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The Scientific Pursuit of Happiness

The Scientific Pursuit of Happiness. David G. Myers Broward County AP Workshop November 1, 2012. 135,140 on “depression” 42,547 on “fear” 17,717 on “anger”. 7,467 on “happiness” 2,010 on “courage” 2,708 on “joy”.

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The Scientific Pursuit of Happiness

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  1. The ScientificPursuit of Happiness David G. Myers Broward County AP Workshop November 1, 2012

  2. 135,140 on “depression” 42,547 on “fear” 17,717 on “anger” 7,467 on “happiness” 2,010 on “courage” 2,708 on “joy” Negative versus positive words in psychology abstracts since 1887

  3. A more positive psychology for the twenty-first century? Seligman’s “three pillars” of positive psychology: • Positive subjective well-being • life satisfaction/happiness/optimism • Positive strengths and virtues • creativity/courage/compassion/integrity/wisdom/self-control/spirituality/forgiveness • Positive institutions • healthy families/neighborhoods/schools/media

  4. From D.G. Myers, Exploring Psychology, 9th Edition (2013)

  5. “Happiness” articles per year (PsycINFO)

  6. What Is “Well-Being”? 1. Feeling happy: “Taking all things together, how would you say things are these days — would you say you are very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?”

  7. What Is “Well-Being”? 2. Thinking life is satisfying: “How satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?”

  8. How Happy Are People? 1. Self-reports are mostly positive

  9. Subjective Well-Being 160 Average = 6.75on 0 to 10 scale 916 Surveys in 45 Nations 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 1.50 2.50 3.50 4.50 5.50 6.50 7.50 8.50 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00

  10. (courtesy Andrew Oswald)

  11. 10,126 momentary moods reported by 226 SMU students (Watson, 2000)

  12. 20% 46% 27% 4% 2% 1% 0%

  13. Can we trust these self-reports? • Are happy people “in denial”? • The happiness thermometers may read a little high, yet . . . • Self-report measures are: • reliable • correlated with experience samplings • correlated with positive indicators • correlated with others’ reports • the only measures of subjective well-being

  14. Who Is Happy? 1. Young, middle-aged, or old?

  15. Percent “Satisfied” or “Very Satisfied” with Life as a Whole Age group Percent 100 80 60 40 20 0 15- 24 25- 34 35- 44 45- 54 55- 64 65+

  16. Marital Satisfaction and the Family Life Cycle 56 Rollins-Feldman 55 Locke-Wallace 54 53 52 Satisfaction 51 50 Blood-Wolfe 49 British study 48 47 46 Marriedwithoutchildren Child-bearing Pre-school children, oldest 5 Schoolchildrenoldest5-12 Teenagers oldest12-16 First child gone to last leavinghome Emptynest to retirement Emptynest todeath of first spouse

  17. Who Is Happy? 2. Women or men?

  18. Gender and Well-Being in Sixteen Nations Percent 100 Males 80 Females 60 40 20 0 Satisfied Very happy Pooled data from 169,776 interviews.

  19. (608,221 Americans, 2008 and 2009)

  20. Males Females Selected Disorders, by Sex Percent Data from M. Argyle, 1987. 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Depression Schizophrenia Alcoholism Psychological disorders

  21. Well-Being andBeing Well-Off A. The presumption thatmoney buys happiness

  22. “Would you be happier if you made more money?” (Gallup Survey, July, 2006)

  23. % “Very important or essential” Being very well off financially Developing a meaningful philosophy of life

  24. B. Does Money Buy Happiness? 1. Are people happier if they live in rich countries?

  25. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper, 12/2008

  26. B. Does Money Buy Happiness? 2. Within a country, are the richest the happiest?

  27. Gallup World Poll, 2005-2006 Gallup World Poll, 2005-2006 From Diener, Ng, & Tov, 2009

  28. ALS patients(from Kübler et al, 2005)

  29. B. Does Money Buy Happiness? 3. Does the happiness of a peoplerise with their affluence?

  30. Personal income (in 2005 $)

  31. % Homes withAir Conditioning Percent 100 86 80 60 40 15 20 0 2005 1960

  32. Personal income (in 2005 %) % Very happy

  33. Real income and happiness for 7,812 individuals followed from 1985 to 2000

  34. Teens from affluent families suffer elevated rates of • Anxiety • Depression • Substance use • Eating disorders (related to achievement pressures and isolation from adults, suggests one analysis)

  35. China’s households, 1994 and 2004 (Gallup nationwide surveys)

  36. Chinese satisfaction, 1994 and 2004 (“How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with theway things are going in your life today?”)

  37. Mean Life Satisfaction in China(Six surveys over time, from Easterlin et al., 2012)

  38. Courtesy Michael Britt, thepsychfiles.com/money-happiness

  39. Redefining Progress (1) Progress = standard of living = material well-being = unsustainable development (2) Progress = quality of life = total well-being (physical, mental, social and spiritual) = sustainable development

  40. The Traits ofHappy People

  41. “I’ve always been happy, but latelyI’ve turned it up a notch or two.”

  42. The Traits of Happy People • Self-esteem: Happy peoplelike themselves • Self-serving bias • Roughly equivalent self-esteem and happiness among M/F, White/Black

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