Happiness (12.1 Lecture)

Question 1

hedonic perspective

Answer 1

happiness as an emotion
- happiness is a state of subjective well-being that involves frequent positive emotion and infrequent negative emotion

Question 2

cultural difference in experience under hedonic perspective

Answer 2

cultural differences in idea affect (preferences for high arousal positive states are higher in Western culture than East Asian culture)

Question 3

emotional activation

Answer 3

happy is at high pleasure and neutral activation, culture impacts whether you prefer high or low arousal states

Question 4

Tsai cross-cultural study of preferred happiness state

Answer 4

asked college students about their preference for high/ low arousal states. Hong Kong students preferred low arousal more than European American students. Chinese-American students preferred same level of high arousal state as European Americans but lower than all three for low arousal positive state.

Question 5

how are cultures similar in their happy emotions?

Answer 5

can all recognize was happiness looks like, one of the highest shared part across cultures (can recognize a smile)

Question 6

nucleus accumbens

Answer 6

reward in the brain
- turned to what matters to us personally
- active even in anticipation of good things
- especially active when good things exceed our expectations

Question 7

The Eudaemonic Perspective

Answer 7

(Aristotle rejected that happiness is to pursue pleasure)
happiness is meaning
- happiness is an overall sense of one’s life as satisfying and meaningful
*think Erikson’s 8 psychological states (asking about meaning) & Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (self-actualization is eudaemonia)

Question 8

components of eudaemonia

Answer 8

1. self-acceptance
   - liking who you are
2. personal growth
   - growing new experiences
3. purpose in life
   - having goals
4. autonomy
   - self-determination
5. environmental mastery
   - competently managing life (ex. paying bills)
6. positive relationship with others
   - close relationships with other people

Question 9

Eudaemonia in PSY 101

Answer 9

least amount occurring in autonomy and environmental mastery

Question 10

happiness

Answer 10

state of subjective well-being that involves frequent positive emotion and infrequent negative emotion and an overall sense of one’s life as satisfying and meaningful

Question 11

determinants of happiness

Answer 11

50% genetics
- setpoint of happiness
*similar to how personality is heritable
- extraversion (excitable states, social relationships) & neuroticisim (having more negative emotions) are effective predictors of happiness

10% life circumstances ($, location, etc.)

40% intentional activity
*Remember socioemotional selectivity theory (old pppl happy) and FB posts (emotional stability/ instability)

Question 12

Connection between Big Five and Happiness (PSY 101 data)

Answer 12

conscientiousness is mostly closed with happiness
- bc ?: means organized and need to do that to plan and succeed

Question 13

relationship between income and happiness

Answer 13

money can buy happiness if they meet your basic needs, but after that it does not predict higher levels of happiness

Question 14

make meaning

Answer 14

(happiness hack)
- way to cope with negative emotions and protect well-being in the face of challenge – Victor Frankl

Question 15

Wzesniewski’s study on different ways of thinking about work

Answer 15

a job, a career, a calling?
RESULTS: finds that those who consider it a calling are also more satisfied with their life
- job crafting: physical and cognitive change people make to the tasks/ relationship boundaries of their work to change/ enhance their meaning

Question 16

hospital janitorial staff study and job crafting

Answer 16

some people call it a calling, why: interact more with patients, become integrated part of the floor work flor
“helpers of the sick”

Question 17

hedonic treadmill

Answer 17

(-) psychological process where the emotional effects of a stimulus weakens over time (ex. new phone not as cool a year later)
- occurs in response to good things
- can keep us moving towards out goals but also keep us from appreciating what’s here

Question 18

appreciate happiness as a journey, not a desination

Answer 18

1. expressing gratitude (refocus on things we take for granted)
2. collecting experiences instead of “stuff”

Question 19

appreciate happiness as a journey, not a destination

Answer 19

1. expressing gratitude (refocus on things we take for granted)
2. collecting experiences instead of “stuff”

Question 20

gratitude journal study

Answer 20

group wrote down 3 things of gratitude everyday, led to more happiness

gratitude –> emotions –> motivation to improve

Question 21

Boven & Gilovich (2003) experiences vs. materials study

Answer 21

think about something you’ve spent more than $100 dollars in. 2 groups (life experience or “thing”), found experiential purchase increased happiness

Question 22

temporal integration model

Answer 22

(-) all bad and good peaks of an experience are added up when asking about how an experience was overall. but this is WRONG

Question 23

endings matter: save the best for last
Redelmeier & Kahneman (1996) colonoscopy study

Answer 23

people getting a colonoscopy is a very painful experience. and they asked patients during the entirety of the procedure to say their pain ratings.
two patients, one had a spike at the end and finished in 10 minutes (A) and the other had a spike in the middle and lower pain towards the end which finished around 25 minutes (B)
RESULTS: patient B remembers its being less painful even though it was longer

Question 24

peak-end effect

Answer 24

a heuristic for evaluating experiences that gives disproportionate weight to th epeak and end of the experineces

Question 25

duration neglect

Answer 25

a cognitive bias in which the duration of an experience insufficiently affects our evaluation of it

Question 26

happy mind = happy body

Answer 26

1. MOVE (physical exercise)
2. REST (sleep)
   - “overnight therapy”

Question 27

meta-analysis study on exercise

Answer 27

as little as 10 minutes of exercise a day can increase happiness

Question 28

Van der Helm 2011 sleep & emotion processing study

Answer 28

@ 8:30 PM, took pics of brain with fMRI while seeing unpleasant pics, went home and slept and @ 8:30 AM showed it again, had a lower reaction
RESULTS: lower amygdala reaction to the unpleasant pics in the morning

Question 29

the best “self care” may be “other care”

Answer 29

spending more of one’s income on others predicts more happiness over time

Question 30

Dunn generosity study

Answer 30

how happy do you predict you would be? predict is spent money on myself would be happier than spending on others (especially if higher $ amount)
actual happiness experience: felt doubly happier to spend money on others more than yourself (but for $5 and $20)