1. Well-being: A life worth living
Week 14

2. Disclaimer I am not Robin Sharma I am not Dalai Lama
I am a scientist. This is a session on the science of happiness—with data

3. Caution
Some mega-data you will see are correlational, and as such, the all limits of inferring causality from correlation apply
But some questions are not easily addressed experimentally, hence correlational evidence is the best evidence we have.
Be aware of country-level vs. individual-level comparisons
Science is a leap of faith, even with the “best” data.

4. Extrapersonal factors
Things beyond your control
Extrapersonal factors

5. Note: This is different from Diener & Diener’s (1996) Most people are happy article. One key difference is the measurement. In that article, they analyzed SWB in -3 to +3 scale, and figures above zero are taken as evidence of being happy (one-sample t-test). In this article, SWB is on 0 to 10 scale. Schwarz (1994) has already studied why bipolar scales can produce different responses to unipolar scales.

6. Governance and happiness
World Bank ratings about technical quality of government with the “Failed State Index” 
loss of physical control of territory,
loss of monopoly on the legitimate use of force
erosion of legitimate authority to make collective decisions
inability to provide reasonable public services
inability to interact with other states as a full member of the international community. 

7. World Bank (2006)

8. Income inequality and happiness
Maarten Berg and Ruut Veenhoven Income inequality and happiness in 119 nations . In: BentGreve (Ed.) ‘Social Policy and Happiness in Europe’, Edgar Elgar Cheltenham UK, chapter 11, pp ,
worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl

9. Social security and happiness

11. “Happiness is 50 percent genes and 50 percent under our control”
Identical twins reared apart are more similar in subjective well-being than fraternal twins reared together!
Lykken (1999). Happiness: What studies on twins show us about nature, nurture, and the happiness set-point.

12. Heritability percentages are not about how much we can control!
Why is it a myth?
50 percent? No, it varies by study – some show 30%, some show 80%
50 percent? No, it varies by environmental variation. Heritability is not a fixed number
50 percent within? No, heritability is about differences between people, not within them
50 percent under your control? No, it says NOTHING about controllability!
Heritability percentages are not about how much we can control!

13. You choose how happy you are
Personal factors

14. Spending time with friends
Will this make you happier in the long run? - +
Spending time with friends
Exercising regularly
Studying
Meditating regularly
Writing down, every week, what you are grateful for
Regularly buying a present for someone else
Being disabled
Earning 30 L a year rather than 20 L
Losing a couple of kilograms
Moving to a low pollution country
Regularly giving a compliment to someone else
Living in a city with lots of culture
Engaging in a hobby
Winning first prize in the lottery
Buying a nice laptop for yourself
SWB .24
Level of education .32
Religiousness -.24

15. r = .82

16. Caution: Log data ≠ Raw data
Declining marginal utility

17. Not how much you have, but how you spend?
632
Americans surveyed
Personal spending
Prosocial spending
Correlational evidence
Bills & expenses
Gifts for yourself
Donations to charity
Gifts for others
β(amount, happiness)
-.02
β(amount, happiness)
.11
Dunn et al. (2008). Spending money on others promotes happiness. Science.

18. Experimental evidence
Dunn et al. (2008). Spending money on others promotes happiness. Science.

19. Not how much you have, but what you spend it on?
Van Bovich & Gilovich. (2005). Experientialism, materialism, and the pursuit of happiness. Rev Gen Psy.

22. Van Bovich. (2005). Experientialism, materialism, and the pursuit of happiness. Rev Gen Psy.

23. Do this daily, for 9 weeks. Gratitude Hassles Events
There are many things in our lives, both large and small, that we might be grateful about. Think back over the past week and write down on the lines below up to five things in your life that you are grateful or thankful for.
Gratitude
Hassles are irritants—things that annoy or bother you. They occur in various domains of life, including relationships, work, school, housing, finances, health, and so forth. Think back over today and, on the lines below, list up to five hassles that occurred in your life.
Hassles
What were some of the events or circumstances that affected you in the past week? Think back over the past week and write down on the lines below the five events that had an impact on you.
Events
Emmons & McCullough (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens. J Pers Soc Psy.

24. “Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get”.
Maximizers
Getting what you want
Satisficers
Wanting what you get
Maximizers may be less satisfied than satisficers and experience greater negative affect with the jobs they obtain because their pursuit of the elusive ‘‘best’’ induces them to consider a large number of possibilities, thereby increasing their potential for regret or anticipated regret, engendering unrealistically high expectations, and creating mounting opportunity costs. Such effects may be integral to identifying maximizing as a goal, and may detract from the satisfaction that maximizers ultimately derive from their decisions.
You realize that you can never attain the best, because the “best” doesn’t exist. Yet you try hard (evidence by the more number of job applications sent out for maximizers). You are constantly disappointed, rejected, etc. But the reality probably isn’t so simple. It probably also has to do with how maximizers make sense of their “failure”.
Why?
Iyengar et al. (2006). Doing better but feeling worse: Looking for the ‘‘best’’ job undermines satisfaction. Psy Sci.

25. Does parenthood make you happier?
US Sample of World Values Survey: 1982, 1990, 1995, 1999
Serious Question
Anyone wants to do cross-national, cross-time periods WVS for an ISM?
Nelson et al (2013). In defense of parenthood : Children are associated with more joy than misery. Psy Sci.

26. Affective forecasting
People often predict what makes them happy
Don’t believe?
Find me an event you did where suffering was the only goal you had
Gilbert & Wilson (2005). Affective forecasting: Knowing what to want. Curr Dir Psy Sci.

27. Our predictions about our future affective intensities are horribly inaccurate
Focalism
Immune neglect

28. Dweck (2012). Mindset: How you can fulfil your potential.
No large scale evidence, but many “small” experiments, both lab and field
Dweck (2012). Mindset: How you can fulfil your potential.

29. All the needs are there (and necessary) all the time, and contribute to SWB

30. Science | Philosophy
finale

31. Science | Philosophy
There are a lot of things you can’t change (e.g., government pension schemes, social instability, caste system, etc.).
But there are things that you can change.

32. [you decide] Meaning in life Be grateful Social relationships
Helping others
Money maximizes happiness by allowing you to buy experiences, not things
Money
(to some extent)
Simplicity
Having children

33. What makes my life happy?
You