Myers and Diener Flashcards
What’s the background of Myers and Diener’s research?
The approach doesn’t just seek to improve people’s lives but also to find evidence that indicates how this can be done.
The positive approach is a psychological approach and therefore aims to be scientific and evidence based.
Myers and Diener took on the task of looking at the evidence for what makes people happy.
This approach is in contrast with the traditional psychological emphasis on what causes negative emotions.
What’s the methodology?
This study / article is a literature review of research on the topic of happiness.
1980s and early 1990s - there was a flood of research exploring people’s sense of well-being.
What are the key points for the interviews and questionnaires?
One way to assess happiness is to consider a person’s sense of their own happiness or well-being.
This is called subjective well-being (SWB).
This is done by interviewing people using a closed question:
“How satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?“
Are you very satisfied?
Not very satisfied?
Not at all satisfied?
Alternatively, a multi-item scale (a form of questionnaire) can be used which includes a number of questions related to happiness.
In both cases a quantitative measure is produced to represent happiness.
What are the key points for observations?
Asking them to report what they are doing at selected times (a form of observation).
Researchers may use beepers to remind participants to send a message saying what they are doing and / or thinking at a particular moment.
This a way to sample people’s behaviour.
What are the key points for correlations?
Another way to understand happiness is to consider what factors co-vary with it.
Some of these factors may contribute to making a person happy.
Other factors are a consequence of being happy.
It’s not always clear which is cause and which is effect.
What are the key points of reviews?
This study is a review of other research.
Some of the research referred to is also based on multiple studies.
Some of these are reviews and some are meta-analyses.
What did Inglehart (1990) find?
Survey of almost 170,000 people of all ages in 16 different countries found no differences between age and happiness.
However, at different ages, different factors contribute to happiness.
Mean score was 80% satisfaction with life.
What did McCrae and Costa (1990) find?
People do experience crises, but these are not restricted to a particular age.
What did Haring and et al (1984) find?
A person’s gender accounted for 1% of global well-being.
What did Robins and Regier (1991) find?
Women are twice as vulnerable as men to depression.
What are the key points for is happiness related to culture?
People in individualist cultures report greater SWB than in collectivist cultures:
In an individualist culture people are more concerned with their individual needs whereas in collectivist cultures people focus on the needs of the group.
In individualist cultures, individual happiness matters more.
What did Diener et al (1993) find?
African-Americans report nearly twice as much happiness as European-Americans.
What did Inglehart (1990) find in relation to Portugal and the Netherlands?
In Portugal, 10% of people reported that they were happy compared to the 40% in the Netherlands.
What did Astin et al (1987) find?
Survey in 1933 found that 75% of American college students selected “being well of financially” as an essential life goal, compared with 39% in 1970.
What did Diener et al (1985) find?
People who are rich don’t report greater happiness. Survey of people on the Forbes rich list found that 37% were less happy than the average American.
What did Costa et al (1987) find?
Found the people who reported being happy in 1973 tended to be the happy ones a decade later.
What are the key traits of happy people?
High self-esteem.
Sense of personal control.
Optimism.
Extraversion.
(It is not clear whether these traits make people happier or the traits develop because a person is happy)
What are the key points of high self-esteem?
Such individuals like themselves and typically agree with statements such as “I’m a lot of fun to be with” and “I have good ideas.”
What are the key points of sense of personal control?
People who feel empowered rather than helpless do better at school, cope better with stress and are typically happier.
What are the key points of optimism?
Such people agree with a statement such as “When I undertake something new, I expect to succeed.”
What are the key points of extraversion?
People who are more outgoing are happier when with other people and also when alone.
What did Poloma and Pendleton (1990) find?
In North America and Europe people who are religious report higher levels of happiness.
What did Gallup (1984) find?
People with a high “spiritual commitment” were twice as likely to say they were very happy.
What did Burt (1986) find?
For most people the benefits of relationships outweigh the strains.
People who can name several close friends are healthier and happier than people who can’t name such friends.
