Central theories are
Diener's tripartite model of subjective well-being,
Ryff's Six-factor Model of Psychological Well-being,
Corey Keyes' work on
flourishing, and
Seligman's contributions to
positive psychology and his theories on
authentic happiness and
P.E.R.M.A.
Positive psychology is concerned with
eudaimonia, "the good life" or
flourishing,
living according to what holds the greatest value in life – the factors
that contribute the most to a well-lived and fulfilling life. While not
attempting a strict definition of the good life, positive psychologists
agree that one must live a
happy, engaged, and meaningful life in order to experience "the good life".
Martin Seligman
referred to "the good life" as "using your signature strengths every
day to produce authentic happiness and abundant gratification". According to
Christopher Peterson, "eudaimonia trumps hedonism".
Research on positive psychology, well-being, eudaimonia and
happiness, and the theories of Diener, Ryff, Keyes and Seligmann cover a
broad range of levels and topics, including "the biological, personal,
relational, institutional, cultural, and global dimensions of life."
The pursuit of happiness predicts both positive emotions and less depressive symptoms. People who prioritize happiness are more psychologically able, all else held equal.
Methodology of study
Well-being measurement
Different
ways of measuring well-being reveal different contributing factors. The
correlation between two of these, life satisfaction and happiness, in
the World Values Survey (1981–2005) is only 0.47. These are different, but related concepts which are used
interchangeably outside of academia. Typically, life satisfaction, or
evaluative well being is measured with Cantril’s self-anchoring ladder, a
questionnaire where wellbeing is rated on a scale from 1–10. Happiness
or hedonic/Affective well-being measurement is measured with the
positive and negative affect schedule (PANAS), a more complex scale.
Limitations
The
UK Government's Department of Health compiled a factsheet in 2014, in
which it is stated that the key limitations to well-being, quality of
life and life satisfaction research are that:
- There are numerous associations and correlations in the body of
evidence, but few causal relationships, since existing longitudinal
datasets "do not use consistent wellbeing and predictor measures at different time points";
- After controlling for mental health status, not many of the found associations are still significant;
- Subgroup analyses are rare;
- There are too few studies to conduct meta-analyses;
- There are too few interventional studies.
Major factors
For evaluative well-being (life satisfaction)
Mental health is the strongest individual predictor of life satisfaction. Mental illness is associated with poorer well-being. In fact, mental health is the strongest determinant of quality of life at a later age.
Studies have documented the relationship between anxiety and quality of life.
The VOXEU
analysis of happiness showed the principal determinants of an adult’s
life satisfaction to be income, parenting, family break up, mother's
mental health and schooling.
The factors that explain life satisfaction roughly map (negatively) to
those factors that explain misery. They are first and foremost diagnosed
depression/anxiety, which explains twice as much as the next factor,
physical health (number of medical conditions), that explains just as
much variance in subjective well-being between people, as income and
whether someone is partnered.
These factors count twice as much as each of whether someone is employed
and whether they are a non-criminal, which in turn are 3 times as
important as years of education.
Overall, the best predictor of an adult's life satisfaction is
their emotional health as a child as reported by the mother and child.
It trumps factors like the qualifications that someone gets and their
behaviour at 16 as reported by the mother. A child and therefore an
adult's emotional health is most affected itself by a mother's mental
health, which is just over twice as important as family income.
2/3 as important as family income is parent's involvement, which is 0.1
partial correlation coefficients more important than aggressive
parenting (negative), father's unemployment (negative), family conflict
(negative) and whether the mother worked in the subject's 1st year of
life.
Whether the mother worked thereafter has 0 correlation with
well-being, however. In terms of non-family factors, the place where
someone goes to secondary school matters a fair bit more than observed
family background altogether, which in turn is slightly more important
than the place where someone went to primary school.
For affective well-being (happiness)
The main determinants of affective well-being, by correlation and effect size are:
- Corruption index (-0.54);
- Public service quality (0.40);
- GDP per capita (although, there is evidence of publication bias) (0.39);
- Economic freedom (0.35);
- Human rights violations (-0.33);
- Political and economic violence (-0.28);
- Life expectancy at birth (0.27);
- Unemployment (0.19);
- Marriage (0.07).
Determinants that correlate highly with one another, for instance,
alternative ways of measuring corruption, are excluded from this list.
Biological factors
Gender
Over
the last 33 years, a significant decrease in women's happiness leads
researchers to believe that men are happier than women. In contrast, a Pew Research Centre survey found that more women are satisfied with their lives than men, overall. Other research has found no gender gap in happiness.
Part of these findings could be due to the way men and women
differ in calculating their happiness. Women calculate the positive
self-esteem, closeness in their relationships and religion. Men
calculate positive self-esteem, active leisure and mental control.
Therefore, neither men nor women are at greater risk for being less
happy than the other. Earlier in life, women are more likely than men to
fulfill their goals (material goals and family life aspirations),
thereby increasing their
life satisfaction
and overall happiness. However, it is later in life that men fulfill
their goals, are more satisfied with their family life and financial
situation and, as a result, their overall happiness surpasses that of
women. Possible explanations include the unequal division of labor within the household, or that women experience more variance (more extremes) in emotion but are
generally happier. Effects of gender on well-being are paradoxical: men report feeling less happy than women, however, women are more susceptible to depression.
A study was conducted by Siamak Khodarahimi to determine the
roles of gender and age on positive psychology constructs –
psychological hardiness, emotional intelligence, self-efficacy and
happiness – among 200 Iranian adolescents and 200 young adults who were
questioned through various tests. The study found that the males of the
sample showed significantly higher rates in psychological hardiness,
emotional intelligence, self-efficacy and happiness than females,
regardless of age.
Genetics
Happiness is partly genetically based.
Based on twin studies, 50 percent of a given human's happiness level is
genetically determined, 10 percent is affected by life circumstances
and situation, and a remaining 40 percent of happiness is subject to
self-control.
Determining whether emotions have a genetic trait or not were
studied by David Lykken and Auke Tellegen. They found that up to 80% of a
long-term sense of
well-being
is due to heredity. Basically, our families are important to our
eventual emotional lives as adults because they provide us with genetic
material that largely determines our base
emotional responsiveness to the world. Therefore,
genetic
makeup is far more important to the long-term quality of our emotional
lives than is learned behavior or the quality of our early childhood
environment, at least as found in our current socio-economic paradigm.
The remaining theoretical 20%, however, still leaves room for
significant change in thoughts and behavior from environmental/learned
sources that should not be understated, and the interpretation of
variance in twin studies is controversial, even among clinical
psychologists.
Individual differences in both overall Eudaimonia, identified loosely with
self-control,
and in the facets of eudaimonia are inheritable. Evidence from one
study supports 5 independent genetic mechanisms underlying the Ryff
facets of this trait, leading to a genetic construct of eudaimonia in
terms of general self-control, and four subsidiary biological mechanisms
enabling the psychological capabilities of purpose, agency, growth, and
positive social relations.
Neurology
It is generally accepted that happiness is at least in part mediated through
dopaminergic,
adrenergic and
serotonergic metabolism. A correlation has been found between
hormone levels and happiness.
SSRIs, such as Prozac, are used to adjust the levels of
serotonin in the
clinically unhappy. Researchers, such as
Alexander,
have indicated that many peoples usage of narcotics may be the
unwitting result of attempts to readjust hormone levels to cope with
situations that make them unhappy.
A positive relationship has been found between the volume of gray matter in the right
precuneus area of the brain and the subject's subjective happiness score.
Meditation based interventions, including
mindfulness, have been found to correlate with a significant gray matter increase within the
precuneus.
Neuroscience's findings
Neuroscience
and brain imaging have shown increasing potential for helping science
understand happiness and sadness. Though it may be impossible to achieve
any comprehensive objective measure of happiness, some physiological
correlates to happiness can be measured.
Stefan Klein, in his book
The Science of Happiness, links the dynamics of
neurobiological systems (i.e., dopaminergic, opiate) to the concepts and findings of positive psychology and social psychology.
Nobel prize winner
Eric Kandel and researcher Cynthia Fu described very accurate diagnoses of
depression just by looking at fMRI brain scans.
By identifying
neural correlates for
emotions, scientists may be able to use methods like
brain scans
to tell us more about the different ways of being "happy". Richard
Davidson has conducted research to determine which parts of the brain
are involved in
positive emotions. He found that the left prefrontal
cortex is more activated when we are happy and is also associated with greater ability to recover from negative
emotions
as well as enhanced ability to suppress negative emotions. Davidson
found that people can train themselves to increase activation in this
area of their brains. It is thought that our
brain can change throughout our lives as a result of our experiences; this is known as
neuroplasticity.
The evolutionary perspective offers an alternative approach to
understanding happiness and quality of life. Key guiding questions are:
What features are included in the brain that allow humans to distinguish
between positive and negative states of mind? How do these features
improve humans' ability to survive and reproduce? The evolutionary
perspective claims that the answers to these questions point towards an
understanding of what happiness is about and how to best exploit the
capacities of the brain with which humans are endowed. This perspective
is presented formally and in detail by the evolutionary biologist
Bjørn Grinde in his book
Darwinian Happiness.
Personal factors
In relation with age
In adolescence
There
has been a significant focus in past research on adulthood, in regards
to well-being and development and although eudaimonia is not a new field
of study, there has been little research done in the areas of
adolescence and youth. Research that has been done on this age group had
previously explored more negative aspects than well-being, such as
problem and risk behaviours (i.e. drug and alcohol use).
Researchers who conducted a study in 2013 recognized the absence
of adolescents in eudaimonic research and the importance of this
developmental stage. Adolescents rapidly face cognitive, social and
physical changes, making them prime subjects to study for development
and well-being. The
eudaimonic identity theory was used in their
research to examine the development of identity through self-discovery
and self-realization. They emphasize the personal value found in
discovering and appeasing one's “
daimon” (
daemon) through subjective experiences that develop eudaimonic happiness from aligning with one's true self.
Researchers focused their studies on PYD (
positive youth development) and the
eudaimonic identity theory in the context of three developmental elements:
self-defining activities,
personal expressiveness and
goal-directed behaviours.
They determined that adolescents sample multiple
self-defining activities; these activities aid in identity formation, as individuals choose activities that they believe represents who they are. These
self-defining activities
also help determine the adolescent's social environments. For example,
an adolescent involved in sports, would likely surround themselves with
like-minded active and competitive people.
Personal expressiveness, as coined by psychologist A. S. Waterman, are the activities that we choose to express and connect with our “
daimon” through subjective experiences.
Finally,
goal-directed behaviours, are developed through
goal setting, where individuals work towards identity establishment.
Adolescents recognize their passions, abilities and talents and aim to
fulfill their goals and behave in a way that appeases their true self.
The study on adolescents was conducted in Italy, Chile and the
United States, which produced slightly varied outcomes. Outcomes were
contingent on availability, access and choice of opportunities
(activities).
Socioeconomic context also affected the results, as not all individuals
could access the activities that may be more in-line with their true
selves.
The Personally Expressive Activities Questionnaire (PEAQ) was
used to conduct the study. Adolescence was the youngest age group that
the PEAQ was used on. The PEAQ asked adolescents to self-report on
activities they participate in and describe themselves with
self-defining activities. It was reported that 80% of adolescents defined themselves with two to four
self-defining activities signifying an understanding in adolescence of self-concept through the domains of leisure, work and academia.
Leisure activities were found to have the largest impact on
individuals because these activities were the most self-directed of the
three domains, as adolescents had the choice of activity, and were more
likely to be able to align it with their true selves. The study found
that subjective experiences were more important than the activities
themselves and that adolescents reported higher levels of well-being.
They reported that when adolescents express themselves through
self-defining activities across multiple domains, they have a clearer image of themselves, of what they want to achieve and higher wellness.
Goal-setting
was found to be a unique predictor; when adolescents work towards goals
set by themselves and accomplish them, they are likely to have a
clearer emerging identity and higher well-being. Researchers found that
more adolescents were happy when they were involved in self-chosen
activities because the activities were chosen in line with their true
self.
In midlife
The
midlife crisis
may mark the first reliable drop in happiness during an average human's
life. Evidence suggests most people generally become happier with age,
with the exception of the years 40 – 50, which is the typical age at
which a
crisis might occur. Researchers specify that people in
both their 20s and 70s are happier than during midlife, although the
extent of happiness changes at different rates. For example, feelings of
stress and anger tend to decline after age 20, worrying drops after age
50, and enjoyment very slowly declines in adulthood but finally starts
to rise after age 50. Well-being in late life is more likely to be related to other contextual factors including proximity to death.
However most of this terminal decline in well-being could be attributed
to other changes in age-normative functional declines including
physical health and function.
Also, there is growing debate that assumptions that a single population
estimate of age-related changes in well-being truly reflects the lived
experiences of older adults has been questioned. The use of growth
mixture modelling frameworks has allowed researchers to identify
homogenous groups of individuals who are more similar to each other than
the population based on their level and change in well-being and has
shown that most report stable well-being in their late life and in the
decade prior to death.
These findings are based on decades of data, and control for cohort
groups; the data avoids the risk that the drops in happiness during
midlife are due to populations' unique midlife experiences, like a war.
The studies have also controlled for income, job status and parenting
(as opposed to
childlessness) to try to isolate the effects of age.
Researchers found support for the notion of age changes inside
the individual that affect happiness.
This could be for any number of reasons. Psychological factors could
include greater awareness of one's self and preferences; an ability to
control desires and have more realistic expectations – unrealistic
expectations tend to foster unhappiness; moving closer to death may
motivate people to pursue personal goals; improved social skills, like
forgiveness, may take years to develop – the practice of forgiveness
seems linked to higher levels of happiness; or happier people may live
longer and are slightly overrepresented in the elderly population.
Age-related chemical changes might also play a role.
Other studies have found older individuals reported more health
problems, but fewer problems overall. Young adults reported more anger,
anxiety, depression, financial problems, troubled relationships and
career stress. Researchers also suggest depression in the elderly is
often due largely to passivity and inaction – they recommend people
continue to undertake activities that bring happiness, even in old age.
The activity restriction model of depressed affect suggests that
stressors that disrupt traditional activities of daily life can lead to a
decrease in mental health. The elderly population is vulnerable to
activity restriction because of the disabling factors related to age.
Increases in scheduled activity as well as social support can decrease
the chances of activity restriction.
In relation with depression and languishing
A
study by Keyes found that there are major costs of depression, which
14% of adults experience annually: it impairs social roles; it costs
billions each year due to work absenteeism, diminished
productivity, and
healthcare costs; finally, depression accounts for at least one-third of
suicides. Therefore, it is important to study flourishing to learn about what is
possible if issues such as depression are tackled and how the
ramifications of focusing on the positive make life better not just for
one person, but also for others around them.
Flourishing has significant positive aspects magnified when
compared to languishing adults and when languishing adults are compared
to depressed adults, as explained by Keyes. For example, languishing
adults have the same amount of chronic
disease as those that are depressed whereas flourishing adults are in exceptionally better
physical health. Languishing adults miss as many days at work as depressed adults and, in fact, visit
doctors and
therapists more than depressed adults.
Positive psychology interventions (PPI) in patients
A
strengths-based approach
to personal positive change aims to have clinical psychology place an
equal weight on both positive and negative functioning when attempting
to understand and treat distress.
This rationale is based on empirical findings. Because positive
characteristics interact with negative life events to predict disorder
the exclusive study of negative life events could produce misleading
results.
Thus, psychologists are looking to use positive psychology to
treat patients. Amy Krentzman, among the others, discussed positive
intervention as a way to treat patients. She defined positive
intervention as a therapy or activity primarily aimed at increasing
positive feelings, positive behaviors, or positive cognitions, as
opposed to focusing on negative thoughts or dysfunctional behaviors. A
way of using positive intervention as a clinical treatment is to use
positive activity interventions. Positive activity interventions, or
PAIs, are brief self-administered exercises that promote positive
feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. Two widely used PAIs are “Three Good
Things” and “Best Future Self.” “Three Good Things” requires a patient
to daily document, for a week, three events that went well during the
day, and the respective cause, or causes (this exercise can be modified
with counterfactual thinking, that is, adding the imagination of things
had them been worse).
“Best Future Self” has a patient “think about their life in the future,
and imagine that everything has gone as well as it possibly could. They
have worked hard and succeeded at accomplishing all of their life
goals. Think of this as the realization of all of their life dreams.”
The patient is then asked to write down what they imagined. These
positive interventions have been shown to decrease depression,
and interventions focusing on strengths and positive emotions can, in
fact, be as effective in treating disorder as other more commonly used
approaches such as
cognitive behavioral therapy. Moreover, the apparent effect of PPIs cannot be caused by
publication bias, according to a
meta-analysis
on 49 studies (2009). PPIs studied included producing gratitude
letters, performing optimistic thinking, replaying positive life
experiences, and socializing with people.
Also, in a newer meta-analysis (39 studies, 6,139 participants, 2012), the
standardized mean difference
was 0.34 higher for subjective well-being, 0.20 for psychological
well-being and 0.23 for depression. Three to six months after the
intervention, the effects for subjective well-being and psychological
well-being were still significant, so effects seem fairly sustainable.
However, in high-quality studies the positive effect was weaker, though
positive, so authors considered further high-quality studies necessary
to strengthen the evidence. They claimed that the above-mentioned
meta-analysis (2009) did not put enough weight on the quality of
studies.
PPIs found positive included blessings, kindness practices, taking
personal goals, and showing gratitude.
The interventions called "Gratitude Journaling" and "Three Good Things" seem to operate via gratitude.
There is evidence that, when gratitude journaling, focussing on quality
over quantity as well as people more than possessions, yields greater
benefits.
There is also evidence of a diminished effect from gratitude journaling
if it is done more than once or twice a week. Journaling sans gratitude
is effective in decreasing negative emotions in general, which suggests
that the act of journaling, rather than gratitude alone, is involved in
the treatment effect.
Positive psychology seeks to inform clinical psychology of the
potential to expand its approach, and of the merit of the possibilities.
Given a fair opportunity, positive psychology might well change
priorities to better address the breadth and depth of the human
experience in clinical settings.
Post-traumatic growth
Posttraumatic growth (PTG) is a possible outcome after a traumatic event, besides
posttraumatic stress disorder
(PTSD). Following a traumatic event, for instance rape, incest, cancer,
attack, or combat, "it is normal to experience debilitating symptoms of
depression and anxiety."
A person who shows PTG however, will experience these negative outcomes
for a time and then show an increase in well-being, higher than it was
before the trauma occurred.
Martin Seligman,
a founder of positive psychology, emphasizes that "arriving at a higher
level of psychological functioning than before" is a key point in PTG.
If instead an individual experiences a depressive period but recovers
from an incident and returns to their normal level of psychological
functioning, they are demonstrating
resilience.
This suggests that in PTG, the trauma acts as a turning point for the
person to achieve greater well-being. Seligman recognizes "the fact that
trauma often sets the stage for growth" and given the right tools,
individuals can make the most of that opportunity."
When reflecting on a traumatic growth, Seligman suggests using
the following five elements to facilitate PTG: understand the response
to trauma, reduce anxiety, utilize constructive disclosure, create a
trauma narrative, and articulate life principles and stances that are
more robust to challenge.
Someone experiencing PTG will achieve elements of Seligman’s "good
life" theory, including a more meaningful and purposeful valuing of
life, improved positive relationships, accomplishment, and a more
optimistic and open mindset according to the
broaden-and-build theory.
Post-traumatic growth in constructive journalism
The
phenomenon of PTG is applicable to many disciplines. The construct is
important not only for just soldiers, emergency responders, and
survivors of traumatic events, but on average, for everyday citizens
facing typical adversity. One way to expose citizens to stories of PTG
is through constructive journalism. Constructive journalism, as defined
by PhD student Karen McIntyre at University of North Carolina Chapel
Hill, is "an emerging style of journalism in which positive psychology
techniques are applied to news work with the aim of engaging readers by
creating more productive news stories, all while maintaining core
journalistic functions".
Cathrine Gyldensted, an experienced reporter with a Masters in applied
positive psychology and coauthor of two books, demonstrated that typical
news reporting, which is associated with negative valence, harms mood.
Using PTG to focus on victims' strengths and instances of overcoming
adversity encourages readers to implement similar ideals in their own
lives. "So the goal of positive psychology in well-being theory is to
measure and to build human flourishing."
Combining positive psychology constructs like PTG, PERMA, and "broaden
and build" with journalism could potentially improve affect and inspire
individuals about the benefits of positive psychology.
PERMA not only plays a role in our own personal lives but also
can be used for public major news stories. With this model, journalists
can instead focus on the positives of a story and ask questions about
how conflicts or even tragedies have brought people together, how
someone has experienced post-traumatic growth, and more. News stories
then shift the perspective from a victimizing one to an uplifting one.
Positive psychology is slowly but steadily making its way through news
reporting via constructive journalism. PERMA helps journalists ask the
right questions to continue that progress by bringing the focus of a
potentially negative story to the positives and solutions.
Affect - ratio of positive to negative affect
Fredrickson and Losada postulated in 2005 that the
ratio of positive to negative
affect, known as the
critical positivity ratio, can distinguish
individuals
that flourish from those that do not. Languishing was characterized by a
ratio of positive to negative affect of 2.5. Optimal functioning or
flourishing was argued to occur at a ratio of 4.3. The point at which
flourishing changes to languishing is called the
Losada line
and is placed at the positivity ratio of 2.9. Those with higher ratios
were claimed to have broader behavioral repertoires, greater
flexibility and resilience to
adversity, more social
resources, and more optimal functioning in many areas of their life.
The model also predicted the existence of an upper limit to happiness,
reached at a positivity ratio of 11.5. Fredrickson and Losada claimed
that at this limit, flourishing begins to disintegrate and productivity
and creativity decrease. They suggested as positivity increased, so to
"appropriate negativity" needs to increase. This was described as
time-limited, practicable
feedback connected to specific circumstances, i.e.
constructive criticism.
This positivity ratio theory was widely accepted until 2013, when
Nick Brown, a graduate student in applied positive psychology,
co-authored a paper with
Alan Sokal and Harris Friedman, showing that the mathematical basis of the paper was invalid.
Fredrickson partially retracted the paper, agreeing that the math may
be flawed, but maintaining that the empirical evidence is still valid. Brown and colleagues insist there is no evidence for the critical positivity ratio whatsoever.
In relation with basic emotions
Most
psychologists focus on a person's most basic
emotions. There are thought to be between seven and fifteen basic
emotions. The
emotions can be combined in many ways to create more subtle variations of
emotional
experience. This suggests that any attempt to wholly eliminate negative
emotions from our life would have the unintended consequence of losing
the variety and subtlety of our most profound emotional experiences.
Efforts to increase positive emotions will not automatically result in
decreased negative
emotions, nor will decreased negative emotions necessarily result in increased positive emotions.
Russell and Feldman Barrett (1992) described emotional reactions as
core affects, which are primitive emotional reactions that are
consistently experienced but often not acknowledged; they blend pleasant
and unpleasant as well as activated and deactivated dimensions that we
carry with us at an almost unconscious level.
Evidence suggests negative emotions can be damaging. In an article titled "The undoing effect of positive emotions",
Barbara Fredrickson et al. hypothesized positive emotions undo the cardiovascular effects of negative emotions. When people experience
stress, they show increased
heart rate, higher
blood sugar,
immune suppression,
and other adaptations optimized for immediate action. If unregulated,
the prolonged physiological activation can lead to illness,
coronary heart disease,
and heightened mortality. Both lab and survey research substantiate
that positive emotions help people under stress to return to a
preferable, healthier physiological baseline. Other research shows that improved mood is one of the various benefits of physical exercise.
Behavioral repertoire
The
broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions suggests positive emotions (e.g.
happiness,
interest,
anticipation)
[76]
broaden one's awareness and encourage novel, varied, and exploratory
thoughts and actions. Over time, this broadened behavioral repertoire
builds skills and resources. For example, curiosity about a landscape
becomes valuable navigational knowledge; pleasant interactions with a
stranger become a supportive friendship; aimless physical play becomes
exercise and physical excellence. Positive emotions are contrasted with
negative emotions, which prompt narrow survival-oriented behaviors. For
example, the negative emotion of
anxiety leads to the specific
fight-or-flight response for immediate survival.
Elevation
After several years of researching
disgust,
Jonathan Haidt,
and others, studied its opposite; the term "elevation" was coined.
Elevation is a pleasant moral emotion, involving a desire to act morally
and do "good". As an emotion it has a biological basis, and is
sometimes characterized by a feeling of expansion in the chest or a
tingling feeling on the skin.
The concept of "flourishing"
The term flourishing, in positive psychology, refers to optimal human
functioning. It comprises four parts: goodness, generativity, growth,
and
resilience (Fredrickson, 2005).
According to Fredrickson (2005), goodness is made up of: happiness,
contentment, and effective performance; generativity is about making
life better for future generations, and is defined by “broadened
thought-action repertoires and behavioral flexibility”; growth involves
the use of personal and social assets; and resilience reflects survival
and growth after enduring a hardship.
A flourishing life stems from mastering all four of these parts. Two
contrasting ideologies are languishing and psychopathology. On the
mental health continuum, these are considered intermediate mental health
disorders, reflecting someone living an unfulfilled and perhaps
meaningless life. Those who languish experience more emotional pain,
psychosocial deficiency, restrictions in regular activities, and missed
workdays.
Fredrickson & Losada (2005) conducted a study on university students, operationalizing positive and negative affect. Based on a mathematical model which has been strongly criticized, and now been formally withdrawn by Fredrickson as invalid, Fredrickson & Losada claimed to have discovered a
critical positivity ratio,
above which people would flourish and below which they would not.
Although Fredrickson claims that her experimental results are still
valid, these experimental results have also been questioned due to poor statistical methodology, and
Alan Sokal
has pointed out that "given [Fredrickson and Losada's] experimental
design and method of data analysis, no data whatsoever could possibly
give any evidence of any nonlinearity in the relationship between
"flourishing" and the positivity ratio — much less evidence for a sharp
discontinuity."
Another study surveyed a U.S. sample of 3,032 adults, aged 25–74.
Results showed 17.2 percent of adults were flourishing, while 56.6
percent were moderately mentally healthy. Some common characteristics of
a flourishing adult included: educated, older, married and wealthy. The
study findings suggest there is room for adults to improve as less than
20 percent of Americans are living a flourishing life. (Keyes, 2002).
Benefits from living a flourishing life emerge from research on
the effects of experiencing a high ratio of positive to negative affect.
The studied benefits of positive affect are increased responsiveness,
"broadened behavioral repertoires", increased instinct, and increased
perception and imagination.
In addition, the good feelings associated with flourishing result in
improvements to immune system functioning, cardiovascular recovery,
lessened effects of negative affect, and frontal brain asymmetry.
Other benefits to those of moderate mental health or moderate levels of
flourishing were: stronger psychological and social performance, high
resiliency, greater cardiovascular health, and an overall healthier
lifestyle (Keyes, 2007).
The encountered benefits of flourishing suggest a definition:
"[flourishing] people experience high levels of emotional, psychological
and social well being due to vigor and vitality, self-determination,
continuous self- growth, close relationships and a meaningful and
purposeful life" (Siang-Yang, 2006, p. 70).
Happiness
Happiness measurement
Oxford Happiness Questionnaire
Psychologists Peter Hills and
Michael Argyle developed the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire
as a broad measure of psychological well-being. The approach was
criticized for lacking a theoretical model of happiness and for
overlapping too much with related concepts such as
self-esteem, sense of purpose, social interest,
kindness, sense of
humor and aesthetic appreciation.
Satisfaction with Life Scale
"Happiness" encompasses different emotional and mental phenomena. One method of assessment is
Ed Diener's
Satisfaction with Life Scale. According to Diener, this five-question
survey corresponds well with impressions from friends and family, and
low incidence of
depression.
Rather than long-term, big picture appraisals, some methods
attempt to identify the amount of positive affect from one activity to
the next. Scientists use beepers to remind volunteers to write down the
details of their current situation. Alternatively, volunteers complete
detailed diary entries each morning about the day before.
A discrepancy arises when researchers compare the results of these
short-term "experience sampling" methods, with long-term appraisals.
Namely, the latter may not be very accurate; people may not know what
makes their life pleasant from one moment to the next. For instance,
parents' appraisals mention their children as sources of pleasure, while
"experience sampling" indicates parents were not enjoying caring for
their children, compared to other activities.
Psychologist
Daniel Kahneman
explains this discrepancy by differentiating between happiness
according to the "experiencing self" compared to the "remembering self":
when asked to reflect on experiences,
memory biases
like the Peak-End effect (e.g. we mostly remember the dramatic parts of
a vacation, and how it was at the end) play a large role. A striking
finding was in a study of
colonoscopy patients. Adding 60 seconds to this invasive procedure, Kahneman found participants reported the colonoscopy as
more
pleasant. This was attributed to making sure the colonoscopy instrument
was not moved during the extra 60 seconds – movement is the source of
the most discomfort. Thus, Kahneman was appealing to the remembering
self's tendency to focus on the end of the experience. Such findings
help explain human error in
affective forecasting – people's ability to predict their future emotional states.
The "remembering self" may not be the best source of information for pleasing the "experiencing self"
Changes in happiness levels
Humans exhibit a variety of abilities. This includes an ability of emotional
Hedonic Adaptation,
an idea suggesting that beauty, fame and money do not generally have
lasting effects on happiness (this effect has also been called the
Hedonic treadmill).
In this vein, some research has suggested that only recent events,
meaning those that occurred within the last 3 months, affect happiness
levels.
The tendency to adapt, and therefore return to an earlier level
of happiness, is illustrated by studies showing lottery winners are no
happier in the years after they've won. Other studies have shown
paraplegics are nearly as happy as control groups that are not paralyzed,
after equally few years. Daniel Kahneman explains: "they are not
paraplegic full time... It has to do with allocation of attention".
Thus, contrary to our
impact biases, lotteries and paraplegia do not change experiences to as great a degree as we would believe.
However, in a newer study (2007), winning a medium-sized lottery
prize had a lasting mental wellbeing effect of 1.4 GHQ points on Britons
even two years after the event.
Moreover, adaptation can be a very slow and incomplete process.
Distracting life changes such as the death of a spouse or losing one's
job can show measurable changes in happiness levels for several years.
Even the "adapted" paraplegics mentioned above did ultimately report
lower levels of pleasure (again, they were happier than one would
expect, but not fully adapted). Thus, adaptation is a complex process, and while it
does mitigate the emotional effects of many life events it cannot mitigate them entirely.
Happiness set point
The
happiness set point idea is that most people return to an average level
of happiness – or a set point – after temporary highs and lows in
emotionality. People whose set points lean toward positive emotionality
tend to be cheerful most of the time and those whose set points tend to
be more negative emotionality tend to gravitate toward pessimism and
anxiety. Lykken found that we can influence our level of well-being by
creating environments more conductive to feelings of happiness and by
working with our genetic makeup.
One reason that subjective well-being is for the most part stable is
because of the great influence genetics have. Although the events of
life have some effect on subjective well-being, the general population
returns to their set point.
In
the recipe for one person's happiness, it is nonsensical to blame one
ingredient (because all are necessary). However, when comparing two
people's happiness, ingredients like genetics can account for as much as
half the difference.
In her book
The How of Happiness,
Sonja Lyubomirsky similarly argued people's happiness varies around a genetic set point.
Diener
warns, however, that it is nonsensical to claim that "happiness is
influenced 30–50% by genetics". Diener explains that the recipe for
happiness for an individual always requires genetics, environment, and
behaviour too, so it is nonsensical to claim that an individual's
happiness is due to only one ingredient.
Only differences in happiness can be attributed to differences in
factors. In other words, Lyubomirsky's research does not discuss
happiness in one individual; it discusses differences in happiness
between two or more people. Specifically, Lyubomirsky suggests that
30–40% of the difference in happiness levels is due to genetics (i.e.
heritable).
In other words, still, Diener says it makes no sense to say one
person's happiness is "due 50% to genetics", but it does make sense to
say one person's difference in happiness is 50% due to differences in
their genetics (and the rest is due to behaviour and environment).
Findings from twin studies support the findings just mentioned.
Twins reared apart had nearly the same levels of happiness thereby
suggesting the environment is not entirely responsible for differences
in people's happiness. Importantly, an individual's baseline happiness is not
entirely
determined by genetics, and not even by early life influences on one's
genetics. Whether or not a person manages to elevate their baseline to
the heights of their genetic possibilities depends partly on several
factors, including actions and habits. Some happiness-boosting habits
seem to include gratitude, appreciation, and even altruistic behavior. Other research-based habits and techniques for increasing happiness are discussed on this page.
Besides the development of new habits, the use of antidepressants, effective exercise, and a healthier
diet have proven to affect mood significantly. There is evidence that a vegan diet reduces stress and anxiety.
Exercise is sometimes called the "miracle" or "wonder" drug – alluding to the wide variety of proven benefits it provides.
It is worth mentioning that a recent book,
Anatomy of an Epidemic,
challenges the use of non-conservative usage of medications for mental
patients, specially with respect to their long-term positive feedback
effects.
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche has said that neuro scientists have found that with meditation, an individual's happiness baseline can change. and meditation has been found to increase happiness in several studies.A study on Brahma Kumaris
Raja yoga meditators showed them having higher
happiness (Oxford happiness questionnaire) than the control group.
Evidences against the happiness set point theory
In
recent large panel studies divorce, death of a spouse, unemployment,
disability and similar events have been shown to change the long-term
subjective well-being, even though some adaptation does occur and inborn
factors affect this.
Fujita and Diener found that 24% of people changed significantly
between the first five years of the study and the last five years.
Almost one in four people showed changes in their well-being over the
years; indeed sometimes those changes were quite dramatic.
Bruce Headey found that 5–6% of people dramatically increased their
life satisfaction over a 15- to 20-year period and that the goals people
pursued significantly affected their life satisfaction.
Personal training to increase happiness
The
easiest and best possible way to increase one's happiness is by doing
something that increases the ratio of positive to negative emotions.
Contrary to some beliefs, in many scenarios, people are actually very
good at determining what will increase their positive emotions. There have been many techniques developed to help increase one's happiness.
A first technique is known as the "Sustainable Happiness Model
(SHM)." This model proposes that long-term happiness is determined upon:
(1) one's genetically determined
set-point,
(2) circumstantial factors, and (3) intentional activities.
Lyubomirsky, Sheldon and Schkade suggest to make these changes in the
correct way in order to have long-term happiness.
Another suggestion of how to increase one's happiness is through a
procedure called "Hope Training." Hope Training is primarily focused on
hope due to the belief that hope drives the positive emotions of
well-being.
This training is based on the hope theory, which states that well-being
can increase once people have developed goals and believe themselves to
achieve those goals.
One of the main purposes of hope training is to eliminate individuals
from false hope syndrome. False hope syndrome particularly occurs when
one believes that changing their behavior is easy and the outcomes of
the change will be evidenced in a short period of time.
There are coaching procedures based on positive psychology, which
are backed by scientific research, with availability of intervention
tools and assessments that positive psychology trained coaches can
utilize to support the coaching process. Positive psychology coaching
uses scientific evidence and insights gained in these areas to work with
clients in their goals.
Time and happiness
A portrait commemorating a family's day together
Philip Zimbardo
suggests we might also analyze happiness from a "time perspective". He
suggested the sorting of people's focus in life by valence (positive or
negative) and also by their time perspective (past, present, or future
orientation). Doing so may reveal some individual conflicts, not over
whether an activity is enjoyed, but whether one prefers to risk delaying
gratification further. Zimbardo also believes research reveals an
optimal balance of perspectives for a happy life; commenting, our focus
on reliving positive aspects of our past should be high, followed by
time spent believing in a positive future, and finally spending a
moderate (but not excessive) amount of time in enjoyment of the present.
The "flow"
In the 1970s Csikszentmihalyi's started to study
flow,
a state of absorption where one's abilities are well-matched to the
demands at-hand. Flow is characterized by intense concentration, loss of
self-awareness, a feeling of being perfectly challenged (neither bored
nor overwhelmed), and a sense "time is flying". Flow is intrinsically
rewarding; it can also assist in the achievement of goals (e.g., winning
a game) or improving skills (e.g., becoming a better chess player). Anyone can experience flow, in different domains, such as play, creativity, and work.
Flow is achieved when the challenge of the situation meets one's
personal abilities. A mismatch of challenge for someone of low skills
results in a state of anxiety; insufficient challenge for someone highly
skilled results in boredom.
The effect of challenging situations means that flow is often
temporarily exciting and variously stressful, but this is considered
Eustress, which is also known as "good" stress. Eustress is arguably less harmful than
chronic stress,
although the pathways of stress-related systems are similar. Both can
create a "wear and tear" effect; however, the differing physiological
elements and added psychological benefits of eustress might well balance
any wear and tear experienced.
Csikszentmihalyi identified nine indicator elements of flow:
- Clear goals exist every step of the way;
- Immediate feedback guides
one's action;
- There is a balance between challenges and abilities;
- Action and awareness are merged;
- Distractions are excluded from
consciousness;
- Failure is not worrisome;
- Self-consciousness
disappears;
- Sense of time is distorted; and
- The activity becomes "autotelic" (an end in itself, done for its own sake).
His studies also show that flow is greater during work while happiness is greater during leisure activities.
Health
Addiction
Arguably,
some people pursue ineffective shortcuts to feeling good. These
shortcuts create positive feelings, but are problematic, in part because
of the lack of effort involved. Some examples of these shortcuts
include shopping, drugs, chocolate, loveless sex, and TV. These are
problematic pursuits because all of these examples have the ability to
become addictive. When happiness comes to us so easily, it comes with a
price we may not realize. This price comes when taking these shortcuts
is the only way to become happy, otherwise viewed as an
addiction.
A review by Amy Krentzman on the Application of Positive Psychology to
Substance Use, Addiction, and Recovery Research, identified, in the
field of positive psychology, three domains that allow an individual to
thrive and contribute to society.
One of these, A Pleasant Life, involves good feelings about the
past, present, and future. To tie this with addiction, they chose an
example of
alcoholism.
Research on positive affect and alcohol showed a majority of the
population associates drinking with pleasure. The pleasure one feels
from alcohol is known as somatic pleasure, which is immediate but a
short lived sensory delight. The researchers wanted to make clear
pleasure alone does not amount to a life well lived; there is more to
life than pleasure. Secondly, the Engaged Life is associated with
positive traits such as strength of character. A few examples of
character strength according to
Character Strength and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification by
Seligman
and Peterson (2004) are bravery, integrity, citizenship, humility,
prudence, gratitude, and hope, all of which are shown in the rise to
recovery. To descend into an addiction shows a lack of character
strength; however, rising to recovery shows the reinstatement of
character strengths, including the examples mentioned above. Thirdly,
the Meaningful Life is service and membership to positive organizations.
Examples of positive organizations include family, workplace, social
groups, and society in general. Organizations, like
Alcoholics Anonymous,
can be viewed as a positive organization. Membership fosters positive
affect, while also promoting character strengths, which as seen in the
Engaged Life, can aid in beating addiction.
Emotional health
Researcher Dianne Hales described an
emotionally healthy
person as someone who exhibits flexibility and adaptability to
different circumstances, a sense of meaning and affirmation in life, an
"understanding that the self is not the center of the universe",
compassion and the ability to be unselfish, an increased depth and
satisfaction in intimate relationships, and a sense of control over the
mind and body.
Mental health
Layard and others show that the most important influence on happiness is mental health.
L.M. Keyes and Shane Lopez illustrate the four typologies of
mental health functioning: flourishing, struggling, floundering and
languishing. However, complete mental health is a combination of high
emotional well-being, high psychological well-being, and high social
well-being, along with low mental illness.
Although health is part of well-being, some people are able to
maintain satisfactory wellbeing despite the presence of psychological
symptoms.
Physical health
Meta-analyses
published between 2013 and 2017 show that exercise is associated with
reductions in depressive symptoms, fatigue and QoL plus improvements in
attention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, social functioning, schizophrenic
symptoms, and verbal fluency in various special populations. However,
aerobic exercise has no significant effect on anxiety disorders.
In 2005 a study conducted by Andrew Steptow and Michael Marmot at
University College London, found that happiness is related to
biological markers that play an important role in health.
The researchers aimed to analyze whether there was any association
between well-being and three biological markers: heart rate,
cortisol
levels, and plasma fibrinogen levels. The participants who rated
themselves the least happy had cortisol levels that were 48% higher than
those who rated themselves as the most happy. The least happy subjects
also had a large plasma fibrinogen response to two stress-inducing
tasks: the Stroop test, and tracing a star seen in a mirror image.
Repeating their studies three years later Steptow and Marmot found that
participants who scored high in positive emotion continued to have lower
levels of cortisol and fibrinogen, as well as a lower heart rate.
In Happy People Live Longer (2011), Bruno Frey reported that happy people live 14% longer, increasing longevity 7.5 to 10 years and
Richard Davidson's bestseller (2012)
The Emotional Life of Your Brain argues that positive emotion and happiness benefit long-term health.
However, in 2015 a study building on earlier research found that happiness has no effect on mortality. "This "basic belief that if you're happier you're going to live longer. That's just not true."
Consistent results are that "apart from good health, happy people were
more likely to be older, not smoke, have fewer educational
qualifications, do strenuous exercise, live with a partner, do religious
or group activities and sleep for eight hours a night."
Happiness does however seem to have a protective impact on
immunity. The tendency to experience positive emotions was associated
with greater resistance to
colds and
flu in interventional studies irrespective of other factors such as smoking, drinking, exercise, and sleep.
Positive emotional states have a favorable effect on mortality
and survival in both healthy and diseased populations. Even at the same
level of smoking, drinking, exercise, and sleep,
happier people seem to live longer. Interventional trials conducted to establish a
cause-effect relationship indicate positive emotions to be associated with greater resistance to objectively verifiable
colds and
flu.
Alternative medicine
Health
consumers sometimes confuse the terms "wellness" and "well-being".
Wellness is a term more commonly associated with alternative medicine
which may or may not coincide with gains in subjective well-being. In
2014,
the Australian Government reviewed the effectiveness of numerous
complementary therapies: they found low-moderate quality evidence that
the Alexander technique, Buteyko, massage therapy (remedial massage),
tai chi and yoga are helpful for certain health conditions. On the
other hand, the balance of evidence indicates that homeopathy,
aromatherapy, bowen therapy, Feldenkrais, herbalism, homeopathy,
iridology, kinesiology, pilates, reflexology and rolfing shiatsu were
classed as ineffective.
Fruit and vegetable consumption
There
is growing evidence that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables is
related to greater happiness, life satisfaction, and positive mood as
well. This evidence cannot be entirely explained by demographic or
health variables including
socio-economic status,
exercise,
smoking, and
body mass index, suggesting a causal link.
Further studies have found that fruit and vegetable consumption
predicted improvements in positive mood the next day, not vice versa. On
days when people ate more fruits and vegetables, they reported feeling
calmer, happier, and more energetic than normal, and they also felt more
positive the next day.
Cross-sectional studies
worldwide support a relationship between happiness and fruit and
vegetable intake. Those eating fruits and vegetables each day have a
higher likelihood of being classified as “very happy,” suggesting a
strong and positive correlation between fruit and vegetable consumption
and happiness. Whether it be in South Korea, Iran, Chile, USA, or UK, greater fruit and vegetable consumption had a positive association with greater happiness, independent of factors such as
smoking,
exercise,
body mass index, and
socio-economic factors.
This could be due to the protective benefits from chronic diseases and a
greater intake of nutrients important for psychological health.
Other food and drink practices associated with well-being are probiotics, alcohol, and binge drinking. Gluten and FODMAPs can negatively impact mood in some people. Bupa
recommends oily fish, food with tryptophan such as milk, nuts, lentils,
whole grain breads, cereals, pasta, soy and chocolate, dark chocolate,
the Mediterranean diet overall including vegetables, fruits, whole
grains, nuts and olive oil for wellbeing.
The documentary ‘food matters’ includes claims of well-being benefits of raw foods, which has been disputed as pseudoscience.
Hedonic well-being
Eudaimonic well-being has been found to be empirically distinguishable from hedonic well-being.
Identity
Individual
roles play a part in cognitive well-being. Not only does having social
ties improve cognitive well-being, it also improves psychological
health.
Having multiple identities and roles helps individuals to relate
to their society and provide the opportunity for each to contribute more
as they increase their roles, therefore creating enhanced levels of
cognitive well-being. Each individual role is ranked internally within a
hierarchy of salience.
Salience is “...the subjective importance that a person attaches to each identity”.
Different roles an individual has have a different impact on
their well-being. Within this hierarchy, higher roles offer more of a
source to their well-being and define more meaningfulness to their
overall role as a human being.
Ethnic identity
may play a role in an individual's cognitive well-being. Studies have
shown that “...both social psychological and developmental perspectives
suggest that a strong, secure ethnic identity makes a positive
contribution to
cognitive well-being”.
Those in an acculturated society may feel more equal as a human being
within their culture, therefore experiencing increased well-being.
Optimism and helplessness
J.B. MacKinnon
recommended taking full responsibility for one small, but clear
improvement for the world (the way energy-saving activists did by
promoting a new kind of lamp). Inspired by sociological research,
MacKinnon said "vertical agitation" helps reduce feelings of
helplessness.
Learned optimism refers to development of one's potential for a
sanguine outlook.
[clarification needed]
Optimism is learned as personal efforts and abilities are linked to
personally desired outcomes. In short, it is the belief one can
influence the future in tangible and meaningful ways. Learned optimism
contrasts with
learned helplessness,
which consists of a belief, or beliefs, one has no control over what
occurs, and that something external dictates outcomes, e.g., success.
Optimism is learned by consciously challenging negative
self talk. This includes self talk on any event viewed as a personal failure that permanently affects all areas of the person's life.
Intrapersonal, or internal, dialogues influence one's feelings.
In fact, reports of happiness are correlated with the general ability to
"rationalize or explain" social and economic inequalities.
Hope
is a powerful positive feeling, linked to a learned style of
goal-directed thinking. Hope is fostered when a person utilizes both
pathways thinking (the perceived capacity to find routes to desired goals) and
agency thinking (the requisite motivations to use those routes).
Author and journalist
J.B. MacKinnon
suggested the cognitive tool of "Vertical Agitation" can assist in
avoiding helplessness (e.g., paralysis in the face of Earth's many
problems). The concept stemmed from research on denial by sociologist
Stanley Cohen. Cohen explained: in the face of massive problems people tend towards learned helplessness rather than confronting the
dissonant
facts of the matter. Vertical Agitation involves focusing on one part
of a problem at a time, while holding oneself accountable for solving
the problem – all the way to the highest level of government, business
and society (such as advocating strongly for something:
eco-friendly lightbulbs).
This allows each individual in society to make vital "trivial" (read:
small) changes, without being intimidated by the work needed to be done
as a whole. Mackinnon added: a piecemeal approach also keeps individuals
from becoming too 'holier than thou' (harassing friends and family
about
every possible improvement), where widespread practice of Vertical Agitation would lead to much improvement.
Personal finances
Money, once one reaches middle class, may be best spent ensuring one's job and social ties.
Well-being has traditionally focused on improving physical,
emotional and mental quality of life with little understanding of how dependent they all are on financial health. However, financial stress often manifests itself in physical and
emotional difficulties that lead to increased healthcare costs and reduced productivity. A more inclusive paradigm for well-being would acknowledge money as a source of
empowerment that maximizes physical and
emotional health by reducing financial
stress.
Such a model would provide individuals with the financial knowledge
they need, as well as enable them to gain valuable insight and
understanding regarding their financial habits, as well as their
thoughts, feelings, fears and attitudes about money. Through this work,
individuals would be better equipped to manage their money and achieve
the financial wellness that is essential for their overall well-being.
It has been argued that money cannot effectively "buy" much
happiness unless it is used in certain ways, and that "Beyond the point
at which people have enough to comfortably feed, clothe, and house
themselves, having more money – even a lot more money – makes them only a
little bit happier." In his book
Stumbling on Happiness, psychologist
Daniel Gilbert
described research suggesting money makes a significant difference to
the poor (where basic needs are not yet met), but has a greatly
diminished effect once one reaches middle class (i.e. the
Easterlin paradox). Every dollar earned is just as valuable to happiness up to a $75,000 annual income, thereafter, the value of each additional dollar earns a diminishing amount of happiness. According to the latest
systematic review of the economic literature on life satisfaction,
one's perception of their financial circumstances fully mediates the
effects of objective circumstances on one’s well-being. People
overestimate the influence of wealth by 100%.
Professor of Economics
Richard Easterlin noted that
job satisfaction
does not depend on salary. In other words, having extra money for
luxuries does not increase happiness as much as enjoying one's job or
social network.
Gilbert is thus adamant, people should go to great lengths to figure
out which jobs they would enjoy, and to find a way to do one of those
jobs for a living (that is, provided one is also attentive to social
ties).
Unemployment is detrimental to individual well-being. However,
that does not hold true in countries where unemployment is widespread.
Psychology Today
reports that the impact of unemployment is dampened in those for whom
work is less central to their identity, those who receive less criticism
and less negative judgments from others, those who can meet their
immediate financial obligations and those who do not see their
unemployment as high stress and negative. Other protective factors
include the expectation of reemployment, routines that structure one's
time and evaluating oneself as worthy, competent and successful.
According to the latest
systematic review of the economic literature on life satisfaction,
unemployment is worse for wellbeing for those that are right wing or
live in high income countries. Not all unemployment is bad, however:
international data from sixteen Western countries indicates that
retirement at any age yields large increases in subjective well-being
that returns to trend by age 70.
Executive coaching, a workplace intervention for well-being and
performance, is proven to work in certain contexts, according to a 2013
independent quantitative scientific summary synthesising high quality
scientific research on coaching.
It tells us that standard effect sizes for the outcomes of
performance/skills, well-being, coping, goal-attainment and work/career
attitudes range from 0.43 to 0.74.
A more recent study has challenged the
Easterlin paradox.
Using recent data from a broader collection of countries, a positive
link was found between GDP and well-being; and there was no point at
which wealthier countries' subjective well-being ceased to increase. It
was concluded economic growth does indeed increase happiness.
Wealth is strongly correlated with life satisfaction but the correlation between money and emotional well-being is weak.
The pursuit of money may lead people to ignore leisure time and
relationships, both of which may cause and contribute to happiness.
The pursuit of money at the risk of jeopardizing one's personal
relationships and sacrificing enjoyment from one's leisure activities
seems an unwise approach to finding happiness.
Money, or its hectic pursuit, has been shown to hinder people's
savoring
ability, or the act of enjoying everyday positive experiences and
emotions. In a study looking at working adults, wealthy individuals
reported lower levels of savoring ability (the ability to prolong
positive emotion) relative to their poorer peers.
Studies have routinely shown that nations are happier when people's needs are met.
Some studies suggest, however, that people are happier after spending money on experiences, rather than physical things, and after spending money on others, rather than themselves. However, purchases that buy ‘time’, for instance, cleaners or cooks typically increase individual well-being.
Lottery winners report higher levels of happiness immediately
following the event. But research shows winner's happiness levels drop
and return to normal baseline rates within months to years. This finding
suggests money does not cause long-term happiness (1978).
However, in a more recent British study on lottery prizes between
£1,000 and £120,000, a positive effect even two years after the event
was found, the return to normal being only partial and varying.
One
600 women strong 2011 study shows that house owners are no happier than
renters. Degree of ownership also matter:
“...housing property rights matter for subjective well-being.
Specifically, using subjective well-being data from China, the authors
find that homeownership is associated with higher levels of life
satisfaction, although this happiness premium is larger for people who
have full ownership compared to those who have only a minor ownership
stake in their home.”
According to the latest
systematic review of the economic literature on life satisfaction,
living in rural areas seems to have some association with well-being,
because the included studies tend to control for income and rural areas
tend to be poor. Income has a high effect on happiness and incomes are
higher in urban areas, so chasing a rural lifestyle at the expense of
income may be a ‘grass is always greener’ move.
Adults who live with parents also tend to have poorer levels of well-being.
Mindfulness
Researchers
recommend attending to the past to find fond memories, and the future
to find hope, but ultimately focussing mostly on the present.
Daydreaming usually precedes drops in happiness. Mindfulness and
activities that bring focus to the present (like roller coasters) may
bring happiness partly by shifting people's focus away from the slightly
saddening question "Am I happy?".
Mindfulness
is an intentionally focused awareness of one's immediate experience.
"Focused awareness" is a conscious moment-by-moment attention to
situational elements of an experience: i.e., thoughts, emotions,
physical sensations, and surroundings. An aim of mindfulness is to
become grounded in the present moment; one learns to observe the arising
and passing of experience. One does not judge the experiences and
thoughts, nor do they try to "figure things out" and draw conclusions,
or change anything – the challenge during mindfulness is to simply
observe.Benefits of mindfulness practice include reduction of stress, anxiety, depression, and chronic pain.
Ellen J. Langer argued people slip into a state of "mindlessness"
by engaging in rote behavior, performing familiar, scripted actions
without much cognition, as if on autopilot.
Advocates of focusing on present experiences also mention research by Psychologist
Daniel Gilbert, who suggested daydreaming, instead of a focus on the present, may impede happiness. Fellow researcher, Matt Killingsworth, found evidence to support the
harm of daydreaming. Fifteen thousand participants from around the world
provided over 650 000 reports (using an online application on their
phones that requested data at random times). Killingsworth found people
who reported daydreaming soon reported less happiness; daydreaming is
extremely common.
Zimbardo (see "Time Perspectives" above) bestowed the merits of a
present-focus, and recommended occasional recall of past positive
experiences. Reflecting on past positive experiences can influence
current mood, and assist in building positive expectations for the
future.
There is research that suggests a person's focus influences level
of happiness, where thinking too much about happiness can be
counter-productive. Rather than asking: "Am I happy?" – which when posed
just 4 times a day, starts to decrease happiness, it might well be
better to reflect on one's values (e.g., "Can I muster any hope?").
Asking different questions can assist in redirecting personal thoughts,
and perhaps, lead to taking steps to better apply one's energies. The
personal answer to any particular question can lead to positive actions,
and hopefulness, which is a very powerful, and positive feeling.
Hopefulness is more likely to foster happiness, while feelings of
hopelessness tend to undermine happiness.
Todd Kashdan, researcher and author of "Designing Positive
Psychology", explained early science's findings should not be
overgeneralized or adopted too uncritically. Mindfulness to Kashdan is
very resource-intensive processing; he warned it is not simply better at
all times. To illustrate, when a task is best performed with very
little conscious thought (e.g., a paramedic performing practiced,
emergency maneuvers).
Nevertheless, development of the skill lends to its application at
certain times, which can be useful for the reasons just described;
Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry Richard J. Davidson highly
recommends "mindfulness
meditation" for use in the accurate identification and management of emotions.
Personality
The
modifiable personality traits which might cause greater well-being have
yet to be critically synthesised. However, there is evidence that
certain traits are beneficial for individual happiness or performance: locus of control, curiosity, religiousness, spirituality, spiritual striving, sense of urgency, self-compassion, authenticity, growth
mindset,
positive mental attitudes, grit,
goal orientation with a meta-analysis concluding that approach rather than avoidance goals are superior for performance; as well as prosocial rather than zero-sum goals.
Researchers
who have reported on the character traits of people with high and low
life satisfaction found that character strengths which predict life
satisfaction are zest, curiosity, hope, and humour. Character strengths
that do not predict life satisfaction include appreciation of beauty and
excellence, creativity, kindness, love of learning, and perspective.
Meanwhile, research
on character strengths that is separated by gender indicates the
character strengths that predict life satisfaction in men are humour,
fairness, perspective, and creativity, while the character strengths
that predict life satisfaction in women are zest, gratitude, hope,
appreciation of beauty, and love.
Certain traits are specifically beneficial to those with certain health issues.
Believing in yourself (high self efficacy) matters for eating
disorders, immune response, stress management, pain management and
healthy living.
In literature the positive psychological approach to personality
is correlated often with the concepts of personal/psychosocial
development and human development, balanced, strong, mature and proactive personality, character strengths and virtues,
evidenced by traits like optimism and energy, pragmatism, active
consciousness, assertiveness, free and powerful will, self-determination
and self-realization, personal and social autonomy, social
adaptability, personal and social efficiency, interpersonal development
and professional development, proactive and positive thinking, humanity,
empathy and love, emotional intelligence, subjective/psychological
well-being, extraversion, happiness, positive emotions.
Many tools for psychological wellness have entered popular
culture via the personal development and self help industry. Positive
music, will lower distress and pain, but news media consumption is detrimental for happiness. One exception is motivational media, for it has been found that inspiration helps with creativity, productivity and happiness. Reading self help books is associated with higher well-being, however, there is poor evidence on life coaching. Some schools of thought, such as
Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), have been criticised as pseudoscience. Other ideas, like
affirmations and cold showers and hydrotherapy more broadly have limited evidence of effect. Proactive laughter as in
laughter yoga increases mood and improves pain tolerance.
Smiling ummarised increases attractiveness, calm in stressful
situations, retrieval of happy memories, likeability, happiness,
perceived happiness (by others), perceived
politeness/relaxedness/carefree, perceived honesty but also perceived
stupidity. However, proactively smiling only increases happiness among
those who believe smiling is a reaction to feeling happy, rather than a
positive intervention.
Ed Diener
et al. (1999) suggested this equation: positive emotion – negative
emotion = subjective well-being. Since tendency to positive emotion has a
correlation of 0.8 with
extroversion and tendency towards negative emotion is indistinguishable from
neuroticism,
the above equation could also be written as extroversion – neuroticism =
happiness. These two traits could account for between 50% to 75% of
happiness. These are all referring to the
Big Five personality traits model of personality.
An emotionally stable (the opposite of n
eurotic)
personality
correlates well with happiness. Not only does emotional stability make
one less prone to negative emotions, it also predicts higher social
intelligence – which helps to manage relationships with others (an
important part of being happy, discussed below).
Cultivating an
extroverted temperament
may correlate with happiness for the same reason: it builds
relationships and support groups. Some people may be fortunate, from the
standpoint of
personality theories
that suggest individuals have control over their long-term behaviors
and cognitions. Genetic studies indicate genes for personality
(specifically
extroversion,
neuroticism and
conscientiousness), and a general factor linking all 5 traits, account for the heritability of
subjective well-being. Recent research suggests there is a happiness gene, the 5-HTT gene.
Purpose in life
Purpose
in life refers broadly to the pursuit of life satisfaction. It has also
been found that those with high purpose in life scores have strong
goals and sense of direction. They feel there is meaning to their past
and present life, and hold beliefs that continue to give their life
purpose. Research in the past has focused on purpose in the face of
adversity (what is awful, difficult, or absurd in life). Recently,
research has shifted to include a focus on the role of purpose in
personal fulfillment and self-actualization.
The
self-control approach, as expounded by
C. R. Snyder,
focusses on exercising self-control to achieve self-esteem by
fulfilling goals and feeling in control of our own success. This is
further reinforced by a sense of intentionality in both efforts and
outcomes.
The
intrinsic motivation approach of
Viktor Frankl
emphasized finding value in three main areas: creative, experiential,
and attitudinal. Creative values are expressed in acts of creating or
producing something. Experiential values are actualized through the
senses, and may overlap the hedonistic view of happiness. Attitudinal
values are prominent for individuals who are unable to pursue the
preceding two classes of values. Attitudinal values are believed to be
primarily responsible for allowing individuals to endure suffering with
dignity.
A personal sense of responsibility is required for the pursuit of
the values that give life meaning, but it is the realization that one
holds sole responsibility for rendering life meaningful that allows the
values to be actualized and life to be given true purpose. Determining
what is meaningful for one's self provides a sense of autonomy and
control which promotes self-esteem.
Purpose in life is positively correlated with education level and
volunteerism. However, it has also been found to decrease with age.
Purpose in life is both highly individual, and what specifically
provides purpose will change over the course of one's lifetime.
All three of the above theories have self-esteem at their core.
Self-esteem is often viewed as the most significant measure of
psychological well-being, and highly correlated with many
life-regulating skills. Purpose in life promotes and is a source of
self-esteem; it is not a by-product of self-esteem.
Self-efficacy
Self-efficacy
refers to a belief that one's ability to accomplish a task is a
function of personal effort. Low self-efficacy, or a disconnect between
ability and personal effort, is associated with
depression;
by comparison, high self-efficacy is associated with positive change,
including overcoming abuse, overcoming eating disorders, and maintaining
a healthy lifestyle. High self-efficacy also has positive benefits for
one's
immune system, aids in stress management, and decreases pain. A related concept,
Personal effectiveness, is primarily concerned with planning and the implementation of methods of accomplishment.
Sports
According
to Bloodworth and McNamee sports and physical activities are a key
contributor to the development of people's well-being. The influence of
sports on well-being is conceptualized within a framework which includes
impermanence, its
hedonistic shallowness and its
epistemological inadequacy.
Researching the effect of sport on well-being is difficult as some
societies are unable to access sports, a deficiency in studying this
phenomenon.
Suffering
Research has
shown it is possible to help suffering people by building their
strengths. In addition, prevention researchers have discovered strengths
act as buffers against mental illness. The strengths that represent
major strides in prevention include: courage, future mindedness,
optimism, faith, work ethic, hope, honesty, perseverance, and the
capacity for flow and insight.
Suffering can indicate behavior worthy of change, as well as ideas that require a person's careful attention and consideration.
Generally, psychology acknowledges suffering can not be completely
eliminated, but it is possible to successfully manage and reduce
suffering. The
University of Pennsylvania's
Positive Psychology Center explains: "Psychology’s concern with
remedying human problems is understandable and should certainly not be
abandoned. Human suffering demands scientifically informed solutions.
Suffering and well being, however, are both part of the human condition,
and psychologists should be concerned with both."
Positive psychology, inspired by empirical evidence, focuses on
productive approaches to pain and suffering, as well the importance of
cultivating strengths and virtues to keep suffering to a minimum.
According
to Peterson, the Buddhist saying that "life is suffering" can be
understood as a reality that humans must accept, as well as a call to
cultivate virtues.
In reference to the Buddhist saying "Life is suffering", researcher and clinical psychologist
Jordan Peterson
suggested this view as realistic, not pessimistic, where acceptance of
the reality life is harsh, provides a freedom from the expectation one
should always be happy. This realization can assist in the management of
inevitable suffering. To Peterson, virtues are important because they
provide people with essential tools to escape suffering (e.g., the
strength to admit
dissonant
truths to themselves). Peterson maintained suffering is made worse by
false philosophy (i.e., denial that natural suffering is inevitable).
Similarly,
Seligman
believes positive psychology is "not a luxury", saying "most of
Positive Psychology is for all of us, troubled or untroubled, privileged
or in privation, suffering or carefree. The pleasures of a good
conversation, the strength of gratitude, the benefits of kindness or
wisdom or spirituality or humility, the search for meaning and the
antidote to "fidgeting until we die" are the birthrights of us all."
Positive coping is defined as "a response aimed at diminishing
the physical, emotional, and psychological burden that is linked to
stressful life events and daily hassles"
It is found that proper coping strategies will reduce the burden of
short-term stress and will help relieve long-term stress. Stress can be
reduced by building resources that inhibit or buffer future challenges.
For some people, these effective resources could be physiological,
psychological or social.
Terror management
Terror management theory maintains that people suffer
cognitive dissonance
(anxiety) when they are reminded of their inevitable death. Through
terror management, individuals are motivated to seek consonant elements –
symbols which make sense of mortality and death in satisfactory ways
(i.e. boosting self-esteem).
Research has found that strong belief in religious
or
secular meaning systems affords psychological security and hope. It is
moderates (e.g. agnostics, slightly religious individuals) who likely
suffer the most anxiety from their meaning systems. Religious meaning
systems are especially adapted to manage anxiety about death or dying
because they are unlikely to be disconfirmed (for various reasons), they
are all encompassing, and they promise literal immortality.
Whether emotional effects are beneficial or adverse seems to vary
with the nature of the belief. Belief in a benevolent God is associated
with lower incidence of general anxiety, social anxiety, paranoia,
obsession, and compulsion whereas belief in a punitive God is associated
with greater symptoms. (An alternative explanation is that people seek
out beliefs that fit their psychological and emotional states.)
Citizens of the world's poorest countries are the most likely to
be religious, and researchers suggest this is because of religion's
powerful coping abilities.
Luke Galen also supports terror management theory as a partial
explanation of the above findings. Galen describes evidence (including
his own research) that the benefits of religion are due to strong
convictions and membership in a social group.
Relational factors
Love and caring
The
capacity for loving attachments and relationships, especially with
parents, is the strongest predictor of well-being later in life.
Marriage
Seligman writes: "Unlike money, which has at most a small effect, marriage is robustly related to happiness... In my opinion, the
jury is still out on what causes the proven fact married people are happier than unmarried people." Married persons report higher levels of happiness and well-being than single people.
Other data has shown a spouse's happiness depends on the happiness of
their partner. When asked, spouses reported similar happiness levels to
each other. The data also shows the spouses' happiness level fluctuates
similarly to one another. If the husband is having a bad week, the wife
will similarly report she had a bad week.
There is little data on alternatives like
polyamory, although one study stated wife order in polygyny did not have a substantial effect on life or marital satisfaction over all. This study also found younger wives were happier than older wives.
On the other hand, at least one large study in Germany found no difference in happiness between married and unmarried people.
Studies have shown that married couples are consistently happier and more satisfied with their life than those who are single.
Some research findings have indicated that marriage is the only real
significant bottom-up predictor of life satisfaction for men and women,
and that those people who have a higher life satisfaction prior to
marriage, tend to have a happier marriage.
Self-reported satisfaction typically drops as the years of
marriage roll on, particularly for couples who have children compared to
those who do not.
The reasons for this decline include a drop in affectionate behaviour.
One team of researcher from Northwestern University who summarised the
literature in 2013, identifies that this trend does not reverse
throughout the marital period.
Surprisingly, there has been a steady decline in the positive
relationship between marriage and well-being in the United States since
the 1970s. This decline is due to women reporting being less happy than
previously and single men reporting being happier than previously.
Research does exist, however, suggesting that compared to single
people, married people have better physical and psychological health and
tend to live longer.
With this, a two-factor theory of love was developed by Barnes
and Sternberg. This theory is composed of two components: passionate
love and companionate love. Passionate love is considered to be an
intense longing for a loved one. This love is often experienced through
joy and sexual fulfillment, or even through rejection. On the other
hand, companionate love is associated with affection, friendship and
commitment. Stutzer and Frey (2006) found that the absence of loneliness
and the emotional support that promotes self-esteem are both important
aspects that contribute to individual well-being within marriage. Both passionate and companionate love are the foundations for every variety of love that one may experience.
When passionate and companionate love are compromised in a marital
relationship, satisfaction is decreased and the likelihood of divorce
increases. In other words, the lack of positive support and validation increases the risk for divorce.
Because of the expansive research done on the significance of
social support within a marriage, it is important to understand that
this research was inspired by a theory called the attachment theory
perspective. Attachment theory stresses the importance of support and
care giving in a relationship for the development of trust and security.
Attachment theory, as conceptualized by Collins and Feeney (2000) is an
interpersonal, transactional process that involves one partners
caregiving responses.
Parenthood
While
the mantle of parenting is sometimes held as the necessary path of
adulthood, study findings are actually mixed as to whether parents
report higher levels of happiness relative to non-parents. Folk wisdom
suggests a child brings partners closer; research has found couples
actually become less satisfied after the birth of the first child. The joys of having a child are overshadowed by the responsibilities of parenthood.
Based on quantitative self-reports, researchers found parents prefer
doing almost anything else to looking after their children. By contrast,
parents' self-report levels of happiness are higher than those of
non-parents. This may be due to already happy people having more
children than unhappy people. In addition, it might also be that, in the
long-term, having children gives more meaning to life.
One study found having up to three children increased happiness among
married couples, but not among other groups with children. Proponents of
Childfreedom maintain this is because one can enjoy a happy, productive life without the trouble of ever being a parent.
By contrast, many studies found having children makes parents
less happy. Compared with non-parents, parents with children have lower
levels of well-being and life satisfaction. In addition, parents report more feelings of depression and anxiety
than non-parents. However, when adults without children are compared to
empty nest parents, parenthood is positively associated with emotional
well-being.
People found parenthood to be more stressful in the 1970s than they did
in the 1950s. This is thought to be because of social changes in
regards to employment and marital status.
Males apparently become less happy after the birth of a child due
to added economic pressure and taking on the role of being a parent. A conflict between partners can arise when the couple does not desire traditional roles, or has an increasing number of roles.
Unequal responsibilities of child-rearing between men and women account
for this difference in satisfaction. Fathers who worked and shared an
equal part in child-raising responsibilities were found to be the least
satisfied. Research shows that single parents have higher levels of distress and report more mental health problems than married persons.
Researchers implemented the Huta & Ryan Scale: Four
Eudaimonic Measurement Questionnaire to analyze the participants
eudaimonic motives, through motivation towards activities. The
investigation was conducted on Canadian university undergraduates. The
four eudaimonic pursuits as described by Huta & Ryan are:
- "Seeking to pursue excellence or a personal ideal";
- "Seeking to use the best in yourself";
- "Seeking to develop a skill, learn, or gain insight into something";
- "Seeking to do what you believe in".
The study determined that participants derived well-being from
eudaimonic pursuits only if their parents had role modeled eudaimonia,
but not if their parents had merely verbally endorsed eudaimonia.
Studies were also conducted on responsiveness and demandingness.
The studies participants were American university undergraduates. The
terms are described as follows; responsiveness satisfies the basic
psychological need for autonomy. This is relevant to eudaimonia because
it supports and implements the values of initiative, effort, and
persistence, and integration of one's behaviour's values, and true-self.
Autonomy is an important psychological factor because it provides the
individual with independence. Demandingness cultivates many of the
qualities needed for eudaimonia, including structure, self-discipline,
responsibility, and vision. Responsiveness and demandingness are
reported to be good aspects of parenting. The studies report both of
these qualities as important factors to well-being.
The study addressed parenting style by assessing and using
adaptions of Baumrind's Parent Behaviour Rating Interview. Adaptions of
this interview were made into a seventy-five question based survey;
participants answered questions organized into fifteen subscales. The
study determined that eudaimonically oriented participants reported
their parents had been both demanding and responsive towards them. A
multiple regression
showed that demandingness and responsiveness together explained as much
as twenty-eight percent of the variance in eudaimonia, this suggests
parenting played a major role in the development of this pursuit. This
supported the expectation that eudaimonia is cultivated when parents
encourage internal structure, self-discipline, responsibility, and
vision, and simultaneously fulfill a child's needs for autonomy. The
research concludes that parents who want their children to experience
eudaimonia must firstly themselves "mentor" their children in the
approaches to attain eudaimonia. To encourage eudaimonia verbally is not
sufficient enough to suffice eudaimonia into adulthood. Parents must
clearly role model eudaimonia for it to truly be present in the child's
life.
Social ties
In the article "Finding Happiness after Harvard",
George Vaillant
concluded a study on what aspects of life are important for "successful
living". In the 1940s, Arlie Bock, while in charge of the Harvard
Health Services, started a study, selecting 268 Harvard students from
graduating classes of 1942, '43, and '44. He sought to identify the
aspects of life contributing to "successful living". In 1967, the
psychiatrist George Vaillant continued the study, undertaking follow-up
interviews to gauge the lives of many of the students. In 2000, Vaillant
again interviewed these students as to their progress in life. Vaillant
observed: health, close relationships, and how participants dealt with
their troubles. Vaillant found a key aspect to successful living is
healthy and strong relationships.
A widely publicized study from 2008 in the
British Medical Journal reported happiness in
social networks may spread from person to person. Researchers followed nearly 5000 individuals for 20 years in the long-standing
Framingham Heart Study
and found clusters of happiness and unhappiness that spread up to 3
degrees of separation on average. Happiness tended to spread through
close relationships like friends, siblings, spouses, and next-door
neighbors; researchers reported happiness spread more consistently than
unhappiness through the network. Moreover, the structure of the social
network appeared to affect happiness, as people who were very central
(with many friends, and friends of friends) were significantly happier
than those on the network periphery. People closer with others are more
likely to be happy themselves. Overall, the results suggest happiness can spread through a population like a virus.
Having a best friend buffers one's negative life experiences. When
one's best friend is present Cortisol levels are decreased and feelings
of self-worth increase.
Neuroeconomist Paul Zak studies morality, oxytocin, and trust,
among other variables. Based on research findings, Zak recommends:
people hug others more often to get into the habit of feeling trust. He
explains "eight hugs a day, you'll be happier, and the world will be a
better place".
Recently, Anderson et al. found that
sociometric status (the amount of respect one has from face-to-face peer group) is significantly and causally related to happiness as measured by
subjective well-being.
Institutional factors
Education
Education and intelligence
Research suggests neither a good education nor a high IQ reliably increases happiness.
Anders Ericsson
argued an IQ above 120 has a decreasing influence on success.
Presumably, IQs above 120 do not additionally cause other happiness
indicators like success (with the exception of careers like
Theoretical physics,
where high IQs are more predictive of success). Above that IQ level,
other factors, like social skills and a good mentor, matter more.
As these relate to happiness, intelligence and education may simply
allow one to reach a middle-class level of need satisfaction (as
mentioned above, being richer than this seems to hardly affect
happiness).
According to the findings of the study, Using Theatrical Concepts for
Role-plays with Educational Agents by Klesen, she expresses how role-
playing embeds information and educational goals and causes people to
learn unintentionally. Studies has shown that enjoyment in things as
simple as role playing increases a person's IQ and their happiness.
Martin Seligman
has said: "As a professor, I don't like this, but the cerebral
virtues—curiosity, love of learning—are less strongly tied to happiness
than interpersonal virtues like kindness, gratitude and capacity for
love."
Educational goals
John
White (2013) investigated the educational goals at public schools in
Britain. School-education involves both cognitive and conceptual
learning,
but also the development social skills and personal development.
Ideally, children develop self-confidence, and create purpose for
themselves. According to White, in the past schools only focused on
knowledge and
education but now
Britain
has moved to a broader direction. White's Every Child Matters
initiative seeks to enhance children's well-being across the range of
children's services.
Physical education
As
a basic building block to a better existence, positive psychology aims
to improve the quality of experiences. Within its framework, students
could learn to become excited about physical activity. Playing comes
natural to children; positive psychology seeks to preserve this zest (a
sense of excitement and motivation for life)
for movement in growing and developing children. If offered in an
interesting, challenging and pleasurable way physical activity would
thus internalize an authentic feeling of happiness in students. Positive
psychology's approach to physical activity could give students the
means of acquiring an engaged, pleasant and meaningful life.
School education
Positive
psychology is beneficial to schools and students because it encourages
individuals to strive to do their best, whereas scolding has the
opposite effect. Clifton and Rath
discussed research conducted by Dr. Elizabeth Hurlock in 1925, where
fourth, fifth and sixth graders were either praised, criticized or
ignored, based on their work on math problems. Praised students improved
by 71%, those criticized improved by 19%, and students provided with no
feedback improved a mere 5%. Praise seems an effective method of
fostering improvement.
According to Clifton and Rath
ninety nine out of one hundred people prefer the influence of positive
people. The benefits include: increased productivity, and contagious
positive emotions, which assists one in working to the best of her, or
his, abilities. Even a single negative person can ruin the entire
positive vibe in an environment. Clifton and Rath cited ‘positive emotions as an essential daily requirement for survival’.
In 2008, in conjunction with the Positive Psychology Center at
the University of Pennsylvania, a whole-of-school implementation of
Positive Psychology was undertaken by Geelong Grammar School (Victoria,
Australia). This involved training of teaching staff in the principles
and skills of positive psychology. Ongoing support was provided by The
Positive Psychology Center staff, who remained in-residence for the
entire year.
Staats, Hupp and Hagley (2008) used positive psychology to
explore academic honesty. They identified positive traits displayed by
heroes, then determined if the presence of these traits in students
predicted future intent to cheat. The results of their research: ‘an
effective working model of heroism in the context of the academic
environment’ (Staats, Hupp & Hagley, 2008).
School grades of children
According to a study reported in the
NY Post
newspaper, 48% of parents reward their children's good grades with cash
or something else of meaning. Among many families in the United States,
this is controversial. Although psychology experts support the offer of
reward for good behavior as a better alternative than the use of
punishment for bad behavior, in some circumstances, families cannot
afford to give their children an average of 16 dollars for every good
grade earned. Alternatives for money include allowing a child extra time
on a computer or staying up later than usual. Some psychology experts
believe the best reward is praise and encouragement because material
rewards can cause long-term negative effects for children.
A study, regarding rewards for children, conducted in 1971 by
psychologist, Edward L. Deci, at the University of Rochester, is still
referenced today. Featured in the
New York Times, it focused on
the short- and long-term effects of rewards for positive behavior. Deci
suggested rewards for positive behavior is an effective incentive for
only a short period. At the outset, rewards can support motivation to
work hard and strive towards personal goals. However, once rewards
cease, children showed less interest in the task relative to
participants who never received rewards. Deci pointed out, at a young
age, children's natural instinct is to resist people who try to control
their behavior, which he cited as support for his conclusion rewards for
good behavior have limited effectiveness.
In contrast, the
New York Times featured research findings
that supported the merits of offering rewards to children for good
behavior. Expert economists argued children experiencing trouble with
their behavior or schoolwork should have numerous helpful options,
including rewards. Although children might well experience an initial
attraction to financial or material, a love for learning could develop
subsequently. Despite the controversy regarding the use of rewards, some
experts believe the best way to motivate a child is to offer rewards at
the beginning of the school year, but if unsuccessful they recommend
teachers and parents stop using the reward system. Because of individual
differences among children, no one method will work for everyone. Some
children respond well to the use of rewards for positive behavior, while
others evidence negative effects. The results seem to depend on the
person.
Youth development
Positive Youth Development
focuses on the promotion of healthy development rather than viewing
youth as prone to problems needing to be addressed. This is accomplished
through programs and efforts by communities, schools, and government
agencies.
Work
It has been argued that
happiness at work is one of the driving forces behind positive outcomes at work, rather than just being a resultant product.
Despite a large body of positive
psychological research into the relationship between happiness and productivity,
happiness at work has traditionally been seen as a potential by-product
of positive outcomes at work, rather than a pathway to success in
business. However a growing number of scholars, including Boehm and
Lyubomirsky, argue that it should be viewed as one of the major sources
of positive outcomes in the workplace.
Human Resource Management
A
practical application of positive psychology is to assist individuals
and organizations in identifying strengths so as to increase and sustain
well-being. Therapists, counselors, coaches, various psychological
professionals, HR departments, business strategists, and others, are
using new methods and techniques to broaden and build upon the strengths
of a wide population of individuals. This includes those not suffering
from mental illness or disorder.
Workplace
Positive psychology has been implemented in business management practice, but has faced challenges. Wong & Davey (2007)
noted managers can introduce positive psychology to a workplace, but
they might struggle with positive ways to apply it to employees.
Furthermore, for employees to welcome and commit to positive psychology,
its application within an organization must be transparent.
Managers must also understand the implementation of positive psychology
will not necessarily combat any commitment challenges that exist.
However, with its implementation employees might become more optimistic
and open to new concepts or management practices.
In their article "The Benefits of Frequent Positive Affect: Does Happiness Lead to Success?",
S. Lyubomirsky et al. report: "Study after study shows that happiness
precedes important outcomes and indicators of thriving, including
fulfilling and productive work".
Positive psychology, when applied correctly, can provide
employees with a greater opportunity to use skills and vary work duties.
However, changing work conditions and roles can lead to stress among
employees if they are improperly supported by management. This is
particularly true for employees who must meet the expectations of
organizations with unrealistic goals and targets.
Thomas and Tasker (2010) showed less worker autonomy, fewer
opportunities for development, less-enriched work roles, and lower
levels of supervisor support reflected the effect of industry growth on
job satisfaction.
Can an organization implement positive change? Lewis et al. (2007) developed
appreciative inquiry (AI), which is an integrated, organizational-level methodology for approaching
organizational development.
Appreciative inquiry is based on the generation of organizational
resourcefulness, which is accomplished by accessing a variety of human
psychological processes, such as: positive emotional states,
imagination, social cohesion, and the social construction of reality.
A relatively new practice in the workplace is recruiting and
developing people based on their strengths (what they love to do, are
naturally good at and energises them). Standard Chartered Bank pioneered
this approach in the early 2000s. More and more organisations are
realising the benefit of recruiting people who are in their element in
the job as opposed to simply having the right competencies for the job.
Aviva, Morrisons (a large UK supermarket) and Starbucks have all adopted
this approach.
Psychologist
Howard Gardner
has extensively researched the merit of undertaking good work at one's
job. He suggested young generations (particularly in the United States)
are taught to focus on the selfish pursuit of money for its own sake,
although having money does not engender happiness, and psychological
studies show that there is a strong correlation between the wealthy and
experience of intensively negative emotions.
Gardner's proposed alternatives loosely follow the
pleasant/good/meaningful life classifications outlined above; he
believes young people should be trained to pursue excellence in their
field, as well as engagement (see flow, above) in accordance with their
moral belief systems.
Societal factors
Child well-being is better in more equal rich countries.
Criminology
Offender rehabilitation
Traditional
work with offenders has focused on their deficits (e.g., with respect
to socialization, and schooling) and other "criminogenic" risk-factors.
Rehabilitation more often than not has taken the form of forced
treatment or training, ostensibly for the good of the offender, and the
community. Arguably, this approach has shortcomings, suggesting a need
to make available additional positive options to treatment staff so they
can best assist offenders, and so that offenders can better find their
way forward. Positive psychology has made recent inroads with the advent
of the "Good Lives Model", developed by Tony Ward, Shadd Maruna, and
others. With respect to rehabilitation: "Individuals take part ...
because they think that such activities might either improve the quality
of their life (an intrinsic goal) or at least look good to judges,
parole boards and family members (an extrinsic goal)."
Positive criminology and positive victimology
Positive criminology
and positive victimology are conceptual approaches, developed by the
Israeli criminologist Natti Ronel and his research team, that follow
principles of positive psychology and apply them into the fields of
criminology and victimology, respectively. Positive criminology and
victimology both place an emphasis on social inclusion and on unifying
and integrating forces at individual, group, social and spiritual levels
that are associated with the limiting of crime and recovery from
victimization. In traditional approaches the study of crime, violence
and related behaviors emphasizes the negative aspects in people's lives
that are associated with deviance, criminality and victimization. A
common understanding is that human relationships are affected more by
destructive encounters than by constructive or positive ones. Positive
criminology and victimology argue that a different approach is viable,
based on three dimensions – social integration, emotional healing and
spirituality – that constitute positive direction indicators.
Economics
In
economics, the term well-being is used for one or more
quantitative measures intended to assess the
quality of life of a group, for example, in the
capabilities approach and the
economics of happiness. As with the related
cognate terms '
wealth' and 'welfare', economics sources often contrast the state with its opposite. The study of well-being is divided into
subjective well-being and objective well-being.
Political views
Psychologists
in the happiness community feel politics should promote population
happiness. Politics should also consider level of human happiness among
future generations, concern itself with life expectancy, and focus on
the reduction of suffering.
Based on political affiliation, some studies argue conservatives, on
average, are happier than liberals. A potential explanation is greater
acceptance of income inequalities in society leads to a less worried
nature.
Luke Galen, Associate Professor of Psychology at Grand Valley State
University, mentioned political commitments as important because they
are a sort of secular world view that, like religion, can be generally
beneficial to coping with
death anxiety.
Environmental factors
Living
in an environment with more green spaces is associated with higher
well-being, partly due to the beneficial effects on psychological
relaxation, stress alleviation, increased physical activity, and reduced
exposure to air pollutants and noise, among others.
According to the latest systematic review of the economic literature on
life satisfaction, pollution is bad for one's well-being. Exposure to outdoor air pollution and chimney smoke fireplaces causes dementia and other-health risks.
Cultural factors
Culture
People
base their own well-being in relation to their environment and the lives
of others around them. Well-being is also subject to how one feels
other people in their environment perceive them, whether that positively
or negatively. Whether or not other cultures are subject to internal
culture appraisal is based on that culture's type. According to Diener
and Suh,
Collectivistic
cultures are more likely to use norms and the social appraisals of
others in evaluating their subjective well-being, whereas those
[individualistic] societies are more likely to heavily weight the
internal [frame of reference] arising from one’s own happiness.
Different views on well-being
Various cultures have various perspectives on the nature of positive human functioning. For example, studies on
aversion to happiness,
or fear of happiness, indicates that some individuals and cultures are
averse to the experience of happiness, because they believe happiness
may cause bad things to happen.
Empirical evidence indicates that there are fundamental differences in
the ways well-being is construed in Western and non-Western cultures,
including the Islamic and East Asian cultures. Exploring various cultural perspectives on well-being, Joshanloo (2014)
identifies and discusses six broad differences between Western and
non-Western conceptions of well-being. For example, whereas Western
cultures tend to emphasize the absence of negative emotions and autonomy
in defining well-being, Eastern cultures tend to emphasize virtuous or
religious activity, self-transcendence, and harmony.
Eunkook M. Suh (University of California) and Shigehiro Oishi
(University of Minnesota; now at University of Virginia) examined the
differences of happiness on an international level and different
cultures' views on what creates well-being and happiness. In a study, of
over 6,000 students from 43 nations, to identify mean life
satisfaction, on a scale of 1–7, the Chinese ranked lowest at 3.3; and
Dutch scored the highest at 5.4. When asked how much subjective
well-being was ideal, Chinese ranked lowest at 4.5, and Brazilians
highest at 6.2, on a scale of 1–7. The study had three main findings:
(1) People living in individualistic, rather than collectivist,
societies are happier; (2) Psychological attributes referencing the
individual are more relevant to Westerners; (3) Self-evaluating
happiness levels depend on different cues, and experiences, from one's
culture.
The results of a study by Chang E. C. showed that Asian Americans
and Caucasian Americans have similar levels of optimism but Asian
Americans are far more pessimistic than Caucasian Americans. However,
there were no major differences in depression across cultures. On the
other hand, pessimism was positively linked to
problem solving behaviors for Asian Americans, but was negatively linked for Caucasian Americans.
Religion and spirituality
Religiousness and spirituality are closely related but distinct topics.
Religion is any organized, and often
institutionalized,
system of cultural practices and beliefs pertaining to the meaning of
human existence. It occurs within a traditional context such as a formal
religious institution.
Spirituality,
on the other hand, is a general term applied to the process of finding
meaning and a better understanding of one's place in the universe. It is
the individual or collective search for that which is sacred or
meaningful in life. One may therefore be religious but not spiritual, and vice versa.
Religion
There have been some studies of how
religion relates to happiness.
Causal relationships remain unclear, but more religion is seen in
happier people. Consistent with PERMA, religion may provide a sense of
meaning and connection to something bigger, beyond the self. Religion
may also provide community membership and hence relationships. Another
component may have to do with ritual.
Religion and happiness have been studied by a number of researchers, and
religion features many elements addressing the components of happiness, as identified by
positive psychology. Its association with happiness is facilitated in part by the social connections of organized religion, and by the
neuropsychological benefits of prayer and
belief.
There are a number of mechanisms through which religion may make a
person happier, including social contact and support that result from
religious pursuits, the mental activity that comes with optimism and
volunteering, learned coping strategies that enhance one's ability to
deal with stress, and psychological factors such as "reason for being."
It may also be that religious people engage in behaviors related to good
health, such as less
substance abuse, since the use of psychotropic substances is sometimes considered abuse.
The
Handbook of Religion and Health
describes a survey by Feigelman (1992) that examined happiness in
Americans who have given up religion, in which it was found that there
was little relationship between religious disaffiliation and
unhappiness.
A survey by Kosmin & Lachman (1993), also cited in this handbook,
indicates that people with no religious affiliation appear to be at
greater risk for depressive symptoms than those affiliated with a
religion.
A review of studies by 147 independent investigators found, "the
correlation between religiousness and depressive symptoms was -.096,
indicating that greater religiousness is mildly associated with fewer
symptoms."
The
Legatum Prosperity Index
reflects the repeated finding of research on the science of happiness
that there is a positive link between religious engagement and
well-being: people who report that God is very important in their lives
are on average more satisfied with their lives, after accounting for
their income, age and other individual characteristics.
Surveys by
Gallup, the
National Opinion Research Centre and the
Pew Organisation
conclude that spiritually committed people are twice as likely to
report being "very happy" than the least religiously committed people.
An analysis of over 200 social studies contends that "high
religiousness predicts a lower risk of depression and drug abuse and
fewer suicide attempts, and more reports of satisfaction with sex life
and a sense of well-being.
However, the links between religion and happiness are always very broad
in nature, highly reliant on scripture and small sample number. To that
extent there is a much larger connection between religion and suffering
(Lincoln 1034)."
And a review of 498 studies published in peer-reviewed journals
concluded that a large majority of them showed a positive correlation
between religious commitment and higher levels of perceived well-being
and self-esteem and lower levels of
hypertension, depression, and clinical delinquency.
A meta-analysis of 34 recent studies published between 1990 and 2001
found that religiosity has a salutary relationship with psychological
adjustment, being related to less psychological distress, more life
satisfaction, and better
self-actualization.
Finally, a recent systematic review of 850 research papers on the topic
concluded that "the majority of well-conducted studies found that
higher levels of religious involvement are positively associated with
indicators of psychological well-being (life satisfaction, happiness,
positive affect, and higher morale) and with less depression, suicidal
thoughts and behaviour, drug/alcohol use/abuse."
However, there remains strong disagreement among scholars about
whether the effects of religious observance, particularly attending
church or otherwise belonging to religious groups, is due to the
spiritual or the social aspects—i.e. those who attend church or belong
to similar religious organizations may well be receiving only the
effects of the social connections involved. While these benefits are
real enough, they may thus be the same one would gain by joining other,
secular groups, clubs, or similar organizations.
Religiousness has often been found to correlate with positive
health attributes. People who are more religious show better emotional
well-being and lower rates of delinquency, alcoholism, drug abuse, and
other social problems.
Six separate factors are cited as evidence for religion's effect
on well-being: religion (1) provides social support, (2) supports
healthy lifestyles, (3) promotes personality integration, (4) promotes
generativity and altruism, (5) provides unique coping strategies, and
(6) provides a sense of meaning and purpose.
Many religious individuals experience emotions that create positive
connections among people and allow them to express their values and
potential. These four emotions are known as "sacred emotions," which are
said to be (1) gratitude and appreciation, (2) forgiveness, (3)
compassion and empathy, and (4) humility.
Social interaction is necessarily a part of the religious
experience. Religiosity has been identified to correlate positively with
prosocial behavior in trauma patients, and prosocial behavior is
furthermore associated with well-being.
It also has stronger associations with well-being in individuals
genetically predisposed towards social sensitivity in environments where
religion prioritizes social affiliation. It has also been linked to greater resilience against stress as well as higher measures of self-actualization and success in romantic relationships and parental responsibilities.
These benefits, while being correlational, may come about as a
result of becoming more religiously involved. The benefit of having a
secure social group likely plays a key part in religion's positive
effects. One form of Christian counseling uses religion through talk
therapy and assessments to promote mental health.
In another instance, people who were not Buddhist, but were exposed to
Buddhist concepts, scored higher on measures of outgroup acceptance and
prosociality.
This effect was found not only in Western countries, but also in places
where Buddhism is prevalent, indicating a general association of
Buddhism with acceptance. This finding seems to indicate that merely
encountering a religious belief system such as Buddhism may allow some
of its effects to be transferred to nonbelievers.
However, many disagree that the benefits the religious experience
are due to their beliefs, and some find there to be no conclusive
psychological benefits of belief at all. For example, the health benefit
that the elderly gain from going to church may in fact be the
reason
they are able to go to church; the less healthy cannot leave their
homes. Meta analysis has found that find studies purporting the
beneficial results of religiosity often fail to fully represent data
correctly due to a number of issues such as self-report bias, the use of
inappropriate comparison groups, and the presence of criterion
contamination. Other
studies
have disputed the efficacy of intercessory prayer positively affecting
the health of those being prayed for. They have shown that, when
scientifically rigorous studies are performed (by randomizing the
patients and preventing them from knowing that they are being prayed
for), there is no discernible effect.
Religion has power as a cohesive social force, and whether or not
it is always beneficial is debated. Irrespective of a group's beliefs,
many find that simply belonging to a tight social group reduces anxiety
and mental health problems. In addition, there may be a degree of
self-selectivity amongst the religious; the behavioral benefits they
display may simply be common aspects of those who choose to or are able
to practice religion. As a result, whether or not religion can be
prescribed scientifically as a means of self-betterment is unclear.
Spirituality
While religion is often formalised and community-oriented,
spirituality
tends to be individually based and not as formalised. In a 2014 study,
320 children, ages 8–12, in both public and private schools, were given a
Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire assessing the correlation between
spirituality and happiness. Spirituality – and not religious practices
(praying, attending church services) – correlated positively with the
child's happiness; the more spiritual the child was, the happier the
child was. Spirituality accounted for about 3–26% of the variance in
happiness.
Meditation has been found to lead to high activity in the brain's
left prefrontal cortex, which in turn has been found to correlate with
happiness.
A study using the Oxford happiness questionnaire on Brahma Kumaris
Raja yoga meditators showed them having higher happiness than the control group.
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche has said that neuro scientists have found that with meditation, an individual's happiness baseline can change.
Many people describe themselves as both religious and spiritual, but
spirituality
represents just one particular function of religion. Spirituality as
related to positive psychology can be defined as "a search for the
sacred".
What is defined as sacred can be related to God, life itself, or almost
any other facet of existence. It simply must be viewed as having
spiritual implications which are transcendent of the individual. Spiritual well-being addresses this human need for
transcendence and involves social as well as existential well-being. Spiritual
well-being
is associated with various positive outcomes such as better physical
and psychological well-being, lower anxiety, less depression,
self-actualization, positive relationships with parents, higher rates of positive personality traits and acceptance. Researchers have cautioned to differentiate between correlative and causal associations between spirituality and psychology.
Reaching the sacred as a personal goal, also called spiritual
striving, has been found to correlate highest with well-being compared
to other forms of striving. This type of striving can improve a sense of self and relationships and creates a connection to the transcendent
Additionally, multiple studies have shown that self-reported
spirituality is related to lower rates of mortality and depression and
higher rates of happiness.
Currently, most research on spirituality examines ways in which
spirituality can help in times of crisis. Spirituality has been found to
remain constant when experiencing traumatic events and/or life
stressors such as accidents, war, sickness, and death of a loved one.
When confronted with an obstacle, people might turn to prayer or
meditation.
Coping
mechanisms involving spirituality include meditative meditation,
creating boundaries to preserve the sacred, spiritual purification to
return to the righteous path, and spiritual reframing which focuses on
maintaining belief. One clinical application of spirituality and
positive psychology research is the "psychospiritual intervention,"
which represents the potential that spirituality has to increase
well-being.
These coping mechanisms that aim to preserve the sacred have been found
by researchers to increase well-being and return the individual back to
the sacred.
Overall, spirituality is a process that occurs over a lifetime
and includes searching, conserving, and redefining what is sacred in an
extremely individualized manner. It does not always have a positive
effect and in fact has been associated with very negative events and
life changes. Research is lacking in spirituality but it is necessary
because spirituality can assist in enhancing the experiences of the
uncontrollable parts of life.
Other factors
Modernity
Much
research has pointed at the rising rates of depression, leading people
to speculate that modernization may be a factor in the growing
percentage of depressed people. One study found that women in urban
America were much more likely to experience depression than those in
rural Nigeria.
Other studies have found a positive correlation between a country's GDP
per capita, as quantitative measure of modernization, and lifetime risk
of a mood disorder trended toward significance (p=0.06).
Many people believe it is the increased number of pressures and
expectations, increased isolation, increased individualism, and
increased inactivity that contribute to higher rates of depression in
modern societies.
Weather
Some evidence suggests sunnier climates do not predict happiness.
In one study both Californians and Midwesterners expected the former's
happiness ratings to be higher due to a sunnier environment. In fact,
the Californian and Midwestern happiness ratings did not show a
significant difference.
Other research has found that temperature, wind power, sunlight,
precipitation and air temperature has a small impact on mood, but some
people appear to be affected in a large way (but it's not 5 factor
personality).
A study of Dutch teenagers identified that the effect of weather on
mood depends on whether they were Summer lovers, summer haters, rain
haters and unaffected by weather. Other researchers say the necessary minimum
daily dose of sunlight is as little as 30 minutes.
That is not to say weather is never a factor for happiness. Perhaps the changing norms of sunlight cause
seasonal affective disorder, which undermines level of happiness.
Additional future research
Positive
psychology research and practice is currently conducted and developed
in various countries throughout the world. To illustrate, in Canada,
Charles Hackney of Briercrest College applies positive psychology to the
topic of personal growth through martial arts training;
Paul Wong, president of the International Network on Personal Meaning, is developing an existential approach to positive psychology, which is framed in the
second wave positive psychology (PP 2.0).
The research program ‘Understanding Positive Emotions’ at Human Science Lab,
London, investigates how material
well-being and
perceptual well-being work as relative determinants in conditioning our
mind for positive emotions.
Cognitive and behavioral change, although sometimes slight and complex, can produce an 'intense affect'.
Isen (2009) remarked that further progress requires suitable
research methods, and appropriate theories on which to base contemporary
research.
Chang (2008) suggested that researchers have a number of paths to
pursue regarding the enhancement of emotional intelligence, even though
emotional intelligence does not guarantee the development of positive
affect; in short, more study is required to track the gradient of
positive affect in psychology.
