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Summary Science of Happiness - Lectures & Articles
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A summary of the lectures and articles from the *Science of Happiness* course, the course is offered by the Psychology Department at Utrecht University.
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SUMMARY SCIENCE OF HAPPINESSTable of contents
Lecture 1 - Why happiness deserves scientific interest................................................................... 3
Helliwell, J.F., & Aknin, L.B. (2018). Expanding the social science of happiness. Nature Human
Behaviour, 2, 248-252. ..................................................................................................................... 7
Lucas, R.E. (2018). Reevaluating the strengths and weaknesses of self-report measures of subjective
well-being. In E. Diener, S. Oishi, & L. Tay (Eds.), Handbook of well-being. ........................................... 9
Norrish, J.M., & Vella-Brodrick, D.A. (2008). Is the study of happiness a worthy scientific pursuit? Social
Indicators Research, 87, 393-407. ...................................................................................................11
Tov, W. (2018). Well-being concepts and components. In E. Diener, S. Oishi, & L. Tay (Eds.), Handbook
of well-being. .................................................................................................................................13
Lecture 2 - The psychology of happiness: Theories of well-being .................................................... 15
Diener, E., Lucas, R.E., & Napa Scollon, C. (2006). Beyond the hedonic treadmill: Revising the
adaptation theory of well-being. American Psychologist, 61, 305- 314. ..............................................20
Diener, E., & Seligman, M.E. (2002). Very happy people. Psychological Science, 13, 81-84. .................23
Heintzelman, S.J. (2018). Eudaimonia in the contemporary science of subjective well-being:
Psychological well-being, self-determination, and meaning in life. In E. Diener, S. Oishi, & L. Tay (Eds.),
Handbook of well-being. .................................................................................................................25
Wilson, T.D., & Gilbert, D.T. (2005). Abective forecasting: Knowing what to want. Current Directions in
Psychological Science, 14, 131-134. ................................................................................................28
Lecture 3 - Very happy people: Striving for greater happiness......................................................... 31
Brown, N.J.L., & Rohrer, J.M. (2020). Easy as (happiness) pie? A critical evaluation of a popular model of
the determinants of well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 21, 1285-1301. ...................................37
Folk, C., & Dune, E. (2023). A systematic review of the strength of evidence for the most commonly
recommended happiness strategies in mainstream media. Nature Human
Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01651-4 ..................................................................38
Mauss, I.B., Tamir, M., Anderson, C.L., & Savino, N.S. (2011). Can seeking happiness make people
unhappy? Paradoxical ebects of valuing happiness. Emotion, 11, 807–815. .......................................40
Sheldon, K.M., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2019). Revisiting the sustainable happiness model and pie chart: Can
happiness be successfully pursued? The Journal of Positive Psychology, 16, 145-154. ........................41
Lecture 4 - Does saving the planet make you happy? ..................................................................... 45
Brosch, T. (2021). Abect and emotions as drivers of climate change perception and action: A review.
Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 42, 15-21. ..........................................................................49
Prinzing, M., Lades, L.K., Weber, T.O, Fredrickson, B., & Laban, K. (2024). Pro- environmental behaviors
and well-being in everyday life. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 98, 102394. ..............................52
Lecture 5 - Is improving happiness a task of government?.............................................................. 54
Flavin, P., Pacek, A.C., & Radclib, B. (2014). Assessing the impact of the size and scope of government
on human well-being. Social Forces, 92, 1241-1258. .........................................................................59
Odermatt, R., & Stutzer, A. (2018). Subjective well-being and public policy. In E. Diener, S. Oishi, & L. Tay
(Eds.), Handbook of well-being. .......................................................................................................61
Oishi, S., & Diener, E. (2014). Can and should happiness be a policy goal? Policy Insights from the
Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1, 195–203. .....................................................................................63
,Lecture 6 – Philosophy & Happiness ............................................................................................. 66
Kesebir, P. (2018). Scientific Answers to the Timeless Philosophical Question of Happiness. In E. Diener,
S. Oishi, & L. Tay (Eds.), Handbook of Well-Being. .............................................................................72
McMahon, D.M. (2018). From the Paleolithic to the Present: Three Revolutions in the Global History of
Happiness. In E. Diener, S. Oishi, & L. Tay (Eds.), Handbook of Well-Being..........................................76
Kagan, S. (1998). Normative Ethics (pp. 30-41). Boulder: Westview Press [available on Blackboard]. ...77
Lecture 7 – More than the sum of our parts - Happiness and social connectedness ......................... 78
Gable, S. L., & Bromberg, C. (2018). Healthy social bonds: A necessary condition for well-being. In E.
Diener, S. Oishi, & L. Tay (Eds.), Handbook of well-being. ..................................................................84
Epley, N., & Schroeder, J. (2014). Mistakenly seeking solitude. Journal of Experimental Psychology:
General, 143, 1980. ........................................................................................................................87
Lecture 8 – Can money buy happiness?......................................................................................... 88
Tay, L., Zyphur, M., & Batz, C. L. (2018). Income and subjective well-being: Review, synthesis, and future
research. In E. Diener, S. Oishi, & L. Tay (Eds.), Handbook of well-being. ............................................90
Easterlin, R.A., Angelescu McVey, L., Switek, M., Sawangfa, O, & Smith Zweig, J. (2010). The happiness–
income paradox revisited. PNAS, 107, 22463-22468. ........................................................................91
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,Lecture 1 - Why happiness deserves scientific interest
Bad is stronger than good: negativity bias.
Negative events have a bigger impact than positive events.
Example: people are more distressed by the loss of $50 than they are made happy by
finding $50.
Negative information receives more attention and is processed more thoroughly than
positive information.
Evolutionary explanation
“Evolution doesn’t want you to be happy or satisfied. We’re supposed to survive and
reproduce.”
Benefits of a happy population:
Happier people are more productive, are healthier and live longer, contribute more to
society and have better social relationships.
Report of the happiness of the world: World Happiness Reports
Does happiness deserve scientific interest?
Science of Happiness is a recent phenomenon.
Science of happiness focus on the subjective experience of happiness, its antecedents
and consequences.
Definitions of Happiness
• “a state of well-being and contentment” (Merriam-Webster, 2018)
• “the experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combined with a
sense that one’s life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile” (Lyubomirsky ,2008)
• “Good mental states, including all of the various evaluations, positive and
negative, that people make of their lives and the aXective reactions of people to
their experiences” (OECD, 2013)
Study about the concept: focus on inner harmony, prioritizing a sense of balance and
peace over external markers like satisfaction or positive aXect (emotions).
JINGLE (Thorndike, 1904)
The very same term refers to diXerent underlying conceptions: happiness refers to life
satisfaction, positive aXect, well-being.
JANGLE (Kelley, 1927)
DiXerent terms are used to describe the very same underlying conceptions: happiness,
life satisfaction, meaning in life, well-being ≈ ‘happiness’.
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, The tripartite model of hedonic (subjective) well-being
The tripartite model of hedonic (subjective) well-being suggests that well-being is a
composite of three interrelated but distinct facets, each contributing to the overall
experience of happiness or subjective well-being:
• Life Satisfaction (‘cognitive evaluation’) – 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, the weather …
• Positive AXect – a person’s feelings or emotional states, measured with reference
to a particular point in time (momentary): e.g., excited, interested, enthusiastic
• Negative AXect – a person’s feelings or emotional states, measured with
reference to a particular point in time (momentary): e.g., nervous, afraid, irritable
Eudaimonic well-being
Eudaimonia is derived from the Greek word for "human flourishing" or "living a good life."
It emphasizes meaning, purpose, and the actualization of one’s potential, in contrast to
the more pleasure-oriented concept of hedonic well-being.
Core definition:
• Eudaimonic Well-Being represents a deeper sense of well-being rooted in living a
life of meaning, fulfilling one’s potential, and aligning with one’s "daimon" (true
self).
• It is often described as "authentic happiness" (Seligman, 2002) or psychological
flourishing.
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