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- Literature review of research on the topic of happiness. 1980s and early 90s flood of research exploring people's sense f well-being.
- Interviews and questionnaires - 1 way to assess happiness is to consider a person's sense of their own happiness or well-being called subjective well-being (SWB). Interviewing people using a simple closed question 'How satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?' - 'Are you very satisfied/not very satisfied/not at all satisfied.' Alternatively a multi-item scale can be used which includes a number of questions related to happiness. In both cases a quantative measure is produced to represent happiness.
- Observation - 1 way to discover what people are doing is asking them to report what they are doing at selected times (observation of behaviour). Researchers use beepers to remind a participant to send a message saying what they are doing or thinking at a particular moment. Sample of behaviour.
- Correlations - another way to understand happpiness is to consider what factors co-vary with it. Some of these factors may contribute to making a person happy whereas other factors are a consequence of being happy. It is not always clear which is cause and which is effect. For example people with high SWB tend to have a positive appraisal of life events around them. However, it could be the other way around - if a person tends to see events around them in a rose coloured way, higher SWB.
- Reviews - this study is a review of other research, some of the research referred to is also based on multiple studies. Some of these are reviews and some are meta-analyses.
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- The myths of happiness - is happiness related to age? - a survey of almost 170,000 people of all ages in 16 different countries found no differences. People of all ages were equally happy - the mean score was 80% satisfaction with life (Inglehart 1990). At different ages different factors contribute to happiness. For example, social relations and health become more important factors with age (Herzog et al, 1982). People do experience crises but these are not restricted to a particular age such as the supposed mid-life crisis in one's early 40s (McCrae and Costa 1990).
- Is happiness related to gender? - Inglehart's survey of people in 16 different countries found that 80% of men and 80% of women said they were 'fairly satisfied' with life. In another study it was calculated that a person's gender accounted for 1% of global well-being (Haring et al 1984). However, research has also found that women are 2x as vulnerable as men to depression (Robins and Reiger, 1991).
- Is happiness related to race or culture - African-Americans report nearly 2x as much happiness as European-Americans (Diener et al 1993). There are notable differences between countries. In Portugal 10% of people reported that they were happy compared with 40% in the Netherlands (Inglehart 1990). People in individualistic cultures report greater SWB than in collectivist cultures - in an individualist culture people are more concerned with their individual needs whereas in collectivist cultures people focus on the needs of the group. It probably makes sense that in individualistic cultures, individual happiness matters more.
- Is happiness related to money? - a survey in 1993 found that 75% of American college students selected 'being well off financially; as an essential life goal, compared with 39% in 1970 (Astin et al 1987). Not everyone agrees that money buys happiness but most agree that having more money would make them a little happier. However, the correlation between income and happiness is only modest. Diener et al 1993 found a correlation of +12 between income and happiness.
- People who are rich do not report greater happiness - a survey of people on the Forbes rich list found that 37% were less happy than the average American (Diener et al 1985). People who win the lottery only report brief increase in their happiness (Argyle 1986). On the other hand the lack of importance of money does not apply to situations where people are poor. In a poor country such as Bangladesh people with money report higher SWB than those without money. So affluence does increase happiness but only up to a point. Once a certain level of comfort is reached (basic needs for food and warmth are met) increased wealth makes little difference.
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- Happy people - it seems that some people are simply happier than others regardless of life's ups and downs. Costa et al 1987 found the people who reported being happy in 1973 tended to be the happy ones a decade later.
- The traits of happy people - the key characteristics of happy people, not clear whether these traits make people happier or the traits develop because a person is happy. High self esteem - such individuals like themselves and typically agree with statements. Sense of personal control - people who feel empowered rather than helpless do better at school, cope better with stress and are typically happier. Optimism, Extraversion - people who are more outgoing are happier when with other people and also when alone.
- The relationship of happy people - for some people relationships create more stress and unhappiness than happiness; as the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre 1973 said 'Hell is other people'. For most the benefits of relationships outweigh the strains. Researchers show that people who can name several close friends are healthier and happier than people who can't (Burt, 1986). Married people are happier than non-married people in 1 study the rates were 39% vs 24% (Lee et al 1991). In a meta analysis of 93 studies women and men reported similar levels of happiness for marriage and non marriage (Wood et al 1989).
- Work and the 'flow' of happy people - work satisfaction affects happiness. People who are out of work are less happy than those in work. Work provides a personal identity, a sense that one's life matters and also a sense of community (working with other people). However, work can be unsatisfying and or stressful and is then associated with unhappiness. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi introduced the concept of 'flow', the extent to which we become caught up in an activity so that other things matter less. Used beepers to question people throughout their day about what they were doing and whether they were happy. He found that people were happiest when they were engaged in mindful challenge and experiencing flow.
- The faith of happy people - In North America and Europe people who are religious report higher levels of happiness (Poloma and Pendleton, 1990). People with a high 'spiritual commitment' were twice as likely to say they were very happy. Happiness is also associated with strength of religious affiliation and frequency of worship attendance (Witter et al 1985).
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- 3 elements can be identified that are a part of a theory of happiness.
- 1) The importance of adaptation - the effects of positive and negative events fade over time. People who win the lottery only experience short-term increases in happiness. People who go through psychological trauma such as those who survived horrific experiences in concentration camps, recover their hope and happiness. A recent longitudinal study found that it is only events in the last 3 months that influences SWB. This is all due to the human capacity to adapt to life circumstances.
- Cultural world view - cultural attitudes predispose people to interpet life events differently. Some cultures construe the world as a benevolent and controllable place whereas other cultures emphasise negative emotions such as anxiety, anger and guilt.
- Values and goals - people with a high sense of SWB have goals - ambitions and things they are striving to achieve. All the other factors such as money or intelligence only matter if they are relevant to your goals. This explains why money matters more in a poor country - because it is relevant to one's goals. In a more affluent society money matters less because that is not the prime factor in achieving one's goals.
- The future - a person's happiness is not predictable from their age, gender or affluence. It does appear to be associated with race and culture. People who are happy possess certain traits, tend to have close relationships, enjoy their work and are religious. The importance of such understanding is that psychologists can help build a world that enhances human well-being.
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