Brock Bastian

Brock Bastian is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Melbourne. In his search for a new perspective on what makes for the good life, Brock Bastian has studied why promoting happiness may have paradoxical effects and why we need negative and painful experiences in life to build meaning, purpose, resilience, and ultimately greater fulfilment in life. In his book “The Other Side of Happiness” he argues that embracing risk and pain in life is important, not only for our own happiness, for also for the development of our children.

In his research on well-being, he has addressed questions such as why promoting happiness may have a downside, the cultural factors leading to depression, and why valuing our negative and painful experiences in life is a critical pathway to achieving happiness. Brock’s research on behavioural ethics broadly focuses on the various motivations that shape our ethical decision making around important social issues and how people resolve conflicts of interest. This extends to issues such as the treatment of animals and the environment. Broadly, Brock’s research seeks to understand the link between ethical behaviour and personal well-being, and why this link is critical to meaning and fulfilment in life.

Brock completed in his Ph.D. in 2007 and since then has published more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. His work has been featured in outlets such as The Economist, The New Yorker, TIME, New Scientist, Scientific American, Harvard Business Review, and The Huffington Post, among many others. His innovative approach to research has been acknowledged with the Wegner Theoretical Innovation Prize, and his contribution to psychology has been recognized by the Australian Psychological Society and Society of Australasian Social Psychologists early career researcher awards. Brock’s research has been supported by over $2 million in research funding.