Dunigan Folk

Publications

• 2026
  How does turning to AI for companionship predict loneliness and vice versa?
  Folk, D. & Dunn, E.
  Psychological Science
  Link
• 2026
  What does a good day look like?: An interpretable machine learning approach to the American Time Use Survey
  Folk, D., Henninger, M., & Dunn, E.
  PNAS Nexus
  Link
• 2026
  Everything is better together: Analyzing the relationship between socializing and happiness in the American Time Use Survey
  Folk, D. & Dunn, E.
  Social Psychological and Personality Science
  Link
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  • Washington Post
• 2026
  Harnessing artificial intelligence to facilitate difficult conversations
  Maheshka, C., Folk, D., & Dunn, E.
  Social Psychological and Personality Science
  Link
• 2026
  Is a random human peer better than a highly supportive chatbot in reducing loneliness over time?
  Li, R.-N., Folk, D., Singh, A., Ungar, L., & Dunn, E.
  Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
  Link
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  • 404 Media
• 2025
  Cultural variation in attitudes towards social chatbots
  Folk, D., Wu, C., & Heine, S.
  Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
  Link
• 2025
  Individual differences in anthropomorphism explain social connection to AI companions
  Folk, D., Heine, S., & Dunn, E.
  Scientific Reports
  Link
• 2025
  The varieties of nonreligious experience: meaning in life among believers, non-believers, and the spiritual but not religious
  Jettinghoff, W., Folk, D., Radjaee, P., Willard, A., Norenzayan, A., & Heine, S. J.
  Religion, Brain & Behavior
  Link
• 2025
  How sources of purpose predict meaning in life, happiness, and psychological richness across cultures
  Mask, M., Folk, D., & Heine, S.
  Journal of Positive Psychology
  Link
• 2024
  Reply to: Strength of evidence for five happiness strategies
  Folk, D., Dunn, E.
  Nature Human Behaviour
  Link
• 2024
  Can chatbots ever provide more social connection than humans?
  Folk, D., Yu, S.J., & Dunn, E.
  Collabra: Psychology
  Link
• 2024
  Examining the performance of the chi-square difference test when the unrestricted model is slightly misspecified
  Folk, D. & Savalei, V.
  Behavior Research Methods
  Link
• 2024
  Dare to know! The existential costs of a faith in science
  Folk, D., Rutjens, B. T., Van Elk, M., & Heine, S.
  The Journal of Positive Psychology
  Link
• 2024
  How can people become happier? A systematic review of preregistered experiments
  Folk, D. & Dunn, E.
  Annual Review of Psychology
  Link
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  • Scientific American
  • Big Think
• 2023
  A systematic review of the strength of evidence for the most commonly recommended happiness strategies in mainstream media
  Folk, D. & Dunn, E.
  Nature Human Behaviour
  Link
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  • New York Times
  • Wall Street Journal
  • Atlantic
  • Time
  • CBC
  • NPR
  Featured on the October 2023 cover of Nature Human Behaviour

  
• 2021
  Changes in social connection during COVID-19 social distancing: It's not (household) size that matters, it's who you're with
  Okabe-Miyamoto, K., Folk, D., Lyubomirsky, S., & Dunn, E.
  PloS One
  Link
• 2021
  Dimensionality, item response theory, effect size attenuation, and test bias analyses of the self-importance of moral identity scale (SIMIS)
  Lutz, P. K., O'Connor, B. P., & Folk, D.
  Journal of Personality Assessment
  Link
• 2020
  Did social connection decline during the first wave of COVID-19?: The role of extraversion
  Folk, D., Okabe-Miyamoto, K., Dunn, E., & Lyubomirsky, S.
  Collabra: Psychology
  Link
  Select Media

  • Washington Post