Psychology of Happiness
HC1: Introduction & social aspects of happiness
What is happiness?
Happiness is …. subjective/personal --> but there is a definition
… there is hardly a muddier concept in the over
2000 year history of philosophy itself than that of happiness (see, e.g., Strack, Argyle,
& Schwarz, 1991; Veen-hoven, 1990)
Different definition:
… the feeling of being happy
… a state of well-being and contentment: JOY --> a little better definition
… a pleasurable or satisfying experience
… feeling, showing, or causing pleasure or satisfaction --> momentary feelings
Synonyms of happiness:
Satisfaction
Wellbeing
Engagement
Thriving
Flourishing
Also flow ---> louse track of time
Some other definitions
How happiness its defined depends on how it is conceptualized:
2 streams of what happiness is:
Emotional well-being --> academische literatuur
o '...the emotional quality of an individual's everyday experience – the frequen
cy and intensity of experiences of joy, fascination, anxiety, sadness, anger, an
d affection that make one's life pleasant or un pleasant.
(Kahneman & Deaton, 2010)
Live evaluations --> over hoe mensen denken over hun leven
o '… overall appreciation of one's life as-a-whole (Veenhoven, 2017)
o Life evalutation refers to a person's thoughts about their life
(Kahneman & Deaton, 2010).
Deze 2 gecombineerd, 2 aspecten:
And sometimes like this
… the most prominent definition of happiness: subjective well-being, which encompasses levels
of positive emotions and negative emotions, as well as life evaluations (Diener, 1984).
Wat zou de rol van negatieve emoties zijn?
Kun je happy zijn als je nooit unhappy bent geweest?
Happiness and genes --> twin studies, in the Netherlands with 12.000
Genes can explain differences in happiness
Heritability of happiness was estimated at
o 22% for males
o 41% in females
Happiness and the brain
Two neurotransmitters are key:
, Dopamine --> happiness neurotransmitter --> positive mood, maar niet
veroorzaakt door --> wanneer iemand blij is, is er mee dopamine. Maar niet
bekend of door de meer dopamine iemand blij is of dat de dopamine hoger
is en daardoor iemand meer blij is --> cognitie/hoe we denken heeft hier ook
mee te maken
Serotonin --> ook optimisme --> is verlaagd bij mensen met depressie
One more thing: the relevance of happiness --> denk er even over na
'I also question whether being consistently happy should be regarded as essential or per
haps even relevant to the good life' - Lazarus, 2003; p.177 --> is that the key purpose in
life? To be happy?
Happiness in philosophy and psychology
Two views:
1. Hedonic view
2. Eudaimonic view
The hedonic view in philosophy
Equating well-being with hedonic pleasure or happiness has a long history.
Aristippus, a Greek philosopher from the fourth century B.C.,:
The goal of life is to experience the maximum amount of pleasure --> that is what life
is for
Happiness is the totality of one's hedonic moments --> het totale is je happiness
The happy life is the life of maximized pleasures.
Hedonist --> iemand die constant naar happiness zoekt
Kahnemann --> heel belangrijk in dit onderwerp
Pleausure vs pain
Hedonic accounts consider happiness to be identifiable with pleasure as
a raw, undifferentiated, subjective feeling
Bradburn (1969) distinguished between positive and negative affect
o Happiness as the balance between the two
Happiness = presence of pleasure (the presence of positive mood) and the absence
of pain (negative mood)
Measruing happiness in hedonism:
Hedonometer
An electric device that at randomly determined intervals gives off a signal
When prompted participations complete a
questionnaire about their current feelings of pleasure or pain (see Peterson, 2006, p.81).
Problems with this approach:
Humans do not only have pleasures, they also evaluate them as good or bad --> je vraagt
over hun gevoel, maar je komt niet echt binnenin bij hun gevoel --> dus je meet niet
direct happiness
Hedonistic treadmill (Peterson, 2006, p.54) --> adaptive level of happiness --> je hebt
altijd meer nodig om happy te blijven --> bv verhuizen op het begin heel blij, maar
daarna steeds meer gewoon
,Happiness and affect
This is one of the more detailed affect classifications
Two dimensions
o Pleasure
o Arousal or activation
Horizontaal: pleasure --> positive
Verticaal: unpleasure --> negative
HAPA -
High activation positive affect: cheerful, enthousiastic, loud, excited
LAPA - Low activation positive affect: calm, relax
HAUA – High activation unpleasant affect: anxious, affraid
LAUA – Low ativation unpleasant affect: miserable, sad, depressed, gloomy
--> different type of emotions --> different experience.
Different kind of hedonometer
This is America
Analysed tweets and looked to happy words
The eudaimonic view in philosophy
Happiness is not a principal criterion of well-being.
Aristotle: --> more morality --> hedonistic is wrong
Hedonic happiness is a vulgar ideal, making humans slavish followers of desires --> he
is already suggestion that hedonic treadmill
True happiness is found in the expression of virtue- that is,
in doing what us worth doing --> niet alles telt mee voor het totaal plaatje?
Waterman (1993): the eudaimonic conception of well-being valls upon people to live
in accordance with their true self --> je eigen waarden volgen
The eudaimonic view in psychology
Six aspects of human actualization: --> mulitdimensional approach
Autonomy: self-determining and independent, able to resist social pressures to think and
act
in certain ways, regulates behavior from within, evaluates self by personal standards.
Personal growth: has a feeling
of continued developement, sees self as growing and expanding, is
, open to new experiences, has sense of realizing his or
her potential, sees improvement in self ans behavior over time,
is changing in ways that reflect more self-knowledge and effectiveness.
Self-acceptance: possesses a positive attitude toward the self; acknowledges and accepts
mulitple aspects of self, including good and bad qualities; feels positive about past life
Life purpose: has goals in life and a sense
of directedness, feels there is meaning to present and past
life, holds beliefs that give life purpose, has aims and objectives for living.
Environmental mastery: has a sense of mastery and competence in
managing the environment, controls complex array
of external activities, makes effective use of surrounding opportunities, able to choose or
create contexts suitable to personal needs and values -> feeling of comptetence
Positive relations with others: has warm, satisfying, trusting relationships with others;
is concerned about the welfare of others; capable of
strong empathy, affection, and intimacy; understands give and take of
human relationships
Dit zouden mensen moet ervaren om happy te zijn
Self-determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000), three basic needs: --> meaning in life --> macro
1. Autonomy: refers to volition and desire to self-organize experience and behavior
2. Competence: propensity to have an effect on the environment as well
as to attain valued outcomes within it
3. Relatedness: desire to feel connected to others-to love and care, and to be loved and car
ed for
Self-determination theory
Fulfillment of three basic needs is essential for
Psychological growth (e.g. intrinsic motivation)
Integrity (e.g. internalization and assisimilation of cultural practices), wellbeing
Well-being (e.g. life satisfaction and psychological health)
Experiences of vitality
Self-congruence
Measuring Happiness
Measurement varies depending on conceptualization
The Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) is a 4-item self-
report measure developed to assess an individual's overall happiness as measured throu
gh self-evaluation (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999)
The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) is a 20
item scale to assess affect with a list of adjectives (Watsin et al,
1988), sich as enthusiastic, interested, proud, distressed guilty etc
Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) is a global cognitive assessment of life satisfaction via
5 items (see Pavot & Diener, 1992)
Cantril ladder method has
been used in the World Happiness Report. Respondents are asked to think of a
ladder, with the best possible life for them a 10, and the worst possible lige being a 0.
More explanation in the PP/lecture!!
Happiness on a global scale
The World Happiness Report
Published since 2012
