Joshua A. Hicks, PhD

Joshua A. Hicks, PhD, is a psychology of progress fellow at the Archbridge Institute. He is a professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Texas A&M University. His research focuses on existential psychology, with a primary emphasis on the subjective experience of meaning in life and authenticity. He examines situational and personal factors that give rise to these experiences, as well as why they matter for motivation, well-being, and social behavior. In his research, he integrates the methods of psychological science to empirically examine these enduring human concerns, offering insights into how people can build lives that feel both meaningful and authentically their own.

Dr. Hicks has published over 100 scholarly articles in leading scientific outlets, including the Annual Review of Psychology, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Nature, Nature Human Behaviour, and Nature Reviews Psychology. In addition, his research often reaches broad public audiences through outlets such as The Washington Post, TEDx, Scientific American, Greater Good Magazine, and NPR’s Think, among others.