Science of Happiness
Lecture 1: why happiness deserves scien8fic interest
Nega8vity bias: bad is stronger than good
- People are more distressed by the loss of $50 than they are made happy by finding
$50
- Nega;ve informa;on receives more a>en;on and is processed more thoroughly than
posi;ve informa;on
- Evolu;onary explana;on: humans a>uned to preven;ng 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
“Evolu;on doesn’t want you to be happy or sa;sfied. We’re supposed to survive and
reproduce”. “Our DNA prefers to keep us forever anxious about poten;al threats and in need
of new rewards that will never quite sa;sfy us. Our biological self is naturally unhappy.” “A
huge happiness and posi;ve thinking industry has helped to create the fantasy that
happiness is a realis;c 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 expecta;on that real life stubbornly refuses to deliver.”
Psychological research has focused more on understanding ‘bad things’
à Un;l 2000, when the posi;ve psychology movement was launched
Typical example:
à Posits that posi;ve emo;ons may broaden people's
momentary thought-ac;on repertoires, which in turn
help to build their personal resources (physical, social,
and psychological)
à Two people, one who tends to be nega;ve and
another who tends to be posi;ve, face a health treat
(Taylor et al., 2000)
à The person with nega;ve emo;ons panics and
suffers from ill physical health
à The person with posi;ve emo;ons stays calm and engages in health protec;ve behaviors
and deals with the health threat appropriately à with posi;ve health outcomes as a result
,Government wants us to be happy:
- New-Zealand’s ‘wellbeing budget’
- Bhutan’s Happiness Index
- Welsh Wellbeing of Future Genera;ons Act
- OECD Be>er Life Index
- United Na;ons World Happiness Report
Benefits of a happy popula8on:
• Happier people…
- Are more produc;ve
- Are healthier and live longer
- Contribute more to society
- Have be>er social rela;onships (e.g., fewer divorces)
Science of Happiness: focus on the antecedents and consequences of happiness
• Scien;fic ques;ons rela;ng to happiness:
- Do circumstances and living condi;ons ma>er?
- Do material condi;ons have an influence?
- Is happiness your own responsibility?
- Can you increase your level of happiness?
- Should government create condi;ons that make you happy?
What is happiness (defini8on)?
- “A state of well-being and contentment”
- “The experience of joy, contentment, or posi;ve 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 evalua;ons, posi;ve and nega;ve,
that people make of their lives and the affec;ve reac;ons of people to their
experiences” (OECD, 2013)
- “Happiness is a feeling of pleasure and posi;vity.” (in simple words)
Is happiness an elusive concept?
• JINGLE: the very same terms refer to different underlying concep;ons: happiness
refers to life sa;sfac;on, posi;ve affect, well-being
• JANGLE: different terms are used to describe the very same underlying concep;ons:
happiness, life sa;sfac;on, meaning in life, well-being
Hedonic/subjec8ve well-being as a composite of 3 related but dis8nct facets (tripar8te
model)
• Cogni;ve Life evalua;on – a reflec;ve
assessment on a person’s life or some specific
aspect of it: general sa;sfac;on with life or
domain-specific sa;sfac;on with marriage,
work, friendship, leisure, the weather …
• Posi;ve Affect – person’s feelings or
emo;onal states, typically measured with
reference to a par;cular point in ;me
(momentary): e.g., excited, interested, enthusias;c
• Nega;ve Affect – a person’s feelings or emo;onal states, typically measured with
reference to a par;cular point in ;me (momentary): e.g., nervous, afraid, irritable
Eudaimonic well-being
- Eudaimonia: a sense of meaning and purpose in life, or good psychological
func;oning
- Eudaimonic: actualiza;on of one’s poten;al by fulfilling one’s daimon (true self) ≈
flourishing
à As different from
- Hedonic/subjec;ve well-being: with a focus on affect (maximiza;on of pleasure &
minimiza;on of pain) and cogni;on
A bit of consensus and (quite) a bit of controversy
• Consensus: two main approaches:
, - Hedonic/subjec;ve well-being: sa;sfac;on with life + presence of momentary
posi;ve affect + absence of nega;ve affect
- 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/subjec;ve wellbeing
- If and how do people account for their living condi;ons (financial and immaterial)
when repor;ng on happiness?
Alterna8ve measures of happiness (besides self-report):
- Duchenne smiling (with your eyes as a genuine indicator of posi;ve affect, unfakable)
- Genuine smiles in college yearbook pictures predicted marital sa;sfac;on decades
later
- Recording behaviors that involve gra;tude or acts of kindness
- Note that disciplines different from psychology determine happiness not by
examining subjec;ve experiences but by mapping condi;ons that will contribute to
happiness
Is it easy to tell if someone is happy?
- People in the Midwest of the US think people living in California will be happier than
themselves – while in fact they are equally happy
- Focus on the weather while sunshine doesn’t make you happy (Schkade & Kahneman,
1998; Finland case)
- Happiness is a biased judgment: People es;mate their own happiness level by (too
much) focus on one par;cular issue (typically something they don’t have): an easily
observed and dis;nc;ve element
Focus on self-report:
- Despite disadvantages of self-report (social desirability, problems associated with
introspec;on),
- People are able to report on their feelings in metrics
- Aqer all, happiness is about subjec;ve well-being à so why not ask people
themselves?
- Even a single item on sa;sfac;on with life (Cantril’s ladder) produces reliable scores,
comparable with mul;ple item scales
Lecture 1: why happiness deserves scien8fic interest
Nega8vity bias: bad is stronger than good
- People are more distressed by the loss of $50 than they are made happy by finding
$50
- Nega;ve informa;on receives more a>en;on and is processed more thoroughly than
posi;ve informa;on
- Evolu;onary explana;on: humans a>uned to preven;ng 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
“Evolu;on doesn’t want you to be happy or sa;sfied. We’re supposed to survive and
reproduce”. “Our DNA prefers to keep us forever anxious about poten;al threats and in need
of new rewards that will never quite sa;sfy us. Our biological self is naturally unhappy.” “A
huge happiness and posi;ve thinking industry has helped to create the fantasy that
happiness is a realis;c 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 expecta;on that real life stubbornly refuses to deliver.”
Psychological research has focused more on understanding ‘bad things’
à Un;l 2000, when the posi;ve psychology movement was launched
Typical example:
à Posits that posi;ve emo;ons may broaden people's
momentary thought-ac;on repertoires, which in turn
help to build their personal resources (physical, social,
and psychological)
à Two people, one who tends to be nega;ve and
another who tends to be posi;ve, face a health treat
(Taylor et al., 2000)
à The person with nega;ve emo;ons panics and
suffers from ill physical health
à The person with posi;ve emo;ons stays calm and engages in health protec;ve behaviors
and deals with the health threat appropriately à with posi;ve health outcomes as a result
,Government wants us to be happy:
- New-Zealand’s ‘wellbeing budget’
- Bhutan’s Happiness Index
- Welsh Wellbeing of Future Genera;ons Act
- OECD Be>er Life Index
- United Na;ons World Happiness Report
Benefits of a happy popula8on:
• Happier people…
- Are more produc;ve
- Are healthier and live longer
- Contribute more to society
- Have be>er social rela;onships (e.g., fewer divorces)
Science of Happiness: focus on the antecedents and consequences of happiness
• Scien;fic ques;ons rela;ng to happiness:
- Do circumstances and living condi;ons ma>er?
- Do material condi;ons have an influence?
- Is happiness your own responsibility?
- Can you increase your level of happiness?
- Should government create condi;ons that make you happy?
What is happiness (defini8on)?
- “A state of well-being and contentment”
- “The experience of joy, contentment, or posi;ve 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 evalua;ons, posi;ve and nega;ve,
that people make of their lives and the affec;ve reac;ons of people to their
experiences” (OECD, 2013)
- “Happiness is a feeling of pleasure and posi;vity.” (in simple words)
Is happiness an elusive concept?
• JINGLE: the very same terms refer to different underlying concep;ons: happiness
refers to life sa;sfac;on, posi;ve affect, well-being
• JANGLE: different terms are used to describe the very same underlying concep;ons:
happiness, life sa;sfac;on, meaning in life, well-being
Hedonic/subjec8ve well-being as a composite of 3 related but dis8nct facets (tripar8te
model)
• Cogni;ve Life evalua;on – a reflec;ve
assessment on a person’s life or some specific
aspect of it: general sa;sfac;on with life or
domain-specific sa;sfac;on with marriage,
work, friendship, leisure, the weather …
• Posi;ve Affect – person’s feelings or
emo;onal states, typically measured with
reference to a par;cular point in ;me
(momentary): e.g., excited, interested, enthusias;c
• Nega;ve Affect – a person’s feelings or emo;onal states, typically measured with
reference to a par;cular point in ;me (momentary): e.g., nervous, afraid, irritable
Eudaimonic well-being
- Eudaimonia: a sense of meaning and purpose in life, or good psychological
func;oning
- Eudaimonic: actualiza;on of one’s poten;al by fulfilling one’s daimon (true self) ≈
flourishing
à As different from
- Hedonic/subjec;ve well-being: with a focus on affect (maximiza;on of pleasure &
minimiza;on of pain) and cogni;on
A bit of consensus and (quite) a bit of controversy
• Consensus: two main approaches:
, - Hedonic/subjec;ve well-being: sa;sfac;on with life + presence of momentary
posi;ve affect + absence of nega;ve affect
- 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/subjec;ve wellbeing
- If and how do people account for their living condi;ons (financial and immaterial)
when repor;ng on happiness?
Alterna8ve measures of happiness (besides self-report):
- Duchenne smiling (with your eyes as a genuine indicator of posi;ve affect, unfakable)
- Genuine smiles in college yearbook pictures predicted marital sa;sfac;on decades
later
- Recording behaviors that involve gra;tude or acts of kindness
- Note that disciplines different from psychology determine happiness not by
examining subjec;ve experiences but by mapping condi;ons that will contribute to
happiness
Is it easy to tell if someone is happy?
- People in the Midwest of the US think people living in California will be happier than
themselves – while in fact they are equally happy
- Focus on the weather while sunshine doesn’t make you happy (Schkade & Kahneman,
1998; Finland case)
- Happiness is a biased judgment: People es;mate their own happiness level by (too
much) focus on one par;cular issue (typically something they don’t have): an easily
observed and dis;nc;ve element
Focus on self-report:
- Despite disadvantages of self-report (social desirability, problems associated with
introspec;on),
- People are able to report on their feelings in metrics
- Aqer all, happiness is about subjec;ve well-being à so why not ask people
themselves?
- Even a single item on sa;sfac;on with life (Cantril’s ladder) produces reliable scores,
comparable with mul;ple item scales
