Transcript The Utilisation of Contentment to Increase Self

Positive emotions broaden individuals’
momentary thought-action repertoires,
and builds their personal resources.
Why Contentment?
Poorly-defined and under-researched
Emotion induced/released in relaxation, meditation,
happiness/ flow-states
Useful in positive-emotion studies
Self-regulation studies
What is contentment?
State of happiness and
satisfaction: he found
contentment in living a simple
life in the country (Oxford
dictionary)
Instead of judging or secondguessing yourself, you are
satisfied to just be
Contentment feels peaceful as
the moonlight at the bottom of
a stream, tranquil amid
constant change (Johnson &
Ruhl, 1999).
•William James (1840 – 1910)
 “...the bodily changes
follow directly the
perception of the
exciting fact and that
our feeling of the
same changes as they
occur is the emotion”
(James, 1890).
•Frederickson (2010)
 Serenity/Contentment
 Context: safe, certain, low effort
 Tendency: savour & integrate
 Outcome: modify self- & world-views
 Inspires more of a mental state rather than an
action state.
Proposed autonomic and cognitive
correlates of contentment
Physical correlates of
contentment:
Cognitive correlates of
contentment
Body relaxes
Emotion- changes
Heart rate
Stress decreases (coping)
Body-tension
Can “hear” body symptoms
Muscles relaxation
(awareness increases)
Blood flow
Feel content to be in this
Temperature
moment
Immunes system strengthens
EEG synchronisation/changes
physiological equilibrium
Current Contentment Measures
The Contentment with Life Assessment (Lavallee, Hatch,
Michalos, & Mckinley, 2006).
The Generalised Contentment Scale (Hudson, 1986)
physiological correlates
State contentment
Measuring Contentment
Create and statistically validate a contentment
measure
The Measure
38 initial questions
Life satisfaction + Current cognitive/emotional satisfaction +
Physiological state of contentment
Contentment with Life Assessment, Generalised Contentment
Scale
10 X UoA colleagues
Participants
352 ppt’s UoA
Between 17 and 59 (M = 21.96 SD = 6.60)
78.3% females /21.7% males
Euro (n = 188), Asian (n = 78); Indian (n = 21); Maori (n = 18);
P.I. (n = 9), other ethnicity (n = 46)
Table 1. Summary of exploratory factor analysis results for the Contentment Scale questionnaire (N
=302)
Varimax Rotated Component Matrix
Rotated Factor Loadings
I am calm
I feel love towards myself
My shoulders are relaxed
At this time I feel in control of my life
All of my needs for contentment have been taken care of
I feel content
My body feels tense
I feel stressed out
I feel unfulfilled with what I am achieving in life
I feel unhappy because there are other things I would like
to be doing in my life
Eigenvalues
0.26
0.71
0.15
0.75
0.69
0.77
% of variance
α
Note. Primary factor loadings above .40 are in bold
0.32
0.80
0.80
0.74
0.31
0.75
0.3
0.26
0.38
0.80
0.73
0.14
0.10
3.64
2.72
36.36
27.15
0.88
0.80
Table 1. Summary of exploratory factor analysis results for the Contentment Scale questionnaire (N
=302)
Varimax Rotated Component Matrix
Rotated Factor Loadings
I am calm
I feel love towards myself
My shoulders are relaxed
At this time I feel in control of my life
All of my needs for contentment have been taken care of
I feel content
My body feels tense
I feel stressed out
I feel unfulfilled with what I am achieving in life
I feel unhappy because there are other things I would like
to be doing in my life
Eigenvalues
% of variance
α
Note. Primary factor loadings above .40 are in bold
0.74
0.71
0.75
0.75
0.69
0.77
0.80
0.73
0.80
0.80
3.64
2.72
36.36
27.15
0.88
0.80
Table 1. Summary of exploratory factor analysis results for the Contentment Scale questionnaire (N
=302)
Varimax Rotated Component Matrix
Rotated Factor Loadings
I am calm
I feel love towards myself
My shoulders are relaxed
At this time I feel in control of my life
All of my needs for contentment have been taken care
of
I feel content
My body feels tense
I feel stressed out
I am unfulfilled with what I am achieving in life
I feel unhappy because there are other things I would
like to be doing in my life
Eigenvalues
% of variance
Α
Note. Primary factor loadings above .40 are in bold
General Cognitive State Tension Appraisal
Appraisal
0.74
0.71
0.75
0.75
0.69
0.77
0.80
0.73
0.80
0.80
3.64
2.72
36.36
27.15
0.88
0.80
Final 10 Questions for State Contentment Measure
General Cognitive Appraisal
1. I feel content
2. At this time I feel in control of my
life
3. I feel unhappy because there are
other things I would like to be
doing in my life
4. I feel love towards myself
5. All of my needs for contentment
have been taken care of
6. I feel unfulfilled with what I am
achieving in my life
State Tension Appraisal
1. My shoulders are relaxed
2. My body feels tense
3. I feel stressed out
4. I am calm
Table 1
Correlation Between Contentment Measure Subscales After
Controlling For Social Desirability
Subscale
General Cognitive Appraisal
State Tension Appraisal 0.535**
Note **p <.001
Testing the Contentment Measure
Convergent and Discriminant validity of the State
Contentment Measure
83 ppts (UoA)
Between19 and 61 (M = 27.79 SD = 7.41)
80.7% female/16.9% male
Scales correlated with CM
Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale
Oxford Happiness Questionnaire
Mindfulness Awareness Attention Scale
Satisfaction with Life Scale
Contentment with Life Assessment scale
General Contentment Scale
Correlations Between Measures after controlling for Social Desirability
Measures
Contentment
Measure
General
Cognitive
Appraisal
Subscale
State Tension
Appraisal
Subscale
Note. *p < .001
Depression
, Anxiety, Oxford
Mindfulness
Stress
Happiness
Awareness
Survey
Questionnaire Attention Scale
Satisfaction
With Life
Scale
-0.637*
0.706*
0.497*
0.652*
-0.655*
0.709*
0.444*
0.706*
-0.435*
0.530*
0.449*
0.416*
Correlations Between Measures after controlling for Social Desirability
Measures
Contentment with Life
Assessment scale
General Contentment Scale
Contentment Measure
0.834*
0.865*
General Cognitive
Appraisal Subscale
0.891*
0.848*
State Tension Appraisal
Subscale
0.440*
0.592*
Note. *p < .001
Discussion
A 10-item contentment measure (CM) was
created with two distinct subscales
Reliable
validated
Short (easily add it to larger questionnaire
packages)
State
Physiological
Add it to...
Positive emotions studies
Mindful eating studies
Meditation studies
Flow and well-being studies
Limitations
Limited specific population
Further testing needed on other populations
Questions
Can the measure predict physiological markers
Can the measure predict psychological well-
being markers
A Potential Definition of
Contentment?
Contentment is an active state of cognitive and
physiological equilibrium
The State Contentment Measure
(SCM; Taylor, 2013).
For permission to access
the SCM (at no cost) please
email either:
[email protected]
[email protected]