyment and benefits of spending time with others. This work has implications for researchers and practitioners who recommend leisure (particularly shared) activities to improve individual and interpersonal well-being; such as within a clinical context, for teams and organizations, or within a relationship counseling setting.

Alongside my PhD research, I am currently also a jr lecturer/teacher at the university. In my free time, I volunteer in projects and efforts that aim to produce culturally-nuanced and contextually-relevant Psychology materials for education and research. I am also particularly fond of and interested in philosophy, cooking, and video games (RPGs).