Showing papers on "Happiness published in 2002"

Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment

Abstract: In this important, entertaining book, one of the world's most celebrated psychologists, Martin Seligman, asserts that happiness can be learned and cultivated, and that everyone has the power to inject real joy into their lives. In "Authentic Happiness", he describes the 24 strengths and virtues unique to the human psyche. Each of us, it seems, has at least five of these attributes, and can build on them to identify and develop to our maximum potential. By incorporating these strengths - which include kindness, originality, humour, optimism, curiosity, enthusiasm and generosity - into our everyday lives, he tells us, we can reach new levels of optimism, happiness and productivity. "Authentic Happiness" provides a variety of tests and unique assessment tools to enable readers to discover and deploy those strengths at work, in love and in raising children. By accessing the very best in ourselves, we can improve the world around us and achieve new and lasting levels of authentic contentment and joy.

Optimizing well-being: the empirical encounter of two traditions.

Abstract: Subjective well-being (SWB) is evaluation of life in terms of satisfaction and balance between positive and negative affect; psychological well-being (PWB) entails perception of engagement with existential challenges of life. The authors hypothesized that these research streams are conceptually related but empirically distinct and that combinations of them relate differentially to sociodemographics and personality. Data are from a national sample of 3,032 Americans aged 25–74. Factor analyses confirmed the related-but-distinct status of SWB and PWB. The probability of optimal well-being (high SWB and PWB) increased as age, education, extraversion, and conscientiousness increased and as neuroticism decreased. Compared with adults with higher SWB than PWB, adults with higher PWB than SWB were younger, had more education, and showed more openness to experience. Research on well-being has flourished in recent decades (Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999; Kahneman, Diener, & Schwarz, 1999), with increasing recognition of the different streams of inquiry guiding this broad domain. Ryan and Deci’s (2001) integrative review organized the field of well-being into two broad traditions: one dealing with happiness (hedonic well-being), and one dealing with human potential (eudaimonic well-being; Ryan & Deci, 2001; see also Waterman, 1993). In the present study, we draw and extend these distinctions, which we refer to as traditions of research on subjective well-being (SWB) and psychological well-being (PWB). We use these terms to underscore the fact that studies of SWB have repeatedly included not only affective indicators of happiness (hedonic well-being) but also cognitive assessments of life satisfaction. In addition, some aspects of PWB (e.g., personal growth, purpose in life) but not others (e.g., positive relations with others, self-acceptance) reflect the self-fulfillment meanings of eudaimonic well-being. As described below, SWB and PWB are also the overarching phrases most frequently used in studies that constitute these traditions, both of which are fundamentally concerned with subjective accounts of well-being. Our specific empirical aims are to examine whether indicators of SWB and PWB constitute taxonomically distinct reflections of well-being in a national sample of U.S. adults. Although both approaches assess well-being, they address different features of what it means to be well: SWB involves more global evaluations of affect and life quality, whereas PWB examines perceived thriving vis-a `-vis the existential challenges of life (e.g., pursuing meaningful goals, growing and developing as a person, establishing quality ties to others). We further test the hypothesis that these distinct varieties of well-being are contoured by the broad categories of sociodemographic and personality factors. Specifically, we investigate the role of location in the life course (i.e., age) and position in the socioeconomic hierarchy (e.g., educational status) as well as personality traits in accounting for different profiles of well-being. To put the inquiry in historical context, we provide a brief summary of each tradition.

What can economists learn from happiness research

Abstract: In recent years, there has been a steadily increasing interest on the part of economists in happiness research. We argue that reported subjective well-being is a satisfactory empirical approximation to individual utility and that happiness research is able to contribute important insights for economics. We report how the economic variables income, unemployment and inflation affect happiness as well as how institutional factors, in particular the type of democracy and the extent of government decentralization, systematically influence how satisfied individuals are with their life. We discuss some of the consequences for economic policy and for economic theory.

Very Happy People

Abstract: A sample of 222 undergraduates was screened for high happiness using multiple confirming assessment filters. We compared the upper 10% of consistently very happy people with average and very unhappy people. The very happy people were highly social, and had stronger romantic and other social relationships than less happy groups. They were more extraverted, more agreeable, and less neu- rotic, and scored lower on several psychopathology scales of the Min- nesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. Compared with the less happy groups, the happiest respondents did not exercise significantly more, participate in religious activities significantly more, or experi- ence more objectively defined good events. No variable was sufficient for happiness, but good social relations were necessary. Members of the happiest group experienced positive, but not ecstatic, feelings most of the time, and they reported occasional negative moods. This sug- gests that very happy people do have a functioning emotion system that can react appropriately to life events. Investigations of very unhappy individuals, such as people with anxiety and mood disorders, abound in the psychological literature (Myers, 2000). In contrast, investigations of happy people are rare, and investigations of very happy people do not exist. This imbalance probably stems from clinical psychology's historic emphasis on pa- thology, coupled with the belief that understanding abnormal pro- cesses can illuminate normal processes. We have the complementary belief: that understanding "supranormal" individuals can illuminate normal processes, and that knowing how very happy people function might provide information on how to buffer very unhappy people against psychopathology (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). We report here the first study of the behavioral and personality correlates of high happiness. In this study, we examined some factors that seem likely to influence high happiness: social relationships, personality and psychopathology, and variables (e.g., religiosity and exercise) that have been related to subjective well-being in correlational studies. In addition to examining how the happiest respondents compared with the average and with very unhappy respondents on these variables, we examined the patterns of necessity and sufficiency. For a variable to be sufficient for happiness, all persons with that variable should be happy (i.e., if X , always happy)- and therefore virtually no unhappy people should possess the variable. For a variable to be necessary for happiness, virtually every happy per- son should possess that variable (i.e., if happy, then X ). Thus, in these analyses, we examined whether there is a "key" to happiness—a vari- able that is both necessary and sufficient for happiness. A third purpose of the study was to examine the moods and emo- tions of the happiest individuals. Did they experience mostly euphoric feelings or only moderate positive emotions on most occasions? Did they experience occasional unpleasant emotions? If the happiest peo- ple never experienced negative emotions and were locked into eu- phoric feelings, the state might be dysfunctional because these individuals would not react to the events happening to them and would not receive calibrated feedback from their emotions.

The High Price of Materialism

Abstract: In The High Price of Materialism, Tim Kasser offers a scientific explanation of how our contemporary culture of consumerism and materialism affects our everyday happiness and psychological health. Other writers have shown that once we have sufficient food, shelter, and clothing, further material gains do little to improve our well-being. Kasser goes beyond these findings to investigate how people's materialistic desires relate to their well-being. He shows that people whose values center on the accumulation of wealth or material possessions face a greater risk of unhappiness, including anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and problems with intimacy -- regardless of age, income, or culture. Drawing on a decade's worth of empirical data, Kasser examines what happens when we organize our lives around materialistic pursuits. He looks at the effects on our internal experience and interpersonal relationships, as well as on our communities and the world at large. He shows that materialistic values actually undermine our well-being, as they perpetuate feelings of insecurity, weaken the ties that bind us, and make us feel less free. Kasser not only defines the problem but proposes ways we can change ourselves, our families, and society to become less materialistic.

Maximizing versus satisficing: happiness is a matter of choice

Abstract: Can people feel worse off as the options they face increase? The present studies suggest that some people--maximizers--can. Study 1 reported a Maximization Scale, which measures individual differences in desire to maximize. Seven samples revealed negative correlations between maximization and happiness, optimism, self-esteem, and life satisfaction, and positive correlations between maximization and depression, perfectionism, and regret. Study 2 found maximizers less satisfied than nonmaximizers (satisficers) with consumer decisions, and more likely to engage in social comparison. Study 3 found maximizers more adversely affected by upward social comparison. Study 4 found maximizers more sensitive to regret and less satisfied in an ultimatum bargaining game. The interaction between maximizing and choice is discussed in terms of regret, adaptation, and self-blame.

Materialistic values and well‐being in business students

Abstract: We explored whether values focused on money, image, and popularity are associated with lowered well-being, even in environmental circumstances supportive of such values. To this end, we administered three widely used measures of a materialistic value orientation to 92 business students in Singapore. As expected, those students who had strongly internalized materialistic values also reported lowered self-actualization, vitality and happiness, as well as increased anxiety, physical symptomatology, and unhappiness. Results are consistent with past research suggesting that some types of values may be unhealthy. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Flow: The Classic Work on How to Achieve Happiness

Abstract: What really makes people glad to be alive? What are the inner experiences that make life worthwhile? For more than two decades Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi studied those states in which people report feelings of concentration and deep enjoyment. His studies revealed that what makes experience genuinely satisfying is 'flow' - a state of concentration so focused that it amounts to complete absorption in an activity and results in the achievement of a perfect state of happiness. Flow has become the classic work on happiness and a major contribution to contemporary psychology. It examines such timeless issues as the challenge of lifelong learning; family relationships; art, sport and sex as 'flow'; the pain of loneliness; optimal use of free time; and how to make our lives meaningful.

Happiness and Economics: How the Economy and Institutions Affect Human Well‐being

Abstract: happiness and economics how the economy and institutions happiness and economics how the economy and institutions happiness and economics how the economy and institutions frey, bruno s. and alois stutzer (2002). happiness and recent developments in the economics of happiness: a school of economics and management ulisboa richard a. easterlin ta: andreas aristidou lecture: tth 12 subjective well-being as information and guidance review link.springer wellbeing articles university of reading raumplanung: economics and the study of individual the science of well-being penn arts & sciences regulation, deregulation, and happiness in copyright non-commercial use permitted rights inequality, well-being and happiness in historical perspective deborah a. small laura and john j. pomerantz professor of environment, institutions and well-being economics and wellbeing in switzerland unil big data e happiness economics researchgate happiness, efficiency, and the promise of decisional a cracker of book whrose european union lawcard veencl economics happiness analysis university paperback pdf download introduction to the conference on law and happiness state and nation in south asia kscaff general chemistry solutions manual 7th edition alois stutzer june 2012 addresses institutions and economic performance: what can be explained? my young master rybolt document about enhancing emotional intelligencemindfulness after the parade taasy what can an industrial engineer do fakof how much do external factors affect wellbeing? a way to toyota sienna repair manual 2011 veencl history frontier and section niraj l.a. confidential: the screenplay by brian helgeland answers for the photosynthesis powerpoint question guide small fish big fbtest feminist thought a more comprehensive introduction ebook

Does Happiness Pay? An Exploration Based on Panel Data from Russia

Abstract: This paper explores differences in the determinants of long term happiness levels versus those of short term fluctuations. It also departs from the usual analysis of the effects of income on happiness, and explores the effects of happiness on future income. We find, based on panel data for 6500 respondents in Russia for 1995-2000, that static variables such as gender, stable marital status, and education levels, are more likely to have effects on normal happiness levels, while changes in socioeconomic or marital status (particularly divorce) are more likely to cause fluctuations in happiness levels. We also find both happiness and positive expectations for the future in the initial period are positively correlated with higher levels of income in future periods. People with negative perceptions of their own past progress and/or with higher fear of unemployment, meanwhile, increase their incomes less, on average, over the period. The psychology literature attributes stability in happiness levels over time to positive cognitive bias, such as self esteem, control, and optimism. The same factors may be at play here, and enhance individuals' performance in the labor market.

Can Mixed Emotions Peacefully Coexist

Abstract: This research sheds insight on the psychological impact of mixed emotions on attitudes. In three experiments, we show that persuasion appeals that highlight conflicting emotions (e.g., both happiness and sadness) lead to less favorable attitudes for individuals with a lower propensity to accept duality (e.g., Anglo Americans, younger adults) relative to those with a higher propensity (e.g., Asian Americans, older adults). The effect appears to be due to increased levels of felt discomfort that arise for those with a lower, but not higher, propensity to accept duality when exposed to mixed emotional appeals. Theoretical implications regarding boundary conditions of emotional dissonance and distinctions between emotional and cognitive dissonance are discussed.

A simple statistical method for measuring how life events affect happiness

Abstract: Background Life events—like illness, marriage, or unemployment—have important effects on people. But there is no accepted way to measure the different sizes of these events upon human happiness and psychological health. By using happiness regression equations, economists have recently developed a method. Methods We estimate happiness regressions using large random samples of individuals. The relative coefficients of income and life events on happiness allow us to calculate a monetary ‘compensating amount’ for each kind of life event. Results The paper calculates the impact of different life events upon human well-being. Getting married, for instance, is calculated to bring each year the same amount of happiness, on average, as having an extra £70 000 of income per annum. The psychological costs of losing a job greatly exceed those from the pure drop in income. Health is hugely important to happiness. Widowhood brings a degree of unhappiness that would take, on average, an extra £170 000 per annum to offset. Well-being regressions also allow us to assess one of the oldest conjectures in social science—that well-being depends not just on absolute things but inherently on comparisons with other people. We find evidence for comparison effects. Conclusion We believe that the new statistical method has many applications. In principle, it can be used to value any kind of event in life.

Religion and the Quality of Life

Abstract: Subjective and objective indicators of the quality of life (QOL) are used to test relationships with religious involvement, participation, and belief. Findings from other studies show religious involvement to be associated with longer life. The percent of religious adherents in a state is correlated with the harmony domain of the QOL and negatively with an indicator of stress. After reviewing relevant previous studies, I examine data from the 1972–1996 General Social Survey Cumulative File. It shows happiness to be associated with the frequency of attendance at religious services, with denominational preference, and with doctrinal preference. Happiness also is associated with certain religious-related beliefs: belief that the world is evil or good but not belief in immortality. In a discussion of these and other findings, hypotheses are suggested to explain and to further explore the effects of religion upon the QOL. Among the conclusions: our conception of the "good life" rests heavily upon Judeo-Christian ideals; religious organizations contribute to the integration of the community, hence enhancing the QOL; since frequency of attendance is imperfectly associated with the QOL, other influences are at work; the doctrine of the religion may attract persons of happy disposition; religion may explain a purpose in life that fosters well-being; and others. I suggest implications of the findings for programs of religious organizations.

Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Harvard Study of Adult Development

Abstract: In an unprecedented series of studies, Harvard Medical School has followed 824 subjects-men and women, some rich, some poor- from their teens to old age. Harvard's George Vaillant now uses these studies, the most complete ever done anywhere in the world, and the subjects' individual histories to illustrate the factors involved in reaching a happy, healthy old age. He explains precisely why some people turn out to be more resilient than others, the complicated effects of marriage and divorce, negative personality changes, and how to live a more fulfilling, satisfying and rewarding life in the later years. He shows why a person's background has less to do with their eventual happiness than the specific lifestyle choices they make. And he offers step-by-step advice about how each of us can change our lifestyles and age successfully. Sure to be debated on talk shows and in living rooms, Vaillant's definitive and inspiring book is the new classic account of how we live and how we can live better.

Preferences over Prosperity and Pollution: Environmental Valuation based on Happiness Surveys

Abstract: This paper uses cross-national data from happiness surveys, jointly with data on per capita income and pollution, to examine how self-reported well-being varies with prosperity and environmental conditions. This approach allows us to show that citizens care about prosperity and the environment, and to calculate the trade-off people are willing to make between them. The paper finds that the effect of urban air pollution on subjective well-being shows up as a considerable monetary valuation of improved air quality. For instance, a representative German citizen would need to be given more than 1900$ per year in order to accept the typical urban air pollution level prevailing in Japan. The subjective marginal valuation of air pollution is compared with marginal abatement costs from the literature. Copyright 2002 by WWZ and Helbing & Lichtenhahn Verlag AG

Individualism/Collectivism and Cultures of Happiness: A Theoretical Conjecture on the Relationship between Consumption, Culture and Subjective Well-Being at the National Level

Abstract: This theory paper seeks to explain an empirical puzzle presented by past research on the relationship between consumption and subjective well-being (SWB). Research has shown that people in rich countries are, on average, significantly higher in SWB than people in poor countries, which is consistent with a strong link between one's overall level of consumption and one's SWB. However, when individuals within the same country are compared, income has little relationship to SWB above the level at which basic needs can be met, suggesting that higher levels of consumption may not be linked to higher levels of SWB. This link between consumption and SWB when nations are compared to each other, but not when individuals within a given nation are compared to each other, presents a puzzle. As a solution, I propose that economic development leads to higher levels of national average SWB not by increasing consumption (again, with the caveat that this statement excludes situations where basic needs are not being met), but by creating more individualistic cultures which encourage their members to pursue personal happiness over honor and meeting social obligations. Whether or not this is seen as a socially positive development depends in a circular fashion on the cultural values of the person making the judgement.

Women's Employment, Marital Happiness, and Divorce

Abstract: The relationship between women's employment and the risk of divorce is both complex and controversial. The role specialization (or interdependence) view of marriage argues that the gains to marriage for both partners decrease when both are in the labor force, and hence women's employment destabilizes marriage. In contrast, the economic opportunity hypothesis asserts that female labor force participation does not intrinsically weaken marriage, but gives women resources that they can use to leave unsatisfactory marriages. Here we use data from the two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households to conduct the first large-scale empirical test of those conflicting claims. Our results provide clear evidence that, at the individual level, women's employment does not destabilize happy marriages but increases the risk of disruption in unhappy marriages.

Happiness in economics

Abstract: Part 1 Early contributors: happiness and income - does economic growth improve the human lot? some empirical evidence, Richard A. Easterlin determinants of the happiness-income relationship - preferences or happiness?, Jeffrey Friedman and Adam McCabe, my own criticism of "The Joyless Economy", Tibor Scitovsky, economic growth and social welfare - the need for a complete study of happiness, Yew-Kwang Ng policy implications -the frame of reference as a public good, Robert H. Frank, human satisfactions and public policy, R. Layard the Leyden analysis of income norms - the measurement of welfare and well-being - the Leyden approach, Bernard M.S. van Praag and Paul Frijters, the relativity of utility - evidence from panel data, Huib can de Stadt, relative utility and income growth - an example, Arie Kapteyn. Part 2 Recent contributions - the determinants of happiness: happiness and economic performance, Andrew J. Oswald unhappiness and unemployment, Andrew E. Clark and Andrew J. Oswald preferences over inflation and unemployment - evidence from surveys of happiness, Rafael di Tella et al happiness, economy and institutions, Bruno S. Frey and Alois Stutzer income and happiness - towards a unified theory, Richard A. Easterlin rationality, joy and freedom, Amartya Sen.

Subjective Well-Being Across Cultures

Abstract: All individuals strive to be happy. How they pursue this ultimate human goal, however, seems to vary in interesting ways across cultures. Three key findings have emerged from recent scientific research: 1) individualist cultures are happier than collectivists, 2) psychological attributes characterizing the self (e.g., self-esteem, self-consistency) are more relevant to the happiness of Western individualists than to the happiness of collectivists, and 3) the self-judgment of happiness is anchored on different types of cues and experiences across cultures. Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. This article is available in Online Readings in Psychology and Culture: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/orpc/vol10/iss1/1

The Importance of Spirituality in Well-Being for Jews and Christians

Abstract: There is a well-known association between religion and happiness, although it is not known which particular aspects of religiosity correlate with life satisfaction, or if the correlates are different for people of different religions In three studies, the correlations of different facets of religiosity with happiness or life satisfaction were explored In different samples and with different measures, congregational support and public practice of religion appear to correlate similarly with measures of life satisfaction for members of different religions However, spirituality, religious coping, and religious belief were better predictors of happiness and quality of life for Protestants and Catholics than for Jews It is therefore contended that religion should be an important consideration, along with religiosity, in study of satisfaction with life, and that the link between spirituality and life satisfaction be followed up, particularly among Christians

Gender, Aging, and Subjective Well-Being:

Abstract: Previous research has consistently found that men and women have similar levels of happiness, life satisfaction, and other global measures of subjective well-being. This article demonstrates that s...

The Construct Validity of Ryff's Scales of Psychological Well-Being (SPWB) and their Relationship to Measures of Subjective Well-Being

Abstract: The factor structure of Ryff's Scales of Psychological Well-Being (SPWB) and their relationship to standardized measures of subjective well-being (SWB) were investigated. Two hundred seventy-seven participants ranging in age from 18 to 48 years were administered the Memorial University of Newfoundland Scale of Happiness (MUNSH), the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), and the SPWB. Results failed to support either the hypothesis that performing factor analytic procedures on the items of the SPWB should produce a six-factor solution, with scale-specific items loading most highly on their respective factors or the hypothesis that subjecting the sub-scales of the SPWB to factor analytic procedures along with standardized measures of SWB would produce one higher-order well-being factor. Instead, item loadings clustered around three major factors that could not be identified with the six scales proposed by Ryff. Moreover, the factor analysis of SPWB and SWB scale totals produced three, instead of one, higher-order factors. Implications of findings are discussed with respect to the relationship of the PWB construct to the SWB construct.

Human affection exchange: V. Attributes of the highly affectionate

Abstract: The present study examines differences in the individual‐and social‐level characteristics of high‐affection and low‐affection communicators. One hundred nine adults completed extensive questionnaires about their happiness, attachment patterns, susceptibility to depression and stress, mental health, social activity, relationship satisfaction, and other variables. Results revealed that highly affectionate people are advantaged in numerous psychological, mental, emotional, social, and relational characteristics, relative to those who communicate little affection to others.