Myers and Diener Flashcards
Methodology
Literature review
Procedure
Literature review:
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Research Literature
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Survey the literature
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Findings of Myers & Diener: Age
There was no real difference in age: Inglehart, survey of roughly 170000 people from 16 countries revealed that there was no time of their life that was happier/unhappier than others. Predictors of happiness do change with ages e.g social relations. Concerns for health do come later in life, but age gives no clue to a persons sense of well-being. Nor do rates of depression, suicide or divorce increase in ‘mid-life crisis’ years.
Findings: Sex
Women are twice more likely to be vulnerable to depression and anxiety. Men are 5 times more likely to to be vulnerable to alcoholism and anti-social personality disorders, (Robins and Reiger) In reports of happiness the results a roughly equal split for women and men. 80% of both men and women say they are ‘fairly satisfied’ with their life.Meta analyse has shown gender accounts for less than 1% of well being.
Findings: Race
People with different nationalities score similarly on tests of self esteem despite discrimination. People in disadvantaged areas maintain self esteem by valuing things at which they excel, by making comparisons with other groups, and by attributing problems to external sources, such as prejudice.
Findings: Culture
Nations have a striking difference in happiness. Surveyed in Portugal that 10% of people are very happy compared to countries like the Netherlands where it is 40% of people who are very happy. People seem to have less subjective well being in collectivist cultures than individualistic cultures, where expressing and experiencing positive emotions is encouraged,
Findings: Money
75% of Americans starting college say that being ‘well of financially’ is a was a ‘very important’ life goal, more so than starting a family or helping others in difficulty. Strumpel suggests that adults believed that an increased income would make them happier. There does seem to be a strong positive correlation between national wealth and well being. Although in pooer countries financial satisfaction is a moderate predictor of SWB, as soon as they can afford life necessities it suddenly matters a lot less. Correlation of money and happiness is not negative, it is modest. A better predictor of SWB is income satisfaction, although there is only a slight tendency for people with a large income to be more satisfied with hat they make. For instance, lottery winners only experience a brief feeling of joy before their emotional levels return to normal (Argyle)
Findings: Traits of happy people
Happy people have self-esteem, a sense of personal control, optimism and extraversion. They tend to like themselves (strong correlations between SWB and esteem) Happy people believe they are more ethical, intelligent, healthier and less prejudiced. Get along with people better that happy people. Link is weaker in collectivist cultures. People with a good sense of control do better in school and cope better with stress, compared to people with less control e.g those in totalitarian regimes, nursing homes or prison- they suffer from low morale and worse health. Optimists are more successful and healthier than pessimists. Happy people are extraverted, and are okay to be alone and with other people. We don’t know if happiness causes the development of these traits or if these traits make people happy.
Findings: Relationships
People who can name several intimate friends are healthier, less likely to die prematurely, and happier than people who have few friends. married people are more likely to describe themselves as ‘very happy’ than those who have never married.
Finding: Flow
People with greater work satisfaction also have better life satisfaction. Work for some is apart of their identity. Adds a sense of community, Provides focus and purpose. Individuasl who engage in activities which makes them oblivious to their surroundings as they are so absorbed in the activity means that they are caught in a ‘flow’ of something, which is a general predictor of happiness. The activity mustn’t be so difficult which makes them stressed, but challenging to make them think. suggested by Csizkcntmihalyi. being in a flow in activity rather than so something meaningless is a major source of well being.
Conclusion:Must recognise the importance of adaption
Overtime the immediate emotional response of significant evn=ent inevitably fades. Lottery winners are initially elated, but their euphoria soon wanes. Frijda suggests that pleasure is contingent on change and disappears with continuous satisfaction. Likewise the agony of of most bad events gradually subsides. Studies have found that only events in the past 3 months affect SWB and the more recent events have greater emotional affect
Conclusion: Cultural world view
Some cultures view the world as benevolent and controllable, which others emphasise the normality of negative emotions such as anxiety and guilt. Ones culture can influence how life events are interpreted.
Conclusion: Value and goals
Having non-conflicting goals and making progress towards them are all predictors of SWB. Money, social skills and intelligence are only predictors if they are relvent to a persons goals. Explains why money predicts DWB in poor nations whereas self esteem predicts SWB in wealthier individualistic nations.
