Rate My Professor Saida Heshmati

Saida Heshmati is an Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Division of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences at Claremont Graduate University, where she has served since 2019 and directs the Human Emotions and Relationships across Time and Culture (HEART) Lab. Her academic journey includes a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Arizona with a minor in Cognitive Psychology, an M.A. in Educational Psychology from the same university in 2011, and a B.A. in English Literature from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran, in 2008. Before her current appointment, she completed postdoctoral fellowships at Pennsylvania State University in the Prevention Research Center and Quantitative Developmental Systems Methodology Core, and held positions as a graduate research associate and teaching assistant at the University of Arizona.

Heshmati's scholarship centers on positive developmental psychology, examining human flourishing across the lifespan through positive relationships, love, and dynamic emotional processes. She employs intensive longitudinal designs, Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), dynamic network analysis, Bayesian time-series models, and Cultural Consensus Theory to advance understanding of well-being in everyday life and diverse cultures. Key publications include “Psychological well-being and personality traits are associated with experiencing love in everyday life” (Personality and Individual Differences, 2020), “What does it mean to feel loved: Cultural consensus and individual differences” (Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 2017), “Conceptualizing psychological well-being as a dynamic process: Implications for research on mobile health interventions” (Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2024), “Novel Approaches Toward Studying Change: Implications for Understanding and Treating Psychopathology” (Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 2024), and “Momentary PERMA: An adapted measurement tool for studying well-being in daily life” (Journal of Happiness Studies, 2023). As Principal Investigator of a Templeton Foundation grant exceeding $1.7 million for a cross-cultural study of love across six countries, her work has significant impact. Heshmati has been honored with the International Positive Psychology Association Early Career Researcher Award, the European Loewe Foundation Scholarship ($25,000), and top author recognitions from the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.