Samenvatting Science of Happiness
Inhoud
Samenvatting Science of Happiness.......................................................................................................1
Lecture 1: Why happiness deserves scientific interest...........................................................................2
Eid & Larsen chapter 1........................................................................................................................5
Eid & Larsen chapter 14......................................................................................................................6
Eid & Larsen chapter 24......................................................................................................................7
Diener & Seligman (2002)...................................................................................................................9
Norrish & Vella-Brodrick (2008)........................................................................................................10
Lecture 2: Defining and measuring happiness......................................................................................13
Eid & Larsen chapter 6......................................................................................................................16
Eid & Larsen chapter 7......................................................................................................................18
Lecture 3: The psychology of happiness: Theories of well-being..........................................................21
Eid & Larsen chapter 12 (pp. 239-244).............................................................................................26
Eid & Larsen chapter 13 (pp 258-270)..............................................................................................27
Ryan & Deci (2001)...........................................................................................................................28
Lecture 4: Interventions for making people happier............................................................................31
Wilson & Gilbert (2005)....................................................................................................................33
Eid & Larsen chapter 21....................................................................................................................34
Eid & Larsen chapter 22....................................................................................................................36
Eid & Larsen chapter 23....................................................................................................................37
Lecture 5: Happiness and public policy.................................................................................................40
Flavin, Pacek, & Radcliff (2014).........................................................................................................44
Graham, Laffan, & Pinto (2018)........................................................................................................44
Oishi & Diener (2014).......................................................................................................................45
Lecture 6: Happiness in the Netherlands..............................................................................................47
Eid & Larsen chapter 3......................................................................................................................52
Eid & Larsen chapter 20....................................................................................................................54
Social State of the Netherlands (SCP, 2017) chapters 1 and 12........................................................55
Diener, Ng, Harter, & Arora, (2010)..................................................................................................59
Lecture 7: Can money buy happiness?.................................................................................................60
Eid & Larsen chapter 15....................................................................................................................61
Clark, Frijters & Shields (2008)..........................................................................................................63
Lecture 8: The philosophy of happiness...............................................................................................66
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, Eid & Larsen chapter 2......................................................................................................................69
Eid & Larsen chapter 5......................................................................................................................71
Kagan (1998).....................................................................................................................................72
Lecture 1: Why happiness deserves scientific interest
Negativity bias: bad is stronger than good
Negative events have a bigger impact than positive events. 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: Humans attuned to
preventing bad things thrive more than those oriented toward maximizing good things. A person who
ignores the danger of fire may not live to see the next day.
“Evolution doesn’t want you to be happy or satisfied. We’re supposed to ‘survive and reproduce’”
“A huge happiness and positive thinking industry has helped to create the fantasy that happiness is a
realistic goal. Chasing the happiness dream is a very American concept, exported to the rest of the
world through popular culture. Unfortunately, this has helped to create an expectation that real life
stubbornly refuses to deliver.”
Happiness ≈ well-being
Happiness consists of 3 components: experiencing more positive affect (emotional) and less negative
affect (emotional). The cognitive component is life satisfaction. Sometimes people distinguish a
fourth component: purpose in life (eudaimonic).
Beyond happiness as an individual state
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Economics
- Philosophy
Government wants us to be happy
- New-Zealand’s ‘wellbeing budget’ (Jacinda Ardern 2017)
- Bhutan’s Happiness Index
- Wellsh Wellbeing of Future Generations Act
- OECD Better Life Index
- United Nations World Happiness Report
Benefits of a happy population
Happier people are more productive, are healthier and live longer, contribute more to society (e.g.,
civic participation) and have better social relationships (e.g., fewer divorces).
Beyond happiness as the ultimate goal
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,The focus on the consequences of happiness is a recent phenomenon. But be aware of
simplifications. Happier people are healthier but being happy does not protect you from cancer or
corona by magic. The context and individual differences play a big role.
But are we happy?
Most people are pretty happy. Happiness is a natural state gifted to us by evolution. But they are not
ecstatic all the time. Happiness is the predominance of pleasant emotions that facilitates broadening
and building of resources because these emotions are associated with activity and energy.
What characterizes very happy people?
Happy people have strong social relationships, no shortage in basic needs (food, shelter), few health
issues, low stress, are treated with respect, have learned something new, can choose how to spend
their time and live in societies with high average well-being (have more happy people around them).
Note: these correlations are not causal effects, either determinants or covariates.
Who is happier? The paraplegic person or the lottery winner?
After one year, lottery winners were not happier than a neutral control group. Paraplegics were a
little less happy but still more happy than unhappy people (above the midpoint of the scale) and
expected to be equally happy compared to the other groups in a couple of years.
Hedonic treadmill
This can be explained by the hedonic treadmill. After a while good things become normal (having a
large amount of money is normal). But bad events can also become normal after a while.
Hedonic adaptation
People tend to return (quite quickly) to their baseline of happiness, both after positive and negative
events. Examples: imprisonment, accidents, birth of a child, marriage, divorce, death of a spouse.
Happiness levels may change after a major event, depending on individual differences in adaptation
and prior levels of happiness.
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,Set point theory/ hedonic adaptation insinuate that efforts to increase happiness are futile but…
Happiness levels do change in response to – for example – societal conditions (economic growth),
materialistic good (albeit limited effects) and practicing kindness and gratitude.
What determines happiness?
- 10% circumstances
- 40% intentional activity
- 50% genetic setpoint
Warning: not applicable at an individual level!
The happiness pie in a formula
Happiness = S + C + V
S = (genetic) set point, personality features
C = the individual’s circumstances
V = voluntary factors that are under the individual’s control
V = Intentional activities: A meaningful life
A happy life results from engaging in intentional activities that one is passionate about and that
contribute to the greater good (e.g., servicing the community). People return to baseline happiness
levels more rapidly after changes in life circumstances than after changes in intentional activities.
Positive psychology acknowledges the importance of set point and life circumstances but emphasizes
that happiness can be actively pursued by addressing the factors that are under one’s control.
Myths about happiness
Some myths about happiness are: the happier the better & no greater good than happiness.
Can you be too happy?
Moderate levels of positive emotions engender more creativity but high levels do not. People with
extremely high positive-to-negative emotion ratios exhibit more rigid behavioral repertoires. Very
high degrees of positive emotion lead to riskier behaviors: alcohol consumption, binge eating, drug
use. Moderate levels of happiness predict better achievement outcomes. Moderate levels of
happiness allow for unpleasant emotions that help to learn from these experiences.
Obsessed with happiness?
Happiness Zeitgeist dictates that people should strive for happiness whenever and however possible.
The pursuit of happiness does not always appear to lead to desired outcomes: the more you want it,
the less you seem to be able to get it. High happiness standards lead to disappointment when falling
short. Social pressure to seek positive emotions and avoid negative emotions increases rumination in
response to failure and eventually lower well-being.
Why you should not strive for happiness
People who valued happiness more reported lower levels of happiness, greater loneliness, more
sadness, higher levels of depression – less accepting of negative events. People who were made to
value happiness more were less happy after watching a positive movie clip.
‘It’s very important to be happy’ less positive feelings
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,Control more positive feelings
So what should we do?
People are bad predictors of what will make them happy. The top 3 purchases that people think
make them happy but actually don’t are: clothes, shoes and laptops.
Summary
- We tend to focus more on the negative than on the positive
- Science of happiness is a recent phenomenon
- Happiness ≈ well-being and consists of several components
- Happiness is important for individuals and society
- Happiness bears important consequences for individuals and society
- Studying the effect of circumstances on happiness is challenging
- Beware of being obsessed with happiness
- Many myths about what makes you happy
Eid & Larsen chapter 1
The structure of subjective well-being
It turns out that the typical intensity with which people experience their affective states, although an
interesting dimension in its own right, has no impact on overall subjective well-being. Rather, what
turns out to be the best predictor of global subjective well- being, in terms of affective experience, is
the frequency of positive compared to negative states in a person’s life over time. Subjective well-
being has another component in addition to the hedonic component; it includes a cognitive
judgment about one’s life, as a whole, as satisfying. Some researchers refer to this as life satisfaction,
and most see it as an essential feature in the overall structure of subjective well-being. It is possible
for judgments of life satisfaction to be at variance with the hedonic component (e.g., a starving artist
who has a lot of negative affect and little positive affect in his or her life, but nevertheless judges his
or her life to be satisfying and worthwhile). However, in most populations the life satisfaction
component and the hedonic component of subjective well-being are at least moderately and
sometimes highly correlated.
The measurement of subjective well-being
Because subjective well-being refers to affective experiences and cognitive judgments, self-report
measures of subjective well-being are indispensable. The Satisfaction with Life Scale, is the standard
measure of life satisfaction in the field. Psychology offers many methods that can be used to assess
facets of subjective well-being, such as self-reports, peer reports, observational methods,
physiological methods, emotion-sensitive tasks such as the speeded recall of happy experiences, and
other cognitive tasks such as word-completion and word recognition tasks. Multimethod assessment
procedures of emotions offer many important insights into the structure and processes of subjective
well-being.
The determinants of subjective well-being
Some conditions seem to be necessary for high subjective well-being (e.g., mental health, positive
social relationships), but they are not, in themselves, sufficient to cause happiness. Personality
factors, especially extraversion and neuroticism, are important contributors to subjective well-being.
Extraversion most likely influences subjective well-being because it is related to feeling more positive
emotions and having a lower threshold for activating positive affect. On the other hand, neuroticism
is strongly related to feeling more negative emotions and a lower threshold for activating negative
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,affect. The very happy people were highly social, with strong romantic and other close social
relationships, compared to less happy groups. They were more extraverted, more agreeable, less
neurotic, and lower on several Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
psychopathology scales. The happiest subjects did not exercise significantly more, participate in
religious activities significantly more, or experience more objectively defined good events. Good
social relations are necessary for happiness. Even very happy people have a responsive emotion
system that reacts appropriately to life events. The twin studies (and adoption studies as well)
suggest that some portion of the variability in happiness is likely due to genetic contributions. Studies
of specific gene influences suggest that genes linked with a propensity toward depression or
extraversion and neuroticism might be responsible for the genetics of subjective well-being. This is
not true for several reasons, as Diener has argued in several places. In sum, happiness is not solely
genetic, the environment, cultural factors and situational factors matter too. Furthermore, there is
evidence that different conditions and outcomes make different people happy.
The consequences of subjective well-being
Happy people are more social, altruistic, active, like themselves and others more, have strong bodies
and immune systems, and have better conflict resolution skills. Moreover, pleasant moods promote
creative thinking.
Cross-cultural research on subjective well-being
Although the pursuit of happiness seems to be a general drive of life, there are strong inter- and
intracultural differences in the way people appreciate happiness and in the routes to happiness.
International differences in subjective well-being are positively correlated with international
differences in income, individualism, human rights, and societal equality. There are universal
predictors of subjective well-being that have been found in several nations, such as extraversion and
marriage, but there are also differences between nations. Life satisfaction is more strongly related to
autonomy, feelings of meaning, and growth in Western cultures than in Eastern ones. However, in
collectivistic cultures, those higher in autonomy are also higher in levels of problems such as suicide
and divorce.
National indicators of subjective well-being
Citizens that are high in well-being might facilitate governance, they can increase the wealth of a
nation by earning more money and creating more opportunities for others, they might be more
productive and profitable, they might be healthier and live longer, they might be less prone to
mental disabilities and create more satisfying social relationships.
Summary
Eid & Larsen chapter 14
Veenhoven’s findings
Persons in a good mood feel more concerned about peers than those in bad moods. Also, people are
more active on the day when they feel happy. They are also more likely to help others, perform
better on cognitive tasks, and show more expansive writing movements when they are in a happy
mood. Political participation is not associated with life satisfaction. Also, happiness doesn’t loosen
intimate ties because people in a happy mood behave more generously toward others. Happy people
are more likely to remarry than unhappy people. Most of the studies conclude that happy people live
longer than unhappy ones. The answer to the question: ‘does happiness buffer stress?’ is no. And the
answer to ‘does happiness heal cancer?’ is no convincing evidence.
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, Lyubomirsky, King, and Diener (2005) and Pressman and Cohen (2005) Meta-Analyses
Happy people have more succes at work and love. Also, happy people earn higher incomes. Happy
people are more likely to get married at a later time and are more satisfied with their marriage at a
later time. Workers with high PA receive more social support from collegues than those with low PA,
suggesting that the positive benefit of PA is evident in friendships as well. Positive moods lead to a
more positive perception of internaction partners, greater interest in friendship, social activities,
leisure activities and self-disclosure. Although people do not list health as a major life goal, health is
essential for individuals to be successful at work and love. Thus, health is another important life
outcome. There is a positive association between higher subjective well-being and longevity.
Subjective well-being predicts survival rates, heart diseases and heart attacks, and stroke incidence.
Individuals with high PA smoke cigarette less and drink less alcohol. In addition to mortality, survival,
and various accidents, people with high-trait PA were less likely to develop a cold when exposed to a
virus and less likely to be rehospitalized. PA is associated with an increase in secretory
immunoglobulin A (SIgA), the main immunological defense of mucosal surfaces.
Optimal levels of happiness: is happier always better?
Happiness does not lead to laziness but to industriousness. Happiness does not lead to insensitivity
but to greater concern for others. Happiness does not lead to indulgence but rather to health. Similar
to the income findings, the second- and third-most satisfied groups completed more education than
did the most satisfied group. In addition, those who were most satisfied did not have as high of
educational attainment as those who were somewhat less satisfied with their lives. Furthermore,
respondents who were most satisfied did not engage in political activity as much as those who were
less satisfied
Culture and consequences of happiness
Earlier studies provide indirect evidence that the link between happiness and important life
outcomes might be more direct among European Americans than others, and that the optimal level
of happiness for these life outcomes might be different across cultures. Thus, the investigation of
cross-cultural similarities and differences in the consequences and optimal levels of happiness is an
important future direction in subjective well-being research.
Discussion
Happiness has positive benefits in diverse areas, ranging from health and longevity to job
performance, income, and close relationships; and (2) the optimal levels of happiness vary across
domains: the highest possible level of happiness was associated with later relationship success,
whereas the second- or third-highest levels of happiness were associated with higher income,
education, and civic engagement. It is plausible, then, to assume that satisfied individuals later make
more money, attain higher degrees, and have stabler romantic relationships than less satisfied
individuals because of an open and outgoing attitude, and physical and social resources resulting
from general happiness.
Eid & Larsen chapter 24
Common myths
There are several myths that are widespread. Myth 1: happiness has an unchanging individual
setpoint. People don’t return to hedonic neutrality but instead return to a level of happiness set by
their individual temperaments, which are largely determined by genetics. This idea, which asserted
that people have individual levels of happiness determined by their temperaments and only
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