Showing papers on "Happiness published in 1988"

The Principles of Morals and Legislation

Abstract: Jeremy Bentham's work on "The Principles of Morals and Legislation" emerges from its historic roots in hedonism and teleology as a scientific attempt to assess the moral content of human action by focusing on its results or consequences. Proceeding from the assumption that human beings desire pleasure (and avoid pain), Bentham's unique perspective, known as utilitarianism, is used to construct a fascinating calculus for determining which action to perform when confronted with situations requiring moral decision-making the goal of which is to arrive at the 'greatest happiness of the greatest number'. Toward this end, he endeavours to delineate the sources and kinds of pleasure and pain and how they can be measured when assessing one's moral options. Bentham supports his arguments with discussions of intentionality, consciousness, motives, and dispositions. Bentham concludes this groundbreaking work with an analysis of punishment: its purpose and the proper role that law and jurisprudence should play in its determination and implementation. Here we find Bentham as social reformer seeking to resolve the tension that inevitably exists when the concerns of the many conflict with individual freedom. This book offers readers the rare opportunity to experience one of the great works of moral philosophy, a volume that has influenced the course of ethical theory for over a century.

A review of research on the happiness measures: A sixty second index of happiness and mental health.

Abstract: Eighteen years of research using the Happiness Measures (HM) is reviewed in relation to the general progress of well-being measurement efforts. The accumulated findings on this remarkably quick instrument, show good reliability, exceptional stability, and a record of convergent, construct, and discriminative validity unparalleled in the field. Because of this, the HM is offered as a potential touchstone of measurement consistency in a field which generally lacks it.

Evaluating one's life: A judgment model of subjective well-being.

Abstract: Research on rhe use o f ‘no opinion'-filters suggests that respondents are the less likely to offer a substantive response the more strongly the filter question is worded. A series of experiments is reported that demonstrates that filter questions influence respondents’ perception of their task: the more strongly the filter question is worded, the more re­ spondents assume that they will have to answer difficult questions, and that they may not ha\e the required knowledge. Accordingly, filter questions discourage respondents from offering global opinions that they may hold. In line with this assumption, all respondents who reported not having an opinion in response to a filter question, subsequently pro­ vided substantive responses on a global opinion question— presumably because the global question asked was less demanding than expected on the basis of the filter. Analyses of these substantive responses indicated that respondents who initially reported not having an opinion differed from respondents who reported having one. M ethodo­ logical implications of these findings for the use of filter questions and for research on the nature o f ‘floating’ are discussed. C O N S E Q U E N C E S O F ‘ N O O P I N I O N ’ F I L T E R S The major goal of public opinion research is the description o f opinions held by a population. Accordingly, public opinion researchers frequently attempt to screen out respondents who do not hold an opinion on the issue under study because they assume that these respondents may provide meaningless responses. T o accomplish this screening task, they developed a variety o f filter questions that allow the identification of respondents who do not hold an opinion. This methodological research resulted in some of the most reliable findings in the area of question wording (cf. Schuman and Presser, 1981; Sudman and Brad burn, 1974 for reviews). In general, respondents are more likely to report not having an opinion on an issue when this alternative is explicitly offered as * A previous version o f (his paper w u presented al the m ating o f (he A m m an Association for Public Opinion Research, Toronto, Canada, May 1988. The reported research was supported by ZU M A's program on Cognition and Survey Methodology and by a Feodor-Lynen Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Sri/rung 10 Norbert Schnarz (C. World Allocution fo r Public Opinion Reuorch ig8g part of a ‘filtered’ question, than when it has to be volunteered in response ro the ‘standard form’ of the question that does not explicitly offer a ‘don’t know’ re­ sponse alternative. I f a ‘don’t know’ option is offered, the increase in 'no opinion’ responses depends on the specific form of the filter used. Generally, the use of a so called ‘quasi-filter’ results in smaller increases than the use of a ‘full-filter’ . In the former case, a ‘no opinion’ option is offered as part of a precoded set of re­ sponse alternatives, whereas in the latter ease respondents are explicitly asked whether they have an opinion on the issue before the interviewer proceeds to ask the question proper. Finally, the increase in ‘don’t know’ responses to a full filter depends on the strength of the wording of the filter question, with stronger wordings resulting in higher rates of no opinion responses. For example, more respondents provide a substantive answer when the filter question is worded, 'D o you have an opinion on this?’, than when it is worded, ‘Have you thought enough about this to have an opinion?’. Several processes are likely to contribute

The utility of happiness

Abstract: The issue. Nineteenth century utilitarian philosophers considered happiness as the highest good (‘utility’ in their words) and claimed political priority for attempts to promote the greatest happiness for the greatest number. In reaction, many of their contemporaries cried out that happiness is not good at all, because it turns people into ‘contented cows’ and undermines social bonds. Modern psychologists, however, tend to suggest positive effects: sharper awareness, more activity, better social functioning and better health. Data. No empirical investigations have yet focussed on consequences of happiness. Nevertheless, indications can be found in various studies covering other matters. This paper gathers the available data. These data do not allow definite conclusions, but do suggest several small yet noteworthy effects. Enjoyment of life seems to broaden perception, to encourage active involvement and thereby to foster political participation. It facilitates social contacts: in particular contacts with spouse and children. Further, happiness buffers stress, thereby preserving health and lengthening life somewhat. There is no evidence of harmful effects. It is concluded that society is more likely to flourish with happy citizens than with unhappy ones.

Pornography's Impact on Sexual Satisfaction1

Abstract: Male and female students and nonstudents were exposed to videotapes featuring common, nonviolent pornography or innocuous content. Exposure was in hourly sessions in six consecutive weeks. In the seventh week, subjects participated in an ostensibly unrelated study on societal institutions and personal gratifications. On an especially constructed questionnaire, subjects rated their personal happiness regarding various domains of experience; additionally, they indicated the relative importance of gratifying experiences. Exposure to pornography was without influence on the self-assessment of happiness and satisfaction outside the sexual realm (e.g., satisfaction deriving from professional accomplishments). In contrast, it strongly impacted self-assessment of sexual experience. After consumption of pornography, subjects reported less satisfaction with their intimate partners—specifically, with these partners' affection, physical appearance, sexual curiosity, and sexual performance proper. In addition, subjects assigned increased importance to sex without emotional involvement. These effects were uniform across gender and populations.

Solitude: A Return to the Self

Abstract: At a time when psychological well-being is increasingly measured by the success of our relationships with others, Britain's premier psychiatrist offers this welcome reminder that true health and happiness is ultimately based upon an individual's ability to live in peace with oneself.

The Changing Relationship of Marital Status to Reported Happiness.

Abstract: US national survey data show a steady decline from 1972 through 1986 in the positive relationship between being married and reported happiness. The change occurred primarily through an increase in the reported happiness of never-married males and a decrease in the reported happiness of married females. Given the well-documented changes that have occurred in American marriages and non-marital heterosexual relationships such a change should have been expected. In many respects differencies in the circumstances of married and unmarried persons have lessened. For instance for at least a substantial proportion of unmarried persons regular sexual relations without stigma have become available and now that divorce can easily be obtained by any spouse marriage no longer provides the security financial or otherwise that it once did. It is time to question the belief that the institution of marriage in this society remains as strong and viable as ever. That it could remain as strong as ever is doubtful in view of evidence that Americans are becoming increasingly individualistic and less committed to social groups of all kinds.

Emotion in social reflection and comparison situations: intuitive, systematic, and exploratory approaches.

Abstract: We asked 26 subjects to recall and describe social situations in which either a close or a distant other performed better or worse than the self at an activity that was either high or low in relevance to the self. Subjects then rated the extent to which they experienced each of 18 different emotions in each situation. They also rated each situation on a series of dimensions that Smith and Ellsworth (1985) found to be consequential for differentiating emotions. In a series of analyses guided by intuitive hypotheses, the Smith and Ellsworth theoretical approach, and a relatively unconstrained, open-ended exploration of the data, the situations were found to vary with respect to the emotions of pride, jealousy or envy, pride in the other, boredom, and happiness. We discuss the results in terms of their relevance to emotion theories and to the self-evaluation maintenance model of social behavior.

Value self-confrontation as a method to aid in weight loss.

Abstract: The impact on weight loss of an adaptation of the Rokeach(1973) value self-confrontation method was investigated in a field experiment. This method confronts people who have ranked their own values with information about the value priorities that discriminate between a positive and a negative reference group. A preliminary study revealed that successful weight losers differ from unsuccessful weight losers in valuing "wisdom" more than "happiness." Eighty-seven overweight adults were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: value self-confrontation, group discussion, or nontreatment control. Value self-confrontation subjects lost more weight than the other subjects over 2 months, and this weight loss persisted for an additional year. Changes in value priorities during the first 2 months suggest that weight loss was mediated by an increase in the importance attributed to wisdom relative to happiness. Implications for the theory of value-behavior relations and for practical application in weight loss programs are discussed. The method of value self-confrontation (VSC) developed by Rokeach (1973) seeks to change people's behavior by changing the value priorities underlying that behavior. This method has been applied successfully to influence such behaviors as joining the NAACP, making eye contact with Blacks, contributing money to programs fostering gender or minority group equality, supporting antipollution measures, consulting about career planning, smoking cigarettes, and classroom teaching (summarized in Ball-Rokeach, Rokeach, & Grube, 1984; Schwartz, in press). Our first aim is to report an application of the Rokeach method to a new behavior: dieting and persistent weight loss. The VSC method has produced significant behavior change in half of its 16 published applications. Surprisingly, however, there has been little research on whether the key theoretical process presumed to underlie the behavior change is indeed the mediator of that change. More specifically, does the behavior change in fact follow from a change in those particular value priorities brought to the subjects' attention by VSC? Evidence from the two studies that did address this question (Greenstein. 1982; Grube, Greenstein, Rankin. & Kearney. 1977) fails to support the theoretical mediating process. Our second aim is to examine this question in a more adequate manner.

An analysis of the encoding and decoding of spontaneous and posed smiles: The use of facial electromyography

Abstract: Twenty subjects judged 80 video segments containing brief episodes of smiling behavior for expression intensity and happiness of the stimulus person. The video records were produced under instructions to (a) pose, (b) experience a happy feeling or (c) to both experience and show a happy feeling. An analysis of the integrated facial electromyogram (EMG), recorded over four muscle regions (zygomaticus major, depressor anguli oris, corrugator supercilii, andmasseter), showed that judgments of happiness and of intensity of expression could be predicted in a multiple regression analysis (multipleR = .64 for perceived happiness and .79 for perceived expression intensity). The perception of happiness was affected by EMG activity in regions other thanzygomaticus major. The use of parameters other than the mean of the integrated EMG, namely variance, skewness, kurtosis and properties of the amplitude distributions across time, provided accurate classification of the elicitation conditions (pose happiness versus experience happiness) in a discriminant analysis. For the discrimination of posed and felt smiles variables describing aspects of facial activity in the temporal domain were more useful than any of the other measures. It is suggested that facial EMG can be a useful tool in the analysis of both the encoding and decoding of expressive behavior. The results indicate the advantage of using multiple-site EMG recordings as well as of using amplitude and temporal characteristics of the facial EMG measures.

In Pursuit of Happiness and Good Government

Abstract: The author of the controversial bestseller Losing Ground continues his challenge to big government's all-encompassing role

Religious Homogamy and Marital Happiness

Abstract: Data from a representative sample of 1,070 married Protestants and Catholics were used to examine the relationship between religious homogamy and marital happiness. Although couples may vary in the extent to which they share religious views (e.g., beliefs, values), previous research has treated religious homogamy as a dichotomy; a couple is either homogamous or it is not. A partial explanation for this is that few studies have gone beyond the broad divisions of Protestant, Catholic, and Jew. In the present study religious bodies were classified on the basis of doctrine and ritual, yielding six categories: Baptist, Calvinist, Catholic, fundamentalist, Lutheran, and Methodist. These categories were then used to develop a measure of estimated “religious distance” or degrees of heterogamy. This measure was used to test the hypothesis that the larger the religious distance or disparity, the greater the likelihood of unhappiness with the marriage. The hypothesis was supported by the data.

Blue-Collar and White-Collar Marital Interaction and Communication Orientation

Abstract: In light of a literature review identifying severe difficulties of interpretation attaching to previous prominent work on blue-collar marriages and on unhappy marriages, the present paper advances some new approaches to these relationships. The study assessed the effects of marital happiness (happy, unhappy), occupational status (blue-collar, white-collar), and communication orientation (high, low), on the frequency of negative affect and negative affect reciprocity during problem-solving in the home, without any observers present. The results indicated that the overall frequency of negative affect was influenced by marital happiness for both husbands and wives, occupational status for husbands, and the interaction of marital happiness with occupational status for wives; negative affect reciprocity was influenced only by marital happiness and not occupational status; and the empirical relationship between negative affect reciprocity and marital happiness was stronger for high communication oriented couple...

Judgments of relationship satisfaction: Inter‐ and intraindividual comparisons as a function of questionnaire structure

Abstract: Two experiments demonstrate that individuals use an interindividual comparison strategy to evaluate a speciJic life-domain if their attention is drawn to only one aspect of that domain, that has either positive or negative evaluative implications. If their attention is drawn to two aspects with opposite implications, however, an intra- individual strategy, based on the comparison of both aspects, is preferred. Whether one or two aspects bearing on a specific domain are salient is, among other conditions, a function of the number of aspects assessed in a questionnaire. Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed. INTRODUCTION Comparison processes have long been recognized to be at the heart of satisfaction judgments. From early philosophical considerations of the nature of contentment and happiness (for a review see Tatarkiewicz, 1976) to recent empirical investigations (for reviews see Diener, 1984; Strack, Argyle and Schwarz, in press), theoreticians have

Hassles, Health, and Happiness

Abstract: In this chapter Endler surveys the history of attitudes toward mental illness, particularly from the perspective of the effects of stress upon health. We are provided with an analysis of the varying concepts of stress itself, as well as a discussion of the relationships among stress, anxiety, vulnerability, and illness. These reviews give us a deft sequel to those presented in the previous chapter. The theme of differences in vulnerability of individuals to the effects of stress and anxiety complements Rosen-man’s preceding discussion of the multiplicity of factors involved in cardiovascular health and illness. Endler’s unique interactional approach to the study of anxiety, and indeed personality, is given full exposition here, with particular emphasis upon his most recent investigations. The research upon a myriad of variables, as they are related to stress and coping, is detailed here; in addition to stress, anxiety, and vulnerability, the relationship of these variables to such factors as biochemical changes, cognitive factors, hassles, illness, stressful life events, and the Type A behavior pattern are all reviewed. This is presented in the context of dynamic interactionism, with special emphases upon three approaches: the interaction model of personality, the multidimensional interaction model of anxiety, and the dynamic interaction stress model. Before concluding the chapter, Endler gives emphasis to the roles of optimism, self-efficacy, and perceived control in stressful situations in determining health and happiness.

Subjective well-being evaluations among older Black Americans.

Abstract: The causal relations among social status and resource, health, and stress factors, and a single-item measure of subjective well-being (i.e., happiness) were examined among a national sample of 581 Black adults aged 55 years and over. Results indicated that although social status and resource factors had a limited impact on happiness ratings, these measures were important in predicting intermediate factors related to health status and satisfaction and stress. Happiness was directly influenced by stress and reported satisfaction with health, whereas the effect of health disability was mediated by stress and health satisfaction. The findings suggest that certain groups of older Blacks (i.e., relatively younger, widowed, and separated) may be at specific risk for diminished well-being. However, adverse health and life conditions, which are determined by status and resources, represent circumstances that further jeopardize the well-being of older Black adults.

Social Support, Personality, and Health

Abstract: This review by Sarason vividly describes how certain personal and social factors can influence vulnerability to stress. The focus is upon life events and social support, and how these and other factors may interact to effect health, illness, and happiness. He points out how the original thinking that all life events (positive and negative) contribute to increased vulnerability has been supplanted by recent data indicating serious repercussions for health and adjustment for negative life events, but neutral or positive consequences for positive life events. There follows a review of the issues in the personality and life events-illness relationship that focuses on both individual differences in personality characteristics such as locus of control and sensation seeking, and on the nature of appraisal of life events. Both factors contribute to the determination of the amount of stress that will be experienced by the individual. The majority of the chapter, however, is devoted to the author’s research on social support. He sets the background by emphasizing the environmental and individual difference perspectives, both essential to an understanding of the influence of social support upon health. His review of the literature provides both answers and questions, as he probes data related to such diverse things as aging, reproduction and birth complications, immune function, job disruptions, chest pain, and asthma. His own research on the topic is rich and thorough.

Marital Happiness and Interaction in Everyday Surroundings: A Time-Sample Diary Approach for Couples

Abstract: This study investigates spouses' everyday life experiences and relates them to marital happiness. Twenty-one couples, either married or living together, filled out a diary six times a day during a period of 4 weeks. It was hypothesized that marital happiness is associated with frequency, positivity and effectiveness of spousal interaction. Moreover, happiness should be inversely related to frequency of conflict and positively to accuracy of perception of the other's motivational state. In general, these assumptions were supported by the data.

A Dyadic Approach to Predicting Well-Being in Later Life

Abstract: This study compares the effects of a number of variables previously found to be important predictors of well-being such as income, health, and social interaction on one dimension of well-being, hap...

Australian attitudes : social and political analyses from the National Social Science Survey

Abstract: Presenting a set of analyses from the National Social Science Survey this book explores a range of questions about the attitudes, values and behaviour of the Australian public. The authors have aimed to produce a book which is of interest to scholars and general readers alike. The topics covered include attitudes towards moral issues such as abortion and foreign aid, views on economic policy and the political system in general, political ideology, access to higher education and attitudes associated with different educational backgrounds, discrimination against immigrants, female participation in the workforce and the content of work, happiness and satisfaction with life, and religious beliefs and the Church. The National Social Science Survey is considered to be the most comprehensive national sample survey of social and political attitudes ever undertaken in Australia, and in addition to updating some earlier work with fresh evidence for the 1980s, the book presents a number of completely new analyses of topics that have not until now been subject to systematic analysis of this sort. Jonathan Kelley is the director of the National Social Science Survey, which is conducted by the Research School of Social Sciences at ANU.

Utility-Enhancing Consumption Constraints

Abstract: The Greek poets and philosophers, united in a belief that men and women perceive the world around them very poorly, for this reason describe much of human behavior as fumbling for happiness in the dark. By contrast, perception failure is anathema to the modern tradition, as even the most innocent sort plays havoc with modern preference axioms.

The Marital Integration of Religious Independents: A Reevaluation of Its Significance

Abstract: Research on individuals who become religious independents ("Nones") has generally overlooked or dismissed one measure of social integration: marital status. The present investigation, using data from the merged file (1973-1984) of the N. O.R.C. General Social Surveys, demonstrates the importance that marital integration has for the study of religious independence. In comparison with those who identify with religious groups, the independents are less likely to be married, and, if they do marry, they are more likely to be divorced, separated, and involved in a remarriage. Their identification as religious independents appears to be less related to parents' and spouses' religion than does the identification of religious affiliates. Not only does marital integration differentiate independents and affiliates, but, in some ways, marriage is a stronger correlate of other types of integration among independents than among affiliates. Marriage appears to increase reported personal happiness, to increase belief in life after death, and to increase certain types of conservatism. The relevance that these findings have for various theories of apostasy is discussed.

Principled Atheism in the Buddhist Scholastic Tradition

Abstract: The doctrine that there is no permanent creator who superintends creation and takes care of his creatures accords quite well with each of the principles known as the four noble truths of Buddhism. The first truth, that distress is universal, is traditionally expounded in terms of the impermanence of all features of experience and in terms of the absence of genuine unity or personal identity in the multitude of physical and mental factors that constitute what we experience as a single person. As we saw above, the principal Buddhist arguments against the existence of God focus on the impossibility of permanence and unity in the causal structure of the universe. The second noble truth, that distress is the outcome of one's own unrealistic aspirations, is traditionally seen as ruling out the erroneous view that distress is something inflicted upon creatures by a cosmic superintendent or by other circumstances completely beyond their control. The third noble truth, that distress can be eliminated by divesting oneself of all unrealistic aspirations, rules out the view that sentient beings, as powerless victims of a divine will, have no alternative to a life of constant frustration. And the fourth noble truth, that the best means of removing unrealistic desires is to follow a methodical course of self-discipline, counters the view that the road to happiness lies in obedience to divine will or in trying to manipulate the sentiments of a cosmic intelligence through prayer or ritual.

Behind the happiness barrier.

Abstract: Happiness can be treated either as ephemeral, unstable. unresearchable or as something inherent of given ways of life, dispositions towards life. Here, the latter position is taken, and happiness is seen in the context of the whole life situation. Also, happiness is taken to be socially determined and ruled by social norms: the concept of happiness barrier is proposed, i.e. a situation where people present themselves as happy and need to develop stategies for this purpose.