Happiness (12.1 Lecture) Flashcards
hedonic perspective
happiness as an emotion
- happiness is a state of subjective well-being that involves frequent positive emotion and infrequent negative emotion
cultural difference in experience under hedonic perspective
cultural differences in idea affect (preferences for high arousal positive states are higher in Western culture than East Asian culture)
emotional activation
happy is at high pleasure and neutral activation, culture impacts whether you prefer high or low arousal states
Tsai cross-cultural study of preferred happiness state
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.
how are cultures similar in their happy emotions?
can all recognize was happiness looks like, one of the highest shared part across cultures (can recognize a smile)
nucleus accumbens
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
The Eudaemonic Perspective
(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)
components of eudaemonia
- self-acceptance
- liking who you are - personal growth
- growing new experiences - purpose in life
- having goals - autonomy
- self-determination - environmental mastery
- competently managing life (ex. paying bills) - positive relationship with others
- close relationships with other people
Eudaemonia in PSY 101
least amount occurring in autonomy and environmental mastery
happiness
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
determinants of happiness
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)
Connection between Big Five and Happiness (PSY 101 data)
conscientiousness is mostly closed with happiness
- bc ?: means organized and need to do that to plan and succeed
relationship between income and happiness
money can buy happiness if they meet your basic needs, but after that it does not predict higher levels of happiness
make meaning
(happiness hack)
- way to cope with negative emotions and protect well-being in the face of challenge – Victor Frankl
Wzesniewski’s study on different ways of thinking about work
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
hospital janitorial staff study and job crafting
some people call it a calling, why: interact more with patients, become integrated part of the floor work flor
“helpers of the sick”
hedonic treadmill
(-) 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
appreciate happiness as a journey, not a desination
- expressing gratitude (refocus on things we take for granted)
- collecting experiences instead of “stuff”
appreciate happiness as a journey, not a destination
- expressing gratitude (refocus on things we take for granted)
- collecting experiences instead of “stuff”
gratitude journal study
group wrote down 3 things of gratitude everyday, led to more happiness
gratitude –> emotions –> motivation to improve
Boven & Gilovich (2003) experiences vs. materials study
think about something you’ve spent more than $100 dollars in. 2 groups (life experience or “thing”), found experiential purchase increased happiness
temporal integration model
(-) all bad and good peaks of an experience are added up when asking about how an experience was overall. but this is WRONG
endings matter: save the best for last
Redelmeier & Kahneman (1996) colonoscopy study
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
peak-end effect
a heuristic for evaluating experiences that gives disproportionate weight to th epeak and end of the experineces
duration neglect
a cognitive bias in which the duration of an experience insufficiently affects our evaluation of it
happy mind = happy body
- MOVE (physical exercise)
- REST (sleep)
- “overnight therapy”
meta-analysis study on exercise
as little as 10 minutes of exercise a day can increase happiness
Van der Helm 2011 sleep & emotion processing study
@ 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
the best “self care” may be “other care”
spending more of one’s income on others predicts more happiness over time
Dunn generosity study
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)
