Happiness Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Understanding subjective well-being (SWB) has historically been a core human endeavor and presently spans fields from management to mental health. Previous meta-analyses have indicated that personality traits are one of the best... more

Understanding subjective well-being (SWB) has historically been a core human endeavor and presently spans fields from management to mental health. Previous meta-analyses have indicated that personality traits are one of the best predictors. Still, these past results indicate only a moderate relationship, weaker than suggested by several lines of reasoning. This may be because of commensurability, where researchers have grouped together substantively disparate measures in their analyses. In this article, the authors review and address this problem directly, focusing on individual measures of personality (e.g., the Neuroticism-Extroversion-Openness Personality Inventory; P. T. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1992) and categories of SWB (e.g., life satisfaction). In addition, the authors take a multivariate approach, assessing how much variance personality traits account for individually as well as together. Results indicate that different personality and SWB scales can be substantively different and that the relationship between the two is typically much larger (e.g., 4 times) than previous meta-analyses have indicated. Total SWB variance accounted for by personality can reach as high as 39% or 63% disattenuated. These results also speak to meta-analyses in general and the need to account for scale differences once a sufficient research base has been generated.

Objectives This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of self-care empowerment training on life expectancy, happiness, and quality of life of the elderly in Iranian elderly care centers in Dubai. Methods & Materials This study was a... more

Objectives This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of self-care empowerment training on life expectancy,
happiness, and quality of life of the elderly in Iranian elderly care centers in Dubai.
Methods & Materials This study was a quasi-experimental research conducted in the form of pre-testpost-
test with control group. The statistical population of this study included all Iranian elderly in the
elderly care centers in Dubai. Of these individuals, a sample of 40 elderly people (20 women and 20 men)
was selected and were involved randomly in two experimental groups (n=20; 10 women and 10 men) and
one control group (n=20; 10 women and 10 men). In this study, the experimental group received self-care
education during 12 sessions for 3 months and a weekly two-hour session, and the control group was put
on a waiting list. The experimental and control groups completed the Snyder Hope Scale (SHS), the Oxford
Happiness Inventory (OHI), and the World Health Organization Quality of Life scale (WHOQOL) in the pretest
and post-test phases. The data were analyzed using Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA).
Results The findings showed that in post-test, self-care empowerment training significantly increased the
hope, happiness, and quality of life in the elderly.
Conclusion Self-care empowerment training in the elderly can be effective in increasing hope, happiness,
and quality of life of these individuals.

Happiness is an important component of subjective well-being and people generally wish to be happy. There are various factors linked to happiness, e.g. health, family relationships, social support, financial situation, work, personal... more

Happiness is an important component of subjective well-being and people generally wish to be happy. There are various factors linked to happiness, e.g. health, family relationships, social support, financial situation, work, personal independence, generosity and so on. It is quite possible that old age is associated with many positive and negative factors in the way of experiencing happiness. As there are many benefits of happiness it is important that this area is explored and individuals are supported in their pursuit of finding and maintaining happiness.

Both social input and facial feedback appear to be processed differently by individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We tested the effects of both of these types of input on laughter in children with ASD. Sensitivity to facial... more

Both social input and facial feedback appear to be processed differently by individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We tested the effects of both of these types of input on laughter in children with ASD. Sensitivity to facial feedback was tested in 43 children with ASD, aged 8-14 years, and 43 typically developing children matched for mental age (6-14), in order to examine whether children with ASD use bodily feedback as an implicit source of information. Specifically, children were asked to view cartoons as they normally would (control condition), and while holding a pencil in their mouth forcing their smiling muscles into activation (feedback condition) while rating their enjoyment of the cartoons. The authors also explored the effects of social input in children with ASD by investigating whether the presence of a caregiver or friend (companion condition), or the presence of a laugh track superimposed upon the cartoon (laugh track condition) increased the children's s...

These two studies extended previous research on the use of verbal instructions and support technology for helping persons with mild or moderate... more

These two studies extended previous research on the use of verbal instructions and support technology for helping persons with mild or moderate Alzheimer's disease perform daily activities. Study I included seven participants who were to carry out one of two previously targeted activities (i.e., either coffee preparation or table setting). Study II included four participants who were to carry out two new activities (i.e., preparation of a fruit salad and of a vegetable salad). The effects of activity engagement on mood (i.e., indices of happiness) were assessed by recording the participants' behavior during the activity trials and parallel non-activity periods. The participants of Study I reached percentages of correct activity performance, which normally exceeded 85. Five of them also showed higher indices of happiness during the activity trials as opposed to the non-activity periods. Three of the participants of Study II reached high percentages of correct performance on both activities available. One of these participants also showed higher indices of happiness during the activity trials. The findings were discussed in relation to previous research outcomes and in terms of their practical implications for intervention programs.

Der vielbeschworene Paradigmenwechsel hat in der Regelschule vor 30 Jahren begonnen, als Pädagogik und Didaktik versuchten, die Schülerperspektive einzunehmen und den Lernprozess aus der Sicht des Schülers zu gestalten. Man fing an, für... more

Der vielbeschworene Paradigmenwechsel hat in der Regelschule vor 30 Jahren begonnen, als Pädagogik und Didaktik versuchten, die Schülerperspektive einzunehmen und den Lernprozess aus der Sicht des Schülers zu gestalten. Man fing an, für den Schüler Lernumwelten zu strukturieren, die genug Appellcharakter besaßen, um ihn zu einer aktiven Auseinandersetzung mit Lerngegenständen anzuregen. Das Ziel wies damals eine stark individualistische Komponente auf, denn der Akzent lag auf der Selbstverwirklichung-wenn auch in " sozialer Verantwortung ". Im Zuge der Globalisierung gewinnt die soziale Dimension ein neues Gewicht. Um die Probleme, die auf die globalisierte Menschheit zukommen, anzugehen, brauchen wir alle verfügbaren intellektuellen Ressourcen. Die neuen Lernziele heißen: Fähigkeit zu kommunizieren, Bereitschaft, sein Wissen weiterzugeben, Fähigkeit und Bereitschaft, kollektiv Wissen aufzubauen und dieses Wissen zur Problemlösung einzusetzen. Dank der rasanten Entwicklung im Bereich der neuen Kommunikationsmittel rückt die Verwirklichung dieser Ziele heran. Im Folgenden möchte ich an einem konkreten Beispiel aufzeigen, mit welchen didaktischen Maßnahmen Schüler dazu gebracht werden, sowohl im Klassenzimmer als auch außerhalb des Unterrichts gemeinsam Wissen aufzubauen und zur Lösung auftretender Probleme einzusetzen.

This article explores explore the relationships among socio-demographics, perceived health, and happiness in a patient population of 221 adults recruited from 39 primary care practices in Alabama. We also explored whether the relationship... more

This article explores explore the relationships among socio-demographics, perceived health, and happiness in a patient population of 221 adults recruited from 39 primary care practices in Alabama. We also explored whether the relationship between socio-demographics and happiness is mediated by perceived health. The dependent variable, happiness, was dichotomized as happy versus unhappy. Independent variables or correlates of happiness included race (Black or White), age (< 65 vs. 65 and older), gender (male vs. female), perceived income (sufficient vs. insufficient to meet basic needs), health literacy (adequate vs. inadequate), and self-rated health (excellent/very good/good vs. poor/fair). Data were analyzed using generalized linear latent and mixed models to examine the relationship between happiness and its correlates. Our findings suggest that adequate health literacy and better perceived health are associated with an increase in the likelihood of happiness. In addition, the...

[Coherent Systems A.3.C.2.]

In visual search, an angry face in a crowd "pops out" unlike a happy or a neutral face. This "anger superiority effect" conflicts with views of visual perception holding that complex stimulus contents cannot be... more

In visual search, an angry face in a crowd "pops out" unlike a happy or a neutral face. This "anger superiority effect" conflicts with views of visual perception holding that complex stimulus contents cannot be detected without focused top-down attention. Implicit visual processing of threatening changes was studied by recording event-related potentials (ERPs) using facial stimuli using the change blindness paradigm, in which conscious change detection is eliminated by presenting a blank screen before the changes. Already before their conscious detection, angry faces modulated relatively early emotion sensitive ERPs when appearing among happy and neutral faces, but happy faces only among neutral, not angry faces. Conscious change detection was more efficient for angry than happy faces regardless of background. These findings indicate that the brain can implicitly extract complex emotional information from facial stimuli, and the biological relevance of threatenin...

As smartphones become ever more integrated in people’s lives, a burgeoning new area of research has emerged on their well-being effects. We propose that disparate strands of research and apparently contradictory findings can be integrated... more

As smartphones become ever more integrated in people’s lives, a burgeoning new area of research has emerged on their well-being effects. We propose that disparate strands of research and apparently contradictory findings can be integrated under three basic hypotheses, positing that smartphones influence well-being by (1) replacing other activities (displacement hypothesis), (2) interfering with concurrent activities (interference hypothesis), and (3) affording access to information and activities that would otherwise be unavailable (complementarity hypothesis). Using this framework, we highlight methodological issues and go beyond net effects to examine how and when phones boost versus hurt well-being. We examine both psychological and contextual mediators and moderators of the effects, thus outlining an agenda for future research.

In this class, we will try to examine happiness from a cross-disciplinary perspective that will use a combination of books and movies. We will ask simple questions: To what extent does happiness depend on our inner life and on our outer... more

In this class, we will try to examine happiness from a cross-disciplinary perspective that will use a combination of books and movies. We will ask simple questions: To what extent does happiness depend on our inner life and on our outer circumstances? Does extra income increase happiness? Or should we work less and have more leisure? And how are we to measure happiness? To this effect, we shall examine a representative selection of works in related fields such as sociology, economics, political theory, literature, and philosophy. We begin by asking how we live today and explore next how we ought to live and what are the main ingredients of happiness and how can it be promoted in practice.
This year, the class will focus on several major themes: (1) the search for happiness in America today; (2) work, consumerism, and leisure; (3) nature, solitude, and friendship; (4) civilization, politics and happiness; (5) science and happiness; and (6) the economics and politics of happiness.
The texts that we’ll read in this class include selections from a wide array of sources such as David Brooks’s novel Bobos in Paradise, Juliet Schor’s The Overworked American, Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents, Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, Rousseau’s Reveries of a Solitary Walker, Seneca’s Letters, Emerson’s Essays, Pascal’s Pensées, Montaigne’s Essays, and Huxley’s Brave New World. Students will also be required to watch and comment on a few relevant movies (About Schmidt, Another Woman, Road Scholar) that illuminate some of the topics discussed in class.

The purpose of this study is examining the relation between the emotional intelligence and happiness of the wellness coaches. 390 wellness coaches 282 of whom were women and 108 of whom were men participated voluntarily in the study. The... more

The purpose of this study is examining the relation between the emotional intelligence and happiness of the wellness coaches. 390 wellness coaches 282 of whom were women and 108 of whom were men participated voluntarily in the study. The participants were actively working as wellness coaches. The Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS) whose Turkish adaptation was realized by Aslan; and the Oxford Happiness Scale, which was developed by Hills and Argyle whose adaptation into Turkish was realized by Dogan and Sapmaz were used as the data collection tools. The descriptive statistical methods, the t-test, One-Way Variance Analysis (ANOVA), regression analysis and Pearson Correlation tests were used for the analysis of the data. At the end of the study it was determined that there was no statistically significant differences between the happiness and emotional intelligence points of Wellness Coaches for Oxford Happiness Scale when these points were compared according to the genders (p>0,05); and significant difference was determined in benefiting from emotions and optimism, which are the sub-dimensions of emotional intelligence scale (p<0,05); no statistically significant differences were found in the sub-dimension of the expression of emotions (p>0,05). It is observed that there is a positive relation at 0,383 level between the Oxford Happiness Scale and the Emotional Intelligence Scale. When the regression analysis results are examined, it is observed that the Emotional Intelligence Sub-dimensions explain the happiness at the medium level. The most explanatory one among the sub-dimensions is the optimism sub-dimension.

The project itself, as well as key findings of Serbia Population Daily Time Use survey shall be presented in the following text. The author led the project in December, 2008, which was conducted by TNS Medium Gallup and Faculty for... more

The project itself, as well as key findings of Serbia Population Daily Time Use survey shall be presented in the following text. The author led the project in December, 2008, which was conducted by TNS Medium Gallup and Faculty for Culture and Media, Belgrade. This self-completion diary based survey comprised the sample of 1600 respondents, representing population of Serbia aged 12 and over. An average Serbian citizen spends 32% of his/her daily time sleeping, the survey reveals, 30% performing his/her everyday activities and duties (at work, housework, studying, personal care and meal), 19% is allocated to the media, 9% to leisure time (no media included), and 11% for other activities that cannot be grouped under any other previously mentioned category. Television takes 55% of the total amount of time devoted to the media, radio 24%, internet 11% and the press 9%. The major part of leisure time is allocated to visits by friends and vice versa (39%), 30% is time spent in pubs and clubs and 10% reading books. In addition to this, an average citizen spends 267.8 minutes per day communicating with other persons, directly, face to face or via any other means of modern technology. Direct active communication is 34.5% of the total communication, direct passive 43.7%, indirect active 9.6% and indirect passive 12.2%. This person feels particularly good and happy 178.4 minutes per day, and 44.3 minutes rather bad and unhappy. They fell good mainly thanks to their descendants (children and grandchildren) and female population, and bad due to job related roles and non-family relations.

Abstract Purpose: Positive thinking and positive orientation towards crises have wide implications in appraisal and recovery from stressful events as well as in one’s reactions to everyday experiences. Positive life orientation, a... more

Many mining and development experts consider artisanal diamond mining to be a form of gambling. In Sierra Leone’s mining areas, this comparison also recurs occasionally in miners’ discourses. However, the idea that mining is like gambling... more

Many mining and development experts consider artisanal diamond mining to be a form of gambling. In Sierra Leone’s mining areas, this comparison also recurs occasionally in miners’ discourses. However, the idea that mining is like gambling deserves critical scrutiny as it allows only a limited, stereotypical representation of this work. This article considers mining as a complex combination of material production and imaginaries oriented by a specific ethic. Central to the understanding of this ethic is a repertoire of religious metaphors that inform miners’ working and ritual practices.
By drawing upon my ethnographic experience in Sierra Leone (2007–2011), I examine the vocabulary of contingency which the miners use to make sense of their successes and failures and guide their daily decision-making. Moreover, I show how this vocabulary mirrors the daily efforts of miners in (re)producing the social reality in and around diamond mines. What I mean to highlight is the ways in which diamond miners challenge dominant discourses depicting them as immoral, antisocial agents.

It is probably fair to say that most people want to be happy. Indeed, the 1776 US Declaration of Independence refers to happiness as an ‘unalienable right’. However, given the rising prevalence of mental illness, and given the amount of... more

It is probably fair to say that most people want to be happy. Indeed, the 1776 US Declaration of Independence refers to happiness as an ‘unalienable right’. However, given the rising prevalence of mental illness, and given the amount of general unrest, conflict, and suffering in society, it’s also fair to say that, on the whole, human beings aren’t very good at cultivating happiness. In today’s post, we draw upon insights from the classical and research literature, and from our own practice and study of wellbeing, to examine the subject of how to nurture lasting happiness.

Numerous studies document that societal happiness is correlated with individualism, but the nature of this phenomenon remains understudied. In the current paper, we address this gap and test the reasoning that individualism correlates... more

Numerous studies document that societal happiness is correlated with individualism, but the nature of this phenomenon remains understudied. In the current paper, we address this gap and test the reasoning that individualism correlates with societal happiness because the most common measure of societal happiness (i.e., country-level aggregates of personal life satisfaction) is individualism-themed. With the data collected from 13,009 participants across fifty countries, we compare associations of four types of happiness (out of which three are more collectivism-themed than personal life satisfaction) with two different measures of individualism. We replicated previous findings by demonstrating that societal happiness measured as country-level aggregate of personal life satisfaction is correlated with individualism. Importantly though, we also found that the country-level aggregates of the collectivism-themed measures of happiness do not tend to be significantly correlated with indivi...

Measures of well-being have proliferated over the past decades. Very little guidance has been available as to which measures to use in what contexts. This paper provides a series of recommendations, based on the present state of knowledge... more

Measures of well-being have proliferated over the past decades. Very little guidance has been available as to which measures to use in what contexts. This paper provides a series of recommendations, based on the present state of knowledge and the existing measures available, of what measures might be preferred in which contexts. The recommendations came out of an interdisciplinary workshop on the measurement of well-being. The recommendations are shaped around the number of items that can be included in a survey, and also based on the differing potential contexts and purposes of data collection such as, for example, government surveys, or multiuse cohort studies, or studies specifically about psychological well-being. The recommendations are not intended to be definitive, but to stimulate discussion and refinement, and to provide guidance to those relatively new to the study of well-being.

Today happiness is often understood as improving the condition of our body - the case where new technologies can help to achieve the aim. In this context, the author writes about human hybridization and chimerism, which are part of the... more

Today happiness is often understood as improving the condition of our body - the case where new technologies can help to achieve the aim. In this context, the author writes about human hybridization and chimerism, which are part of the human enhancement and presents a selection of historical and contemporary scientific experiments and bioart projects. She also expresses an opinion that it is necessary to create a new ethics that goes beyond species limitations due to the inevitability of biotechnological enhancement.

The education, income, wealth and satisfaction with life of australians aged 25–54 are examined in relation to the circumstances of their childhood, paying particular attention to variation by number of siblings when growing up. The data... more

The education, income, wealth and satisfaction with life of australians aged 25–54 are examined in relation to the circumstances of their childhood, paying particular attention to variation by number of siblings when growing up. The data are from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survery. Educational attainment, income earned and household wealth tend to be greater for people who grew up in relatively small families. The effect of the number of siblings on educational attainment is greater for females than for males. However the advantages of growing up in a smaller family do not translate into higher levels of satisfaction with life. The implications of the findings for the public debate on fertility and child-related benefits in Australia are discussed, as are the implications of a child-quality-child-quantity trade-off for the explanation of fertility levels in more developed countries.

A recent qualitative review by Wood, Froh, and Geraghty (2010) cast doubt on the efficacy of gratitude interventions, suggesting the need to carefully attend to the quality of comparison groups. Accordingly, in a series of meta-analyses,... more

A recent qualitative review by Wood, Froh, and Geraghty (2010) cast doubt on the efficacy of gratitude interventions, suggesting the need to carefully attend to the quality of comparison groups. Accordingly, in a series of meta-analyses, we evaluate the efficacy of gratitude interventions (ks = 4-18; Ns = 395-1,755) relative to a measurement-only control or an alternative-activity condition across 3 outcomes (i.e., gratitude, anxiety, psychological well-being). Gratitude interventions outperformed a measurement-only control on measures of psychological well-being (d = .31, 95% confidence interval [CI = .04, .58]; k = 5) but not gratitude (d = .20; 95% CI [-.04, .44]; k = 4). Gratitude interventions outperformed an alternative-activity condition on measures of gratitude (d = .46, 95% CI [.27, .64]; k = 15) and psychological well-being (d = .17, 95% CI [.09, .24]; k = 20) but not anxiety (d = .11, 95% CI [-.08, .31]; k = 5). More-detailed subdivision was possible on studies with outco...

This chapter presents several of the dominant ideas and intellectual debates about human beauty from archaic Greece to early Christianity. At issue are ideals of character, ethical ideals of who one should be and how one should live. What... more

This chapter presents several of the dominant ideas and intellectual debates about human beauty from archaic Greece to early Christianity. At issue are ideals of character, ethical ideals of who one should be and how one should live. What constitutes beauty and why beauty matters change alongside conceptions of body and soul, virtue and happiness, and the relationship between human beings and the divine.