Notes for section 3.3 of my IB HL psychology textbook. All about happiness on all different levels.

1. An Integrative Look at
Happiness

2. Happiness
• Common beliefs about what contributes to
happiness (i.e. money!) are not confirmed
by psychological research
• People get used to originally happy
situations so the happiness wears off
• Lyubomirsky (2001):
– Inborn genetic set-point for happiness probably
accounts for 50% of our happiness
– Circumstances affect 10% of our happiness
– Individuals can influence the other 40%

3. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)
• Defined happiness: the sum of positive
emotions minus the sum of negative
emotions
• Believed any action that promoted
happiness was morally right
– Actions promoting happiness defined as
pleasure and the absence of pain

4. Rich Doesn’t = Happy
• Two explanations:
– People compare themselves to others
• Based on Leon Festinger’s social comparison theory
• People assess themselves in comparison with others;
they aren’t as happy if they compare themselves to
people who have more/as much
– People link happiness to reaching goals, but
continue to set higher ones
• Based on Julian Rotter’s level of aspiration theory
• People formulate general expectancy
• Only happy for a short time (if at all) once they reach
their goal

5. Myers and Dieners (1995)
• Found discrepancy between wealth and
happiness
• Buying power of average American had
tripled since 1950
• Proportion of Americans who described
themselves as “very happy” remained at
about 1/3
• Shows no direct link between increase in
wealth and increase in happiness!

6. Hagerty (2003)
• Happiness was positively correlated with
equality of distribution of wealth in the
country
• As inequality of income decreased, average
level of life satisfaction increased
• Could be explained by social comparison
theory
– We often tend to compare ourselves to those
who are more fortunate (upward comparison)
which leads to dissatisfaction

7. Goals & Happiness
• People who link happiness to specific goals
are less likely to be happy
• When they reach their goals and do not find
themselves to be any happier they set new
ones!
• The media portrays wealthy consumers as
happy and the public believes it!

8. Johnson and Kruger (2006)
• Satisfaction with one’s own salary is a better
indicator of happiness
• Dissatisfaction when people think they
should earn more or feel others deserve less
than they earn
– Less happy, more greedy, because they compare
themselves to others

9. Conway, di Fazio, and Mayman (1999)
• Judge emotional reactions of high-status
people (with money) and low-status people
(without money)
• Widespread false belief (illusory correlation)
that richer = happier, less angry, less
depressed, less afraid
• Did not believe the status made a difference
in love

10. Dalai Lama
• Dalai Lama thinks the key to happiness is in
our hands
• Compassion is an important part of spiritual
development
– State of mind which is non-aggressive and rests
on the desire to help other people
– Acknowledging all people’s right to happiness
• Base happiness on connectedness to other
people—not wealth
– Empathy is an important factor

11. Sociocultural Influences: Bhutan
• Bhutan is very poor, but people are very happy
• Spiritual and meditative people; happy with idle
time, contemplation, and the pursuit of wisdom
• Government is not focused on
productivity, efficiency, and money
• Government considers the unique nature of
Bhutanese culture valuable
• King of Bhutan introduced the gross national
happiness to measure happiness
– The king is a Buddhist and thinks the purpose of life
is inner happiness

12. Sociocultural Influences
• The Danes are the happiest people on Earth
– Over 2/3 are “very satisfied” with their lives
– Climate does not seem a positive happy force
– Welfare state and highest level of income
equality
– Prosperous economy and well-functioning
democracy
– Do not have particularly high expectations about
the future—more realistic

13. Adrian White’s Map of World Happiness
• Created with a meta-analysis of 100
different worldwide studies
• Happiest: Denmark, Switzerland
• Unhappiest: Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Zimbabwe, Burundi

14. National Happiness
• 81% of population think the government
should focus on making citizens happier
rather than wealthier
• .62 correlation between nation’s happiness
and health
• .52 correlation between nation’s happiness
and wealth
• .51 correlation between nation’s happiness
and provision of education

15. Positive Psychology
• Term coined by Martin Seligman
• One main goal: conduct research that
promotes human happiness and well-being
• People can learn to think positively
• Positive emotions help mentally and
physically
• However, most happiness research is only
applicable to Western civilizations

16. Biological Factors in Happiness
• Habituation: People tend to adapt to their
environment
• Inherited ability to adapt to both negative
and positive situations
– Evolutionarily: our ancestors passed on genes
such as the ability to notice changes/adapt
• Humans seem to have an inner voice of
dissatisfaction that prompts them to strive
for more
– Our ancestors were the same way

17. Genetics & Happiness
• David Lykken thinks we have an innate
baseline (or set-point) of happiness
• Happiness Twin Study (Lykken 1996) to
compare happiness scores of identical and
fraternal twins
– Identical twins were very similar in happiness
scores
– Fraternal twins were not similar at all

18. Happiness
• 50% of happiness is due to genetics
• 10% due to situational factors
– i.e. rich, poor, healthy, unhealthy, married, sing
• 40% within one’s own control
– According to Sonja Lyubomirsky
– Actions and thoughts can affect happiness

19. Characteristics of Happy People
• Devote a lot of time to family and friends
• Easily express gratitude
• First to offer a helping hand
• Optimistic outlook on future
• Enjoy pleasures of life; live in the present
• Spend time doing physical exercise
• Committed to lifelong goals and ambitions
• Cope well in times of crisis

20. Lyubomirky Suggests…
• Express gratitude
• Investigate social connections
• Practice acts of kindness
• Avoid overthinking
• Avoid social comparison

21. Volunteering & Happiness
• Swartz et al. (1999)
• Volunteer work resulted in dramatic
changes in their lives
– Thinking of other people’s problems
– More tolerant and open
– Confidence in coping abilities
– Participated in more social activities
– Fewer episodes of depression
• Small sample; not large enough to
generalize