Topic
Happiness
About: Happiness is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 22093 publications have been published within this topic receiving 728411 citations. The topic is also known as: joy & happy.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
More filters
••
TL;DR: Physicians use a variety of approaches to promote their own well-being, which sort themselves into 5 main categories and appear to correlate with improved levels of psychological well- being among users.
Abstract: Why do we know so much about physician impairment and so little about positive physician functioning? Studies exploring physician functioning in the medical literature have focused on negative behavioral indices such as divorce, suicide, mental and physical illness, marital dysfunction, drug and alcohol use, and burnout.1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16 This tendency to pathologize seems to also pervade the general psychological literature.17 The presumption in the literature seems to be that the absence of impairment is an indication of health. Indeed, in a study by St Claire and colleagues, physicians defined health simply as the absence of disease.18 This stands in stark contrast to patients, who define health much more broadly, using terms such as “being able,” “taking action,” and “physical well-being.”
There is little information that delineates the specific physician practices that promote successful life adjustment. Several authors draw on personal experience or provide anecdotes of their professional work to suggest ways to prevent burnout, overcome compassion fatigue, renew the joy in practice, and create life balance.19,20,21,22 Their ideas appear to be valid, but they are generally not grounded in any specific research. Yet, many practicing physicians are able to maintain balance and meaning in their lives despite the stressors and limitations of their practices. What do they do to survive—indeed, thrive—while some of their other colleagues suffer? How is it that some are more effective at this than others? Is this something that can be promoted?
Manusov discovered that specific strategies used by 14 first-year residents to positively influence their level of happiness (an affective measure of psychological well-being) were pursuing and achieving goals, being positive, being in relationships, having a religious belief system, and receiving positive feedback.23 Quill and Williamson sorted the creative solutions used by practicing internal medicine physicians to cope with the stressors of medical practice into 5 categories: self-awareness, sharing of feelings and responsibilities, self-care, developing a personal philosophy, and setting limits.24 Their 10% response rate (out of 600 surveys) suggests that it is difficult to obtain qualitative data from busy physicians, and the low response rate may limit the generalizability of their findings.
A 1997 survey of primary care physicians found that psychological and emotional well-being among physicians was significantly associated with the ability to maintain individual identities in relationships with original family members, with the presence of strong social support, and with levels of practice stress.25 In that survey, qualitative data were requested from physician participants related to how they maintain their physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. In this article, we report those qualitative results. Our goals are to shed additional light on the wellness-promotion activities used by practicing physicians, to assess the extent to which such practices are actually associated with increased well-being, and to promote further research in this area.
141 citations
••
TL;DR: This article reviewed and integrated the contemporary literature on the societal effects of income inequality, drawing on social, personality, developmental, and organizational psychology, sociology, political science, economics, and public health.
Abstract: In this paper, we review and integrate the contemporary literature on the societal effects of income inequality, drawing on social, personality, developmental, and organizational psychology, sociology, political science, economics, and public health. Living in highly unequal regimes is associated with both increased mistrust and increased anxiety about social status; these psychological mechanisms help explain some of the negative outcomes associated with income inequality, such as lower happiness, lower social cohesion, weaker morality, higher mortality, worse health, and weaker governance.
141 citations
••
01 Jan 2010
141 citations
••
TL;DR: The question of whether any animals other than humans can feel emotions has been widely discussed in the literature (e.g., see as mentioned in this paper for a survey). But, to date, relatively little systematic empirical research has been devoted to animal emotions, especially among free-ranging animals.
Abstract: depression, and dogs happiness and dejection? People disagree about the nature of emotions in nonhuman animal beings (hereafter animals), especially concerning the question of whether any animals other than humans can feel emotions (Ekman 1998). Pythagoreans long ago believed that animals experience the same range of emotions as humans (Coates 1998), and current research provides compelling evidence that at least some animals likely feel a full range of emotions, including fear, joy, happiness, shame, embarrassment, resentment, jealousy, rage, anger, love, pleasure, compassion, respect, relief, disgust, sadness, despair, and grief (Skutch 1996, Poole 1996, 1998, Panksepp 1998, Archer 1999, Cabanac 1999, Bekoff 2000). The expression of emotions in animals raises a number of stimulating and challenging questions to which relatively little systematic empirical research has been devoted, especially among free-ranging animals. Popular accounts (e.g., Masson and McCarthy’s When Elephants Weep, 1995) have raised awareness of animal emotions, especially among nonscientists, and provided scientists with much useful information for further systematic research. Such books have also raised hackles among many scientists for being “too soft”—that is, too anecdotal, misleading, or sloppy (Fraser 1996). However, Burghardt (1997a), despite finding some areas of concern in Masson and McCarthy’s book, wrote: “I predict that in a few years the phenomena described here will be confirmed, qualified, and extended” (p. 23). Fraser (1996) also noted that the book could serve as a useful source for motivating future systematic empirical research. Researchers interested in exploring animal passions ask such questions as: Do animals experience emotions? What, if anything, do they feel? Is there a line that clearly separates those species that experience emotions from those that do not? Much current research follows Charles Darwin’s (1872; see also Ekman 1998) lead, set forth in his book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. Darwin argued that there is continuity between the emotional lives of humans and those of other animals, and that the differences among many animals are in degree rather than in kind. In The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Darwin claimed that “the lower animals, like man, manifestly feel pleasure and pain, happiness, and misery” (p. 448).
140 citations
••
TL;DR: This paper found that leader happiness and leader sadness can be beneficial for follower performance contingent on whether the task concerns creative or analytical performance, and the effect of leader affective displays on followers' creative performance and perceived leadership effectiveness were mediated by follower positive affect.
Abstract: Previous studies have found mixed results regarding the influence of positive and negative leader affect on follower performance. We propose that both leader happiness and leader sadness can be beneficial for follower performance contingent on whether the task concerns creative or analytical performance. This proposition was put to the test in two experiments in which leader affective display was manipulated and the performance of (student) participants was assessed. The results supported our hypothesis that a leader's displays of happiness enhance follower creative performance, whereas a leader's displays of sadness enhance follower analytical performance. Contrasting these findings with evidence for a subjective rating of leadership effectiveness, in line with an implicit leadership theory interpretation, leaders were perceived as more effective when displaying happiness rather than sadness irrespective of task type. The second study showed that the effects of leader affective displays on followers' creative performance and perceived leadership effectiveness are mediated by follower positive affect, indicating that emotional contagion partly underlies these effects.
140 citations