Transcript NZGSS - Dan Weijers

Wellbeing and
Measures of
Subjective Wellbeing
Dan Weijers
14 December 2011
NZGSS
• The NZGSS 2010 provides
information on the wellbeing of New
Zealanders aged 15+
• This includes objective information about their
circumstance, such as their labour force status
and income, as well as their assessment of
different aspects of their lives.
• Includes a life-satisfaction question
Don Farmer – Wairarapa
Times Age
• “happiness survey… revealed 87[%
is] ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with
their lives overall.”
• “But I can’t for the life of me figure
out how 87[%] of us keep smiling
when many of us are either hungry,
cold, fearful, neglected, or… suffering
from all five afflictions.”
• 5 November 2011
Wellbeing
• A broad concept about how a life is
going for the person living it
• Does wellbeing = happiness?
• Intrinsic vs. instrumental bearers of
value
Measuring
Wellbeing (WB)
Subjective WB
Overall
Domain-Specific
Objective WB
Quality of Life
Indicators
Traditional
Economic
Indicators
HAPPINESS
Mental
state/
hedonism
Life
Satisfaction
theories
Objective
List/
Flourishing
•Survey
•Pager
•Day reconstruction
•Survey
•“All things
considered,
how
satisfied are
you with
your life?”
•Survey
•Rate
agreement
“I have
good
friends”
Health/
healthcare
Freedom
Trust
Safety
Environment
Education
Equality
Employment
Happiness
Income
Wealth
Production
Brain
scan
Behavioural
Mental State
Theories
Wellbeing
Happiness
Especially hedonism
+ve net
balance of
good over
bad mental
states
• Folk: get pleasure now!
• Philosophers: maximise pleasure over your entire
life
• Key: All that matters is how you feel (your
mental states)
What about Truth & Freedom?
• Compare two lives
– Same experiences
– Different reality
• Double agent partner
• Sponsored children all died
• Whose life is better?
• What should we do
about a happy slave?
Measuring Mental State
Happiness
• Survey Questions
– “How happy are you these days?”
• Pager method
– “What are you doing now and how are
you feeling?”
• Day reconstruction method
– Note down activities and mood
from previous day
Life Satisfaction Theories
Happiness
Wellbeing
Having most or more of
your desires satisfied
Sometimes
•
•
•
•
Based on desire/preference-satisfaction
Informed: adequately informed desires only
Ideal: desires that fit some objective criteria only
Key: All that matters is getting what you want
Is the Satisfaction of Our Desires
Good for us?
• What to do about dissatisfaction?
– Earn more
– Want less
• We choose to desire things because we
think that their satisfaction will provide us
with some value or meaning
• D-S accounts put the value in the
satisfaction, not the ultimate reason for
having the desire
Measuring Life Satisfaction
• Questions
– “All things considered, how satisfied are you
with your life as a whole?”
– “Compared to what it could have been, how
satisfied are you with your life?”
• Scales
– 4 point to 11 point
– Some labelled very differently
– Delighted, Pleased, Mostly satisfied,
Mixed, Mostly dissatisfied, Unhappy,
Terrible
Flourishing Theories
Wellbeing
Flourishing
Developing & expressing
natural capacities
• Developing excellencies in one or all of
your species’ fundamental traits
• Only some versions include or require
happiness/enjoyment of life
• Key: All that matters is being the best
you can be (given that you’re a human)
Flourishing = Objective List
• But, which traits do you prioritise?
– Is excellence in reasoning or longdistance running better for us?
• Unnatural things can be good for us
too!
– E.g. Pacemakers, wings etc.
• We end up with a list of things that
are good for us
• E.g. WD Ross: Knowledge, Pleasure, Virtue and
the proper apportionment of pleasure to virtue
Measuring Objective
List/Flourishing Well-Being
• Survey Questions:
– “Rate the extent to which you agree with the
following statements”
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
I maintain many good friendships
My life is meaningful
I am a virtuous person
I am rarely deceived
I am very knowledgeable
I am free to act as I please (when not harming others)
I live in a pristine environment
Policymaking
Sustainability
↑ Well-being
(WB)
Subjective WB
Overall
Domain-Specific
Justice
Objective WB
Quality of Life
Indicators
Traditional
Economic
Indicators
HAPPINESS
Mental
state/
hedonism
Life
Satisfaction
theories
Objective
List/
Flourishing
•Survey
•Pager
•Day reconstruction
•Survey
•“All things
considered,
how
satisfied are
you with
your life?”
•Survey
•Rate
agreement
“I have
good
friends”
Fairness
Equality
Health/
healthcare
Freedom
Trust
Safety
Environment
Education
Equality
Employment
Happiness
Income
Wealth
Production
Brain
scan
Behavioural
Some Complicating Factors
• Subjective vs. objective measures of
flourishing/capabilities/quality of life
• Positivity bias on self-reports
• Expectations and reference groups
• Survey Question wording:
– “All things considered, how satisfied are you
with your life as a whole?”
– “Compared to what it could have been, how
satisfied are you with your life?”
So what should we
measure?
• What do we want to know?
• How are NZers are doing and why?
• What is the best measure of Nzers
wellbeing?
• Some relevant factors:
–
–
–
–
Best captures wellbeing
Easy/cheap/fast to measure
Reliable results
Can compare with other surveys