Transcript Myers Lecture 2008 APS - University of Illinois at Urbana

Myers Lecture:
Teaching
Subjective
Well-Being
Ed Diener
Smiley Distinguished Professor of Psychology
University of Illinois
Meeting: Association for Psychological Science,
Chicago, Illinois, May 22-24, 2008
My Gratitude To
Carol and David Myers!
Happiness
• Question of the ages:
What is the good life?
One answer – Happiness
Science is starting to provide answers:
• What is happiness?
• Is it good to possess?
• What cuases it?
Exciting, Important Scientific Area!
• Possibly the most important thing you
can teach students about their lives
• Involves material from all of
psychology – cognitive, bio, clinical,
developmental, et cetera
• Great for class discussions:
There is existing science, but also
many unanswered questions
Educational Levels
• High School
• Undergrad modules
– 1 to 5 lectures for larger courses -- Intro,
social, developmental, cognitive, etc.
• Focused undergraduate course
– SWB, adjustment, positive psychology
• Graduate seminar
Resources
Ed Diener website
http://www.psych.uiuc.edu/~ediener/
E. Diener & R. Biswas-Diener
Happiness book 2008
• Wiley/Blackwell
(Sept., 2008)
Interesting Studies!
• There are lots of fun studies
– Nun study
– Colonoscopy & memory
And
• There are lots of open research questions
– E.G., When is happiness beneficial?
Major Happiness Topics
1. History of the field
2. Defining, measuring, methods
3. Psychological processes
4. National accounts of SWB
5. Benefits of happiness
6. Causes of happiness
Is Happiness Desirable?
Flaubert’s Error
To be stupid, selfish, and have good
health are three requirements for
happiness, though if stupidity is
lacking, all is lost.
Gustave Flaubert
Dalai Lama
“Stupid
Happiness”
2. Benefits of Positive SWB
Social relationships
Work and income
Health & longevity
Societal benefits
• Causal direction?
– Longitudinal, lab experiments, quasiexperiments
Social Benefits
Happy people more likely to have:
Self-confidence, leadership
More friends
Warmth, sociability
Work Success
A. Higher supervisor ratings
B. Organizational citizenship
Example: Helping others on the
job
C. Higher income
College Entry Cheerfulness,
and Income 19 years later
Diener, Nickerson, Lucas, & Sandvik (2002)
70,000
60,000
50,000
40,000
Not Cheerful
Most Cheerful
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
Mean
Example Student Discussion:
Why might happy people earn
more than unhappy people?
Health & Longevity
The Nun Study
Dr. Snowdon with Sisters Agnes and Gertrude
Longevity: The Nun Study
Danner, Snowden, & Friesen, U Kentucky
1. Nuns autobiographies at age 22
Expression of positive emotions
2. Happy and less happy nuns living in
same life circumstances through
lifespan
How long do they live?
Longevity in The Nun
Study
Survival Rate at Age:
85
93
Most Cheerful Quartile
79%
52%
Least Cheerful
54%
18%
Danner, Snowdon, & Friesen
Psychologists
Happy live about 5
years longer
(Sarah Pressman)
Societal Benefits of Happiness
• Volunteering
• Pro-peace attitudes
• Cooperative attitudes
Optimal Happiness
(Oishi, Diener, & Lucas, 2007)
Sometimes “8’s” achieve more
Some “negative” emotions are
functional and appropriate
Example Student Discussion
When is it better not to be
too happy? When are
negative emotions
beneficial?
3. Some Causes
of Happiness?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Social relationships
Temperament/adaptation
Money
Society & Culture
Positive thinking styles
1. Strong Social
Relationships
Every single one of the happiest
people we studied have good
social relationships
GIVING social support: People who
help others live longer and are
happier!
2. Temperament – A strong
influence on people’s moods
Temperament
“Identical” (Monozygotic) Twins
Ed’s Daughters: Clinical Psychologist
and Developmental Psychologist
Inborn Temperament
• Identical twins reared apart are
much more similar in happiness
than fraternal twins reared
together
• Heritability – 20 to 50 percent of
individual differences in happiness
Daily moods of a 20-year old
Unemployment
7.2
7
6.8
6.6
6.4
6.2
6
5.8
Past
Prior Yr.
Fired
1 Yr.
3 Yrs.
Example Student Discussion
When can you change your level
of happiness? When is inborn
temperament dominant?
3. Money
1.7
1.5
1.3
1.1
Standardized units of SWB
0.9
0.7
0.5
0.3
0.1
-0.1
-0.3
-0.5
Ladder
Domain
PA
No NA
-0.7
-0.9
-1.1
-1.3
-1.5
-1.6 -1.4 -1.2
-1
-1.7
-0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
Lg income (midpoint of each category, standardized)
1.2
1.4
1.6
But Caveats About Money!
• Declining marginal utility
• Toxicity of materialism
Example Student Discussion
How much money is
enough for happiness?
Can you have too much?
4. Society Influences our
Happiness!
The individual bias in individualistic
societies – happiness is within you
only
National SWB: 0 – 10 Scale
Life Evaluation Ladder
Denmark
Switzerland
Canada
United States
8.0
7.5
7.4
7.2
Togo
Sierra Leone
Zimbabwe
West Bank
3.2
3.6
3.8
4.7
94 % of Danes are Above
97 % of Togolese
50
40
30
20
10
DENMARK
0
TOGO
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Ladder of Life Scores
8
9
10
5. Cognition:
Positive Mental Outlook
• The habit of seeing the glass
half-full
• Seeing opportunities, not
threats
• Generally trusting and liking
oneself and others
Cognition: AIM Model
• Attention
• Interpretation
• Memory
Basic Cognition: AIM Model
• Attention
– Gorilla basketball study (Simon)
• Interpretation
– “They saw a game”
• Memory
– Remembering vacation (Wirtz)
– Remembering partner (Oishi)
Positive Cognition: AIM Model
• Attention
– Seeing the positive & beauty
• Interpretation
– Not putting a negative spin on
too many things
• Memory
– Savoring rather than ruminating
Example Student Discussion
When is happiness caused by your
outlook and when is it due to what
is objectively happening to you?
When is each important?
Student Exercise
Complete the Positive and Negative
Thinking Scales (appendix), and score
and discuss
Discussion: When and why is positive
thinking beneficial?
Conclusion: True Wealth-Psychological Wealth
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Material sufficiency
Values, meaning and purpose
Loving social relationships
Spirituality
Physical & mental health
Happiness and life satisfaction
Conclusions
• You and your students can have a lot of
fun with this topic!
• It can help students live a better life!
• You can review many psychological
concepts to understand well-being
Appendix: Resources
Ancillary Materials
Potential “Textbooks”
• Diener and Biswas-Diener: Happiness– Unlocking the
mysteries of psychological wealth
• Sonja Lyubomirsky: The how of happiness
• Tal Ben-Shahar: The question of happiness
• Daniel Gilbert: Stumbling on happiness
• David Myers: The pursuit of happiness
• Richard Eckersley: Well & good
• Michael Argyle: The psychology of happiness
General Scholarly Sources
• Kahneman, Diener, & Schwarz
Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology
• Strack, Argyle, & Schwarz
Subjective well-being
• Eid & Larsen
The science of subjective well-being
• Snyder & Lopez
Handbook of positive psychology
Some Names for
SWB Research Searches
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Ruut Veenhoven
Daniel Gilbert
Daniel Kahneman
Robert Emmons
Shige Oishi
Ron Inglehart
Eunkuk Suh
Richard Lucas
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Ulrich Schimmack
Laura King
Frank Fujita
Robert Biswas-Diener
Sonja Lyubomirsky
Norman Bradburn
David Myers
Bruno Frey
Websites
• Ruut Veenhoven: World Database of Happiness
http://worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl/
• Positive Organization Scholarship– University of Michigan
http://www.bus.umich.edu/Positive/
Sonja Lyubomirsky website
http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~sonja/papers.html
• Martin Seligman website
http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/Default.aspx
Examples of Fun Studies!
• The nun study (happiness and longevity)
• Dunn et al. (buying for others better than buying
for oneself)
• Vohs et al. (priming money effects)
• Biswas-Diener (slums of Calcutta)
• Studies of lottery winners
• Studies using physiological measures of SWB
• Jeanne Tsai (what emotions are best)
• Biswas-Diener (Maasai, Amish, Inuit)
1. History Topics
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Greek philosophers
Thinkers and religious leaders
Utilitarians
Early research – personality; sociology
1980-2000
Current research
History References
• Diener & Kesebir, In pursuit of happiness:
Empirical answers to philosophical
questions, Perspectives on Psychological
Science (2008)
• Ruut Veenhoven (1984) Conditions of
happiness
• Wladyslaw Tatarkiewicz, Analysis of
happiness
• Darrin McMahon, A history of happiness
Benefitsof Happiness,
Resources
• Lyubomirsky, Diener, & King (2005)
• Oishi, Diener, & Lucas (2007)
• Pressman & Cohen (2005)
• Diener and Biswas-Diener (2008)
Happiness: Unlocking the mysteries of
psychological wealth
Causes References
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Diener, E. Psychological Bulletin 1984
Diener et al., Psychological Bulletin, 1999
Seligman, Authentic Happiness
Bruni & Porta, Handbook on the economics of happiness
Richard Layard, Happiness: Lessons from a new science
Veenhoven, Conditions of happiness
Furnham & Argyle, The psychology of money
Frey & Stutzer, Happiness and economics: How the
eonomy and institutions affect human well-being
• Frey & Stutzer, Economics and psychology: A promising
new cross-disciplinary field
Processes References
• Alan Parducci (1995) Happiness, pleasure, and
judgment
– Range-frequency theory
• Robert Emmons & McCullough (2004) The
psychology of gratitude
• David Lykken (1999) Happiness: What studies
on twins show us about nature, nurture, and the
happiness set point
• Diener, Lucas, & Scollon (2006)
– Adaptation; limits of “hedonic treadmill”
Defining, Measuring, Methods
• Defining
– Evaluations of one’s life
– Types:
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Positive affect
Life satisfaction
Domain satisfactions
Low negative affect
Meaning, purpose, trust, optimism?
Defining, Measuring, Methods
• Measurement methods
– Self-report
• Validity & reliability
– Informant report
– Experience sampling
– Biological
– Facial, vocal, expression
– Coding verbal material
Sandvik, Seidlitz & Diener, 1993
Defining, Measuring, Methods
• Methods
– Cross-sectional surveys
– Longitudinal surveys (panels)
– Natural experiments & quasi-experiments
• Lottery studies
• Negative income tax
• Disasters
– Lab experiments
• E.g., moods and emotions
National Accounts of Well-being
-- References
• Diener & Seligman (2004)
Beyond money: Toward an economy of wellbeing, Psych Science in the Public Interest
• Diener, Lucas, Schimmack, & Helliwell
(2009) Accounts of well-being for policy
• Diener – Guidelines
• Diener – American Psychologist
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Diener Broad Theory and Review Articles on Well-Being
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Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95, 542-575.
Diener, E., Lucas, R., & Scollon, C. N. (2006). Beyond the hedonic treadmill: Revising
the adaptation theory of well-being. American Psychologist, 61, 305-314.
Diener, E., Sandvik, E., & Pavot, W. (1991). Happiness is the frequency, not the
intensity, of positive versus negative affect. In F. Strack, M. Argyle, & N. Schwarz
(Eds.), Subjective well-being: An interdisciplinary perspective (pp. 119-139). New
York: Pergamon.
Diener, E., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Beyond money: Toward an economy of wellbeing. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 5, 1-31.
Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being:
Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 276-302.
Diener, E., & Tov, W. (in press). Culture and subjective well-being. In S. Kitayama &
D. Cohen (Eds.), Handbook of cultural psychology. New York: Guilford.
Kahneman, D., Diener, E., & Schwarz, N. (Eds.). (1999). Well-being: The foundations
of hedonic psychology. New York: Sage.
Larsen, R. J., & Diener, E. (1987). Affect intensity as an individual difference
characteristic: A review. Journal of Research in Personality, 21, 1-39.
Lyubomirsky, S., King, L., & Diener, E. (2005). The benefits of frequent positive affect:
Does happiness lead to success? Psychological Bulletin, 131, 803-855.
Pavot, W., & Diener, E. (1993). Review of the Satisfaction with Life Scale.
Psychological Assessment, 5, 164-172.
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Selected Diener Empirical Articles on Well-Being
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Biswas-Diener, R., & Diener, E. (2006). The subjective well-being of the homeless, and lessons
for happiness. Social Indicators Research, 76, 185-205.
Diener, E., & Diener, C. (1996). Most people are happy. Psychological Science, 7, 181-185.
Diener, E., & Diener, M. (1995). Cross-cultural correlates of life satisfaction and self-esteem.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 653-663.
Diener, E., & Emmons, R. A. (1985). The independence of positive and negative affect. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 47, 1105-1117.
Eid, M., & Diener, E. (2001). Norms for experiencing emotions in different cultures: Inter- and
intranational differences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 869-885.
Lucas, R. E., Clark, A. E., Georgellis, Y., & Diener, E. (2003). Reexamining adaptation and the set
point model of happiness: Reactions to changes in marital status. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, 84, 527-539.
Oishi, S., & Diener, E. (2001). Re-examining the general positivity model of subjective well-being:
The discrepancy between specific and global domain satisfaction. Journal of Personality, 69, 641666.
Sandvik, E., Diener, E., & Seidlitz, L. (1993). Subjective well-being: The convergence and stability
of self-report and non-self-report measures. Journal of Personality, 61, 317-342.
Schimmack, U., Diener, E., & Oishi, S. (2002). Life-satisfaction is a momentary judgment and a
stable personality characteristic: The use of chronically accessible and stable sources. Journal of
Personality, 70, 345-384.
Wirtz, D., Kruger, J., Scollon, C. N., & Diener, E. (2003). What to do on spring break? The role of
predicted, on-line, and remembered experience in future choice. Psychological Science, 14, 520524.
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Additional References
• Magen, Z. (1998) Exploring adolescent
happiness
• Frisch, Michael
• Csikszentmihalyi & Csikszentmihalyi
(Eds.)(2006) A life worth living
• Peterson & Seligman (2004) Character
strengths and virtues
• Dalai Lam & Howard Cutler, 1998, The art
of happiness
Satisfaction with Life Scale
(Diener et al.)
Below are five statements that you may agree or disagree with. Using the 1 - 7
scale below indicate your agreement with each item by placing the appropriate
number on the line preceding that item. Please be open and honest in your
responding.
7 - Strongly agree
6 - Agree
5 - Slightly agree
4 - Neither agree nor disagree
3 - Slightly disagree
2 - Disagree
1 - Strongly disagree
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
In most ways my life is close to my ideal.
The conditions of my life are excellent.
I am satisfied with my life.
So far I have gotten the important things I want in life
If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing.
Measuring your AIM
Negative Thinking
_____ I quickly notice the mistakes made by others
_____ I often see the faults in other people
_____ I see my community as a place full of problems
_____ When I think of myself, I think of many shortcomings
_____ When somebody does something for me, I usually wonder if they have an ulterior
motive
_____ When good things happen, I wonder if they will soon turn sour
_____ When good things happen, I wonder if they might have been even
better
_____ When I see others prosper, it makes me feel bad about myself
_____ I frequently compare myself to others
_____ I think frequently about opportunities that I missed
_____ I regret many things from my past
_____ When I think of the past, for some reason bad things stand out
_____ When something bad happens, I ruminate on it for a long time
_____ Most people will take advantage of you if you give them the slightest chance
Positive Thinking
_____ I see much beauty around me
_____ I see the good in most people
_____ I believe in the good qualities of other people
_____ I think of myself as a person with many strengths
_____ When something bad happens, I often see a “silver lining,” something good in the
bad event
_____ I sometimes think about how fortunate I have been in life
_____ When I think of the past, the happy times are most salient to me
_____ I savor memories of pleasant past times
_____ When I see others prosper, even strangers, I am happy for them
_____ I notice the little good things others do
_____ I know the world has problems, but it seems like a wonderful place anyway
_____ I see many opportunities in the world
_____ I am optimistic about the future
Ed Diener is the Joseph R. Smiley Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the
University of Illinois. He received his doctorate at the University of Washington in
1974, and has been a faculty member at the University of Illinois for the past 34
years. Dr. Diener was the president of both the International Society of Quality of Life
Studies and the Society of Personality and Social Psychology. Currently he is the
president of the International Positive Psychology Association. Diener was the editor
of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, as well as the editor of Journal of
Happiness Studies. He is the founding editor of Perspectives on Psychological
Science. Diener has over 240 publications, with about 190 being in the area of the
psychology of well-being.
Dr. Diener is a fellow of five professional societies. Professor Diener is listed as
one of the most highly cited psychologists by the Institute of Scientific Information,
with over 12,000 citations to his credit. He won the Distinguished Researcher Award
from the International Society of Quality of Life Studies, the first Gallup Academic
Leadership Award, and the Jack Block Award for Personality Psychology. Dr. Diener
won several teaching awards, including the Oakley-Kundee Award for Undergraduate
Teaching at the University of Illinois. With over 50 publications he is the most
published author in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Professor Diener's research focuses on the measurement of well-being;
temperament and personality influences on well-being; theories of well-being; income
and well-being; and cultural influences on well-being. He has edited three recent
books on subjective well-being, and a 2005 book on multi-method measurement in
psychology. Diener just completed writing a popular book on happiness with his son,
Robert Biswas-Diener (Happiness: Unlocking the mysteries of psychological wealth),
and is authoring a book on policy uses of accounts of well-being with Richard Lucas,
Ulrich Schimmack, and John Helliwell.
Myths
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There is an unmoving set-point for happiness
People over time adapt to everything
Money is not a significant correlate of happiness
A person’s happiness is 50 % genetic
Lottery winners are not happy
Those with spinal cord injuries have the same
average life satisfaction levels as others
• Happiness is all within the person
ALL WITH A KERNEL OF TRUTH
Life Satisfaction and 100 Percent
Disability (Lucas)
7.2
7
6.8
6.6
6.4
6.2
6
5.8
-2 Yrs.
-1 Yr.
0
+1 Yr. +3 Yrs. +5 Yrs.
-2 Yrs.
Culture
• Culture and levels of SWB
• Culture and causes of well-being
– Self-esteem
• Culture and what is well-being
– Pride
“Spirituality”: Experiencing
Broadening Positive Emotions
– which make life larger than just our own
self-interests:
Gratitude
Love
Awe
Transcendance
Why happy are healthier?
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Stronger immune systems
Better cardiovascular health
Health behaviors (e.g., seatbelts)
Fewer lifestyle diseases (e.g.
alcoholism)
• Younger genes (telomeres)
Low hunger, low corruption,
and longevity
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6
5
4
3
3
4
Predicted Values
5
6
R = .86
7
8
National Accounts of SWB
Measuring well-being for policy
Information beyond wealth
Robert Kennedy, 1968
Too much and for too long, we seemed to have
surrendered personal excellence and community values
in the mere accumulation of material things. Our Gross
Nation Product . . . counts air pollution and cigarette
advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of
carnage. It counts the destruction of the redwoods. Yet
the gross national product does not allow for the health
of our children, the quality of marriages, the intelligence
of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials.
It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our
wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our
devotion to our country, it measures everything in short,
except that which makes life worthwhile.
Cultural Influences
Levels of Happiness
Pleasant Emotions—Enjoyment etc.
High
Honduras
Panama
Costa Rica
Puerto Rico
Low
Pakistan
Bangladesh
Palestine
Tajikistan