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Wellbeing and Measures of Subjective Wellbeing. Dan Weijers 14 December 2011. NZGSS. The NZGSS 2010 provides information on the wellbeing of New Zealanders aged 15+
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Wellbeing and Measures of Subjective Wellbeing Dan Weijers 14 December 2011
NZGSS • The NZGSS 2010 provides information on the wellbeing of New Zealanders aged 15+ • This includes objective information about their circumstance, such as their labour force status and income, as well as their assessment of different aspects of their lives. • Includes a life-satisfaction question
Don Farmer – Wairarapa Times Age • “happiness survey… revealed 87[% is] ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with their lives overall.” • “But I can’t for the life of me figure out how 87[%] of us keep smiling when many of us are either hungry, cold, fearful, neglected, or… suffering from all five afflictions.” • 5 November 2011
Wellbeing • A broad concept about how a life is going for the person living it • Does wellbeing = happiness? • Intrinsic vs. instrumental bearers of value
Measuring Wellbeing (WB) Subjective WB Objective WB Overall Domain-Specific Quality of Life Indicators Traditional Economic Indicators Happiness HAPPINESS Brain scan Mental state/ hedonism Life Satisfaction theories Objective List/ Flourishing Health/ healthcare Freedom Trust Safety Environ-ment Education Equality Employ-ment Income Behav-ioural Wealth • Survey • Pager • Day reco-nstruction • Survey • “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life?” • Survey • Rate agreement “I have good friends” Production
Mental State Theories • Folk: get pleasure now! • Philosophers: maximise pleasure over your entire life • Key: All that matters is how you feel (your mental states) Wellbeing Happiness +ve net balance of good over bad mental states Especially hedonism
What about Truth & Freedom? • Compare two lives • Same experiences • Different reality • Double agent partner • Sponsored children all died • Whose life is better? • What should we do about a happy slave?
Measuring Mental State Happiness • Survey Questions • “How happy are you these days?” • Pager method • “What are you doing now and how are you feeling?” • Day reconstruction method • Note down activities and mood from previous day
Life Satisfaction Theories Having most or more of your desires satisfied • Based on desire/preference-satisfaction • Informed: adequately informed desires only • Ideal: desires that fit some objective criteria only • Key: All that matters is getting what you want Happiness Wellbeing Sometimes
Is the Satisfaction of Our Desires Good for us? • What to do about dissatisfaction? • Earn more • Want less • We choose to desire things because we think that their satisfaction will provide us with some value or meaning • D-S accounts put the value in the satisfaction, not the ultimate reason for having the desire
Measuring Life Satisfaction • Questions • “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole?” • “Compared to what it could have been, how satisfied are you with your life?” • Scales • 4 point to 11 point • Some labelled very differently • Delighted, Pleased, Mostly satisfied, Mixed, Mostly dissatisfied, Unhappy, Terrible
Flourishing Theories • Developing excellencies in one or all of your species’ fundamental traits • Only some versions include or require happiness/enjoyment of life • Key: All that matters is being the best you can be (given that you’re a human) Wellbeing Flourishing Developing & expressing natural capacities
Flourishing = Objective List • But, which traits do you prioritise? • Is excellence in reasoning or long-distance running better for us? • Unnatural things can be good for us too! • E.g. Pacemakers, wings etc. • We end up with a list of things that are good for us • E.g. WD Ross: Knowledge, Pleasure, Virtue and the proper apportionment of pleasure to virtue
Measuring Objective List/Flourishing Well-Being • Survey Questions: • “Rate the extent to which you agree with the following statements” • I maintain many good friendships • My life is meaningful • I am a virtuous person • I am rarely deceived • I am very knowledgeable • I am free to act as I please (when not harming others) • I live in a pristine environment
Policy-making Sustainability Fairness ↑ Well-being (WB) Equality Justice Subjective WB Objective WB Overall Domain-Specific Quality of Life Indicators Traditional Economic Indicators Happiness HAPPINESS Brain scan Mental state/ hedonism Life Satisfaction theories Objective List/ Flourishing Health/ healthcare Freedom Trust Safety Environ-ment Education Equality Employ-ment Income Behav-ioural Wealth • Survey • Pager • Day reco-nstruction • Survey • “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life?” • Survey • Rate agreement “I have good friends” Production
Some Complicating Factors • Subjective vs. objective measures of flourishing/capabilities/quality of life • Positivity bias on self-reports • Expectations and reference groups • Survey Question wording: • “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole?” • “Compared to what it could have been, how satisfied are you with your life?”
So what should we measure? • What do we want to know? • How are NZers are doing and why? • What is the best measure of Nzers wellbeing? • Some relevant factors: • Best captures wellbeing • Easy/cheap/fast to measure • Reliable results • Can compare with other surveys