Happiness Research Part 2 The Results!

Happiness and Wealth

The Traditional View “I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor; believe me, rich is better” --Mae West

Kahneman & Deaton (2010) 450,000 U.S. subjects in the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index GHWBI asks about both subjective well-being (stress, “blue mood,” positive affect) but also life satisfaction (Cantril Ladder)

The Cantril Ladder Think of a ladder. Now imagine that the best possible life for you is at the top of the ladder, a 10. The worst possible life for you is at the bottom, a 0. Where are you on the ladder?

Kahneman & Deaton (2010) Subjective well-being scores satiate after about 75,000 USD (annual income). Life-satisfaction scores continue to increase (at least until ~120,000 USD).

Proposed Explanation After a certain amount of income, more doesn’t allow you greater access to the emotionally important things: family, leisure, health….

The Easterlin Paradox Richard Easterlin was the first economist to study happiness. The “Easterlin paradox” refers to a perplexing difference between happiness at a point in time and happiness across time.

The Easterlin Paradox At one point in time: richer people are happier than poorer people; richer nations are happier than poorer nations. Over time: as the nation as a whole gets richer, the people don’t get happier.

The Easterlin Paradox

“Comparison is the Thief of Happiness” Relative deprivation: lacking things that you are used to, entitled to, or are expected of you in society. When GDP goes up, you get richer, but so does everyone else. Relative to them, you are still where you were before.

Mo Money Mo Problems

Happiness and Family

Happiness and Marriage “There is a comfortable consensus in the social sciences that marriage has a positive and enduring effect on well-being.” Zimmerman & Easterlin (2006)

Diener et al. (2000) World Values Survey II (1990- 1993) 59,169 participants from 42 countries Median N: 1,027 per country Median age: 42 (sd 16.5)

Y/N Past Few Weeks: Have You Experienced? So restless you couldn’t sit for long in your chair. Very lonely or remote from other people. Bored. Depressed or very unhappy. Upset because somebody criticized you.

Two Theories Source of self-esteem/ escape from stress (e.g. job) Companionship/ less likely to be lonely or bored

An Alternative

GSOEP German Socio-Economic Panel Study (GSOEP). 17 years: 1984-2000. 133,952 observations from 15,268 different people

Metric How satisfied are you with your life? 0: completely dissatisfied 10: completely satisfied

Happiness and Health

Some Case Studies Overweight/ obese women: less satisfied, also less likely to socialize, be mothers, and more likely to work at home/ be self-employed. Erectile dysfunction: less satisfied with life, but successful treatment increases life satisfaction

Happiness and Religion

Francis Scale of Attitudes toward Christianity 24 statements to rate 1-5 scale (5 more positive) Commonly used, translated into many languages

FSAC

FSAC & OHI A number of studies have been done using the FSAC and the Oxford Happiness Inventory. Take a look at the correlations!

For Comparison 0.8 0.6

Some Concerns Obviously, only looks at Christianity! Weak correlations (but real ones!) Significant correlations NOT found between FSAC responses and the Depression-Happiness scale Confounding variables

Life expectancy past 65

Quality & Accessibility of Healthcare

The Lesson? Religiosity is bound up with a bunch of things– in particular, many indicators of societal dysfunction. The causal relationships are unclear! One theory: Dysfunction causes religiosity, because religion offers substitutes for what’s missing (morality, community, etc.)

Happiness and Meditation

Some Concerns Small sample sizes Selection effects Gaming the system Michael’s Happiness Enrichment Programme

Happiness and Hong Kong

World Happiness Report Data from Gallup World Poll 156 total countries ~1,000 people per country per year Happiness results based on Cantril ladder Analysis looks at the contributions of six factors: levels of GDP, life expectancy, generosity, social support, freedom, and corruption These variables explain 75% of the national variation on the ladder

World Happiness Report (2016-2018)

What It Says Hong Kong should rank higher than where it is, based on its scores for the six key features.

Where the Explanation Might Lie “[M]easures of the quality of the social context, which have been shown in experiments and national surveys to have strong links to life evaluations and emotions, have not been sufficiently surveyed in the Gallup or other global polls, or otherwise measured in statistics available for all countries.”

Something Similar…

Final Thoughts