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All lectures Science of Happiness 2025
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Comprehensive notes of all the lectures of Science of Happiness 2025.
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Bad is stronger than good: negatively biasNegative events have a bigger impact than positive events: people are more
distressed by the loss of 50 dollars than they are made happy by finding 50
dollars. Negative information receives more attention and is processed more
thoroughly than positive information
Evolutionary explanation: humans are attuned to preventing bad things
more than toward maximizing good things: a person who ignores danger
may not live to see the next day. “evolution doesn’t want you to be happy
or satisfied. We are supposed to survive and reproduce
People ánd government wants us to be happy (happier people are more
productive, healthier, contribute more to society etc.)
World happiness Reports: published annually since 2012 by the UN Sustainable
Development Solutions Network, based on data from the Gallup World Poll. “Our
success as countries should be judged by the happiness of our people.”
*Science of happiness is a recent phenomenon asking for more attention for
the positive
Science of happiness focus on the subjective experience of happiness, its
antecedents and consequences
Scientific questions relating to happiness
- Do circumstances and living conditions matter?
- Do material conditions have an influence?
- Is happiness your own responsibility?
- Can you increase your level of happiness?
- Should government create conditions that make you happy (in their own
interest)?
Definitions of happiness
- A state of wellbeing and contentment
- The experience of joy, contentment, or positive wellbeing, combined with a
sense that one’s life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile
- Good mental states, including all of the various evolutions, positive and
negative, that people make of their lives and the affective reactions of
people to their experiences
Is happiness an elusive concept?
JINGLE: the very same term refers to different underlying conceptions: happiness
refers to life satisfaction, positive affect, wellbeing
JANGLE: different terms are used to describe the very same underlying
conceptions: happiness, life satisfaction, meaning in life, wellbeing = happiness
Hedonic/subjective wellbeing as a composite of 3 related but distinct facets
(tripartite model)
- Life Satisfaction (cognitive evolution): a reflective assessment on a
person's life or some specific aspect of it: general satisfaction with life or
domain-specific satisfaction with marriage, work, friendship, leisure etc.
- Positive Affect: a person’s feelings or emotional states, measured with
reference to a particular point in time (momentary). E.g. excited,
interested, enthusiastic
, - Negative Affect: a person’s feelings or emotional states, measured with
reference to a particular point in time (momentoray). E.g. nervous, afraid,
irritable.
*General but intested idea: affect drives life satisfaction; rather than the other
way around
Eudaimonic well-being
Eudaimonia: a sense of meaning and purpose in life, or good psychological
functioning
Eudaimonic: actualization of one’s potential by fulfilling one’s daimon (true self)
= golf flourishing
Also referred to as authentic happiness
As different from hedonic/subjective wellbeing: with a focus on affect
(maximalization of pleasure and minimization of pain) and cognition
A bit of consensus and (quite) a bit of controversy
Consensus: two main approaches
- Hedonic/subjective wellbeing: a pleasant life
- Eudaimonic: purpose and meaning in life
Controversy: what is the best indicator of happiness: hedonic or eudaimonic
measures? But note that in policy making focus lies on hedonic/subjective
wellbeing
*If and how do people account for their living conditions (financial and
immaterial) when reporting on happiness?
Measurement of happiness
Generally, we ask people self-report how happy they are
Alternative measures of happiness
- Duchenne smiling with your eyes as a genuine indicator of positive effect
- Real-time recording of feelings of happiness
*Note that disciplines different from psychology determine happiness not by
examining subjective experiences but by mapping conditions that will contribute
to happiness
Focus on self-report
- Despite disadvantages of self-report, people are able to report on their
feelings in metrics. After all, happiness is about subjective well-being; so
why not ask people themselves?
- Even a single item on satisfaction with life produces reliable scores
comparable with multiple scales
- Albeit somewhat lower mean scores than measures with multiple items;
multiple items reduce random error from ambiguity in single items
Most used questionnaires
- Positive and negative Affect Scale (focus on momentary emotions rather
than longer lasting moods)
- Satisfaction with Life Scale
o General or domain specific
o Domain specific evaluations are strongly correlated and possibly
influenced by common factor (e.g. personality/general
circumstances)
, o Overall satisfaction with life drives specific elements of domain
satisfaction, suggesting a top down rather than a bottom-up
mechanism
o Although feedback loops may exist
- Psychological Wellbeing Scale (Eudaimonia)
- Subjective Happiness Scale (positive psychology)
- In public policy: recording the nation’s happiness level by Cantril’s ladder
or other single item measures
, How do different scales compare?
- Not that big
- Use of scale depends on the purpose of your project
Outlook: what determines happiness?
Formula: happiness = S + C + V
- S: genetic Set point (50%)
- C: the individual’s Circumstances (10%)
- V: Voluntary factors that are under the individual's control/intentional
activity (40%)
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