Lecture 1 The Social Aspects of Happiness
Fruhen
Course aims
Develop theoretical and practical skills that will help you to reflect about
happiness, become happier, and that you can use to advise others on how
to become happier
Understand and learn to explain the main empirical results as well as the
main theories on the psychology of happiness
What is happiness?
“…there is hardly a muddier concept in the over 2,000-year history of
philosophy itself than that of happiness. (see, e.g., Strack, Argyle, &
Schwarz, 1991; Veenhoven, 1990) ” in Lazarus, 2003, p. 177
Dictionary:
the feeling of being happy;
feeling, showing or causing pleasure or satisfaction;
a state of well-being and contentment;
a pleasurable or satisfying experience
Synonyms: Satisfaction, Wellbeing, Engagement, Thriving, Flourishing, Also flow
How happiness is defined depends on how it is conceptualized
Emotional well-being (presence of positive things, absence of negative)
“…the emotional quality of an individual’s everyday experience—the
frequency and intensity of experiences of joy, fascination, anxiety,
sadness, anger, and affection that make one’s life pleasant or unpleasant.”
(Kahneman & Deaton, 2010)
Live evaluations
“…overall appreciation of one's life as-a-whole” (Veenhoven, 2017)
Life evaluation refers to a person’s thoughts about their life (Kahneman &
Deaton, 2010).
Or both: …the most prominent definition of happiness: subjective well-
being, which encompasses levels of positive emotions and negative
emotions, as well as life evaluations (Diener, 1984).
Genes can explain differences in happiness
heritability of happiness was estimated at
22% for males
41% in females
Two neurotransmitters are key:
Dopamine (Ashby et al., 1999) – positive mood (associated with happiness)
Serotonin (Mitchell and Phillips, 2007) – negative mood (associated with
happiness)
One more thing: the relevance of happiness
“I also question whether being consistently happy should be regarded as
essential or perhaps even relevant to the good life” Lazarus, 2003
,Happiness in philosophy and psychology
Hedonic view
Philosophy
Equating well-being with hedonic pleasure or happiness has a long history.
Aristippus, a Greek philosopher from the fourth century B.C.,:
the goal of life is to experience the maximum amount of pleasure
happiness is the totality of one’s hedonic moments
The happy life is the life of maximized pleasures.
Kahnemann (hedonic view in psychology)
Pleasure versus pain
Hedonistic accounts consider happiness to be identifiable with pleasure as
a raw, undifferentiated, subjective feeling
Bradburn (1969) distinguished between positive and negative affect
- happiness as the balance between the two.
Happiness = presence of pleasure (the presence of positive mood) and the
absence of pain (negative mood)
Hedonometer
an electric device that at randomly determined intervals gives off a signal
When prompted participants complete a questionnaire about their current
feelings of pleasure or pain (see Peterson, 2006, p. 81).
Problems with this approach:
humans do not only have pleasures, they also evaluate them as good or
bad
hedonistic treadmill (Peterson, 2006, p. 54) – once people reach a certain
level of happiness, then that becomes the new normal. The only way to
experience happiness again, is to seek out more happiness, and more and
more.
This is one of the more detailed affect classifications Hedonometer based on
language of (Panas) Two dimensions tweets
Pleasure
Arousal or
Activation
Eudaimonic view
Philosophy
Happiness is not a principal criterion of well-being.
Aristotle:
hedonic happiness is a vulgar ideal, making humans slavish followers of
desires.
true happiness is found in the expression of virtue — that is, in doing what
is worth doing.
Waterman (1993): , the eudaimonic conception of wellbeing calls upon people to
live in accordance with their true self
,Psychology
Six aspects of human actualization
Autonomy: self-determining and independent, able to resist social pressures to
think and act in certain ways, regulates behavior from within, evaluates self by
personal standards.
Personal growth: has a feeling of continued development, sees self as growing
and expanding, is open to new experiences, has sense of realizing his or her
potential, sees improvement in self and behavior over time, is changing in ways
that reflect more self-knowledge and effectiveness. , Self-acceptance: possesses
a positive attitude toward the self; acknowledges and accepts multiple aspects of
self, including good and bad qualities; feels positive about past life Life purpose:
has goals in life and a sense of directedness, feels there is meaning to present
and past life, holds beliefs that give life purpose, has aims and objectives for
living.
Environmental mastery: has a sense of mastery and competence in managing
the environment, controls complex array of external activities, makes effective
use of surrounding opportunities, able to choose or create contexts suitable to
personal needs and values
Positive relations with others: has warm, satisfying, trusting relationships with
others; is concerned about the welfare of others; capable of strong empathy,
affection, and intimacy; understands give and take of human relationships
Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000)
People are happier when the three basic needs are fulfilled:
Autonomy: refers to volition and desire to selforganize experience and behavior
Competence: propensity to have an effect on the environment as well as to attain
valued outcomes within it.
Relatedness: desire to feel connected to others-to love and care, and to be loved
and cared for
Fulfilment of three basic needs is essential for
psychological growth (e.g. intrinsic motivation),
integrity (e.g. internalization and assimilation of cultural practices),
wellbeing,
well-being (e.g. life satisfaction and psychological health),
experiences of vitality
self-congruence
Measuring happiness
Measurement varies depending on conceptualization
The Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) is a 4-item self-report measure
developed to assess an individual’s overall happiness as measured through
self-evaluation (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999).
The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) is a 20 item (short = 8
items) scale to assess affect with a list of adjectives (Watson et al., 1988),
such as enthusiastic, interested, proud, distressed guilty etc
Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) is a global cognitive assessment of life
satisfaction via 5 items (See Pavot & Diener, 1992)
Cantril ladder method has been used in the World Happiness Report.
Respondents are asked to think of a ladder, with the best possible life for
them being a 10, and the worst possible life being a 0.
,
Fruhen
Course aims
Develop theoretical and practical skills that will help you to reflect about
happiness, become happier, and that you can use to advise others on how
to become happier
Understand and learn to explain the main empirical results as well as the
main theories on the psychology of happiness
What is happiness?
“…there is hardly a muddier concept in the over 2,000-year history of
philosophy itself than that of happiness. (see, e.g., Strack, Argyle, &
Schwarz, 1991; Veenhoven, 1990) ” in Lazarus, 2003, p. 177
Dictionary:
the feeling of being happy;
feeling, showing or causing pleasure or satisfaction;
a state of well-being and contentment;
a pleasurable or satisfying experience
Synonyms: Satisfaction, Wellbeing, Engagement, Thriving, Flourishing, Also flow
How happiness is defined depends on how it is conceptualized
Emotional well-being (presence of positive things, absence of negative)
“…the emotional quality of an individual’s everyday experience—the
frequency and intensity of experiences of joy, fascination, anxiety,
sadness, anger, and affection that make one’s life pleasant or unpleasant.”
(Kahneman & Deaton, 2010)
Live evaluations
“…overall appreciation of one's life as-a-whole” (Veenhoven, 2017)
Life evaluation refers to a person’s thoughts about their life (Kahneman &
Deaton, 2010).
Or both: …the most prominent definition of happiness: subjective well-
being, which encompasses levels of positive emotions and negative
emotions, as well as life evaluations (Diener, 1984).
Genes can explain differences in happiness
heritability of happiness was estimated at
22% for males
41% in females
Two neurotransmitters are key:
Dopamine (Ashby et al., 1999) – positive mood (associated with happiness)
Serotonin (Mitchell and Phillips, 2007) – negative mood (associated with
happiness)
One more thing: the relevance of happiness
“I also question whether being consistently happy should be regarded as
essential or perhaps even relevant to the good life” Lazarus, 2003
,Happiness in philosophy and psychology
Hedonic view
Philosophy
Equating well-being with hedonic pleasure or happiness has a long history.
Aristippus, a Greek philosopher from the fourth century B.C.,:
the goal of life is to experience the maximum amount of pleasure
happiness is the totality of one’s hedonic moments
The happy life is the life of maximized pleasures.
Kahnemann (hedonic view in psychology)
Pleasure versus pain
Hedonistic accounts consider happiness to be identifiable with pleasure as
a raw, undifferentiated, subjective feeling
Bradburn (1969) distinguished between positive and negative affect
- happiness as the balance between the two.
Happiness = presence of pleasure (the presence of positive mood) and the
absence of pain (negative mood)
Hedonometer
an electric device that at randomly determined intervals gives off a signal
When prompted participants complete a questionnaire about their current
feelings of pleasure or pain (see Peterson, 2006, p. 81).
Problems with this approach:
humans do not only have pleasures, they also evaluate them as good or
bad
hedonistic treadmill (Peterson, 2006, p. 54) – once people reach a certain
level of happiness, then that becomes the new normal. The only way to
experience happiness again, is to seek out more happiness, and more and
more.
This is one of the more detailed affect classifications Hedonometer based on
language of (Panas) Two dimensions tweets
Pleasure
Arousal or
Activation
Eudaimonic view
Philosophy
Happiness is not a principal criterion of well-being.
Aristotle:
hedonic happiness is a vulgar ideal, making humans slavish followers of
desires.
true happiness is found in the expression of virtue — that is, in doing what
is worth doing.
Waterman (1993): , the eudaimonic conception of wellbeing calls upon people to
live in accordance with their true self
,Psychology
Six aspects of human actualization
Autonomy: self-determining and independent, able to resist social pressures to
think and act in certain ways, regulates behavior from within, evaluates self by
personal standards.
Personal growth: has a feeling of continued development, sees self as growing
and expanding, is open to new experiences, has sense of realizing his or her
potential, sees improvement in self and behavior over time, is changing in ways
that reflect more self-knowledge and effectiveness. , Self-acceptance: possesses
a positive attitude toward the self; acknowledges and accepts multiple aspects of
self, including good and bad qualities; feels positive about past life Life purpose:
has goals in life and a sense of directedness, feels there is meaning to present
and past life, holds beliefs that give life purpose, has aims and objectives for
living.
Environmental mastery: has a sense of mastery and competence in managing
the environment, controls complex array of external activities, makes effective
use of surrounding opportunities, able to choose or create contexts suitable to
personal needs and values
Positive relations with others: has warm, satisfying, trusting relationships with
others; is concerned about the welfare of others; capable of strong empathy,
affection, and intimacy; understands give and take of human relationships
Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000)
People are happier when the three basic needs are fulfilled:
Autonomy: refers to volition and desire to selforganize experience and behavior
Competence: propensity to have an effect on the environment as well as to attain
valued outcomes within it.
Relatedness: desire to feel connected to others-to love and care, and to be loved
and cared for
Fulfilment of three basic needs is essential for
psychological growth (e.g. intrinsic motivation),
integrity (e.g. internalization and assimilation of cultural practices),
wellbeing,
well-being (e.g. life satisfaction and psychological health),
experiences of vitality
self-congruence
Measuring happiness
Measurement varies depending on conceptualization
The Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) is a 4-item self-report measure
developed to assess an individual’s overall happiness as measured through
self-evaluation (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999).
The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) is a 20 item (short = 8
items) scale to assess affect with a list of adjectives (Watson et al., 1988),
such as enthusiastic, interested, proud, distressed guilty etc
Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) is a global cognitive assessment of life
satisfaction via 5 items (See Pavot & Diener, 1992)
Cantril ladder method has been used in the World Happiness Report.
Respondents are asked to think of a ladder, with the best possible life for
them being a 10, and the worst possible life being a 0.
,
