Pär Bjälkebring

Pär Bjälkebring serves as a Lecturer in the Section for Neuro, Cognitive and Developmental Psychology at the University of Gothenburg. His academic journey includes a Ph.D. in Psychology from the same institution (2014), postdoctoral work at The Ohio State University (2016-2019), and a B.A. in Psychology from Gothenburg (2008).

His research centers on how emotions and cognition shape decision-making across the lifespan, with specific focus on happiness, emotion regulation, numerical ability, and regret. Key research questions examine psychological constructs related to long, healthy, and happy lives; strategies for avoiding decision regret; and the relationship between helping others and personal happiness. Ongoing projects investigate lifelong learning, elderly decision-making, numerical decisions, moral decisions, and happiness.

His publication trends reveal strong interdisciplinary engagement spanning environmental psychology (heatwave resilience studies), cognitive science (numeracy scales development), gerontology (retirement transitions), and social psychology (pandemic impacts). Recent work demonstrates increasing focus on applied decision science in aging populations and quantitative aspects of well-being.

Bjälkebring maintains active collaborations with the University of Oregon, University of Victoria, Linköping University, Decision Research, and The Ohio State University. His teaching portfolio includes Methodology, Statistics, Social Psychology, and Developmental Psychology courses. He has shared his happiness research through multiple podcast appearances including Sense and Sensibility, Science Podcast, and Sveriges Radio.

His laboratory work involves longitudinal studies of aging populations, particularly through the HEARTS (HEalth, Ageing and Retirement Transitions in Sweden) study, examining cognitive performance, psychological health, and decision-making in retirement transitions.