Positive Approach - Classic Research: Myers, D.G. And Diener, E. (1995)

Question 1

What was the methodology

Answer 1

• It was a literature review made up of 4 components
  1) interviews and questionnaires (closed Qs)
  2) observation
  3) correlations
  4) Reviews or meta-analyses

Question 2

What was the procedures

Answer 2

In order to create the literature review:

1) interviews and questionnaires
- in order to assess happiness, their subjective well-being (SWB) was measured. They did this with a range of methods
- this was done by interviewing with closed Qs, such as ‘“how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days” - Are you very satisfied / Not very satisfied / Not at all satisfied’
- also done with a multi-item scale (questionnaire). This included a number of Qs related to happiness
- both interviews and questionnaires collected quantitative data

2) observation
- people reporting what they’re doing a selected times in order to sample their behaviour
- beepers were used to remind participants to send a message of their thoughts/feelings at that moment + what they’re doing

3) Correlations
- look at what co-factors vary with happiness. Some cause happiness, others are a result of happiness. Not a clear C + E
- these co-factors were: age, gender, race/culture, money

4) Reviews
- looking at reviews of other research. And some of the research referred to is also based on multiple studies
- some of these were reviews, and others were meta-analyses

Question 3

What was the findings

Answer 3

There were two findings:
- how age, gender, race/culture, money is related to happiness
- and what are the characteristics of happy people (Traits, relationships, work and ‘flow’, faith)

Question 4

What was the findings for how age, gender, race/culture, money is related to happiness

Answer 4

1) Age
- Age doesn’t affect levels of happiness: A survey of roughly 170,000 people from 16 different countries (Ingelhart, 1990) revealed that no time of life is notably happier or unhappier than others.
- but it does influence the factors that cause happiness: Herzog et al (1982) found that at different ages, different factors contribute to happiness, e.g. health becomes more important with age

2) Gender
- Generally no differences: 80% of men and 80% of women said they were at least ‘fairly satisfied’ with life (Ingelhart, 1990).
- but still some: Research (Robbin and Regier, 1991) has found that women are 2x as vulnerable as men to depression

3) Race/culture
- Large differences found: Nations differ in happiness even when income differences are controlled. For example, in Portugal, about 10% of people say they are very happy, whilst in the Netherlands, 40% of people say the same
- differences also for race: (Diener et al, 1933) found that African-Americans report nearly 2x as much happiness as European-Americans

4) Money
- doesn’t increase happiness: (Diener et al, 1985) did a survey of the people on the Forbes rich list and found that 37% were less happy than the average American
- only effects happiness to an extent: The lack of importance inn money doesn’t apply to situations where people are poor, e.g. in poorer countries, people report higher SWB than those without money. Therefore affluence only effects happiness until basic necessities are covered

“I” for Ingelhart (1990)
“Have” for Herzog et al (1982)
“Really” for Robin and Reiger (1991)
“Delightful” for Diener et al (1933)
“Ducks” for Diener et al (1985)

Question 5

What was the findings for the characteristics of happy people

Answer 5

1) traits
- Happy people tend to like themselves (high self esteem) and feel a sense of personal control. They are also optimists and are more extraverted (happier with others than being alone)
- It is not known if these traits cause happiness or being happy leads to these trait

2) relationships
- People who can name several friends are healthier and happier than people who have few or no friends (Burt, 1986).
- (Lee et al, 1991) found that married people are happier than those single, 39% to 24%
- For some, relationships create more stress than happiness, Dean-Paul Sarte (1973): “Hell is other people”

3) Work and ‘flow’
- work satisfaction contributes to why people with jobs are happier than those unemployed. It can provide a personal identity, a sense that one’s life matters and a sense of belonging
- Work should help the individual reach a ‘flow’ state, where one is so caught up in an activity that the mind does not wander, one becomes oblivious to surroundings and time flies (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990)

4) Faith
- in NAmerica + Euro: religious people report higher levels of happiness (Poloma and Pendleton, 1990)
- (Gallup, 1984) found that people with higher spiritual commitment were 2x likely to say they were very happy
-Faith seems to help people to cope with a crisis

“High” for High self-esteem
“Birds” for Burt (1986)
“Like” for Lee et al (1991)
“Catching” for Csikszentmihalyi (1990)
“Pretty” for Paloma and Pendleton (1990)
“Gems” for Gallup (1984)

Question 6

What were the conclusions

Answer 6

• Myers and Diener developed the idea that there are 3 elements to happiness
  1) the importance of adaptation
  2) Cultural world view
  3) Values and goals

Question 7

Describe the element of: The importance of adaptation

Answer 7

• only events that happen within the last 3 months have a significant effect on well being
• This suggests that we are adaptable as the response to positive or negative events fades over time, e.g. lottery win / trauma

Question 8

Describe the element of: Cultural world view

Answer 8

• An individuals culture influences how they interpret life events which in turn affected well being
• e.g. some cultures see the world as benevolent and controllable place, whereas other cultures emphasises negative emotions such as guilt, anxiety and anger

Question 9

Describe the element of: Values and goals

Answer 9

• People with high SWB have goals, ambitions and things they’re trying to achieve.
• therefore things like money are only important if they’re relevant to a persons life goals

Question 10

What are the overall conclusions that Myers and Diener came to

Answer 10

• They dismissed the idea that factors such as, sex and money were important indicators of happiness, instead focusing on things like personality traits and relationships
• they noted that the research on psychological well-being was a ‘welcome complement’ to studies of depression and anxiety and believed that by researching who is happy, it could help people rethink their priorities and better understand how to build a world that enhances human well-being

Question 11

What is a review

Answer 11

A consideration of a number of studies that have investigated the same topic in order to reach a general conclusion about a particular hypothesis

Question 12

What is a meta-analysis

Answer 12

A researcher looks at the findings from a number of different studies in order to reach a general conclusion about a particular hypothesis

Question 13

When you are evaluating the methodology, what do you talk about

Answer 13

• literature review
• self report
• correlations
• sample

Question 14

Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of using a literature review

Answer 14

:)
- quick, easy, cheap way to gather lots of data

:(
- it’s secondary data, so may not always be perfectly relevant + don’t know how valid the methods used were —counter—> but it has gone through peer review
- some data might also be out of date and so face low historical validity
- might’ve only chosen data that fits their hypothesis (researcher bias)

Question 15

Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the sample

Answer 15

:(
- Not generalisable because it was a western individualistic culture

:)
- very large sample (across several different countries, e.g. 170,000 in one of the studies)

Question 16

Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of correlations

Answer 16

:)
- allow us to see relationships

:(
- only qualitative relationships
- can’t establish causal relationships because we don’t know which way the ‘cause’ goes, e.g. does happy=marriage or marriage = happy. And there could be intervening variables like money

Question 17

Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of using a self report

Answer 17

:)
- allows us to access thoughts/feelings, e.g. happiness

:(
- social desirability bias —> awkward to admit you’re depressed
- participants might also not know how to express how they feel

Question 18

What structure would you use to evaluate the methodology and procedures

Answer 18

PEE
- point
- Example
- Explain

Question 19

Write a PEE paragraph about the disadvantage of researcher bias

Answer 19

• P: the process of selecting the research to use in a literature review may suffer from researcher bias. Only selecting what fits their hypothesis
• E: Myers and Diener may have already had an idea of what they expected to find, e.g. the myth about age is untrue and that all ages are equally happy, and then selecting research that supported this hypothesis and rejecting those that didn’t
• E: most research in the review therefore doesn’t reflect all the research done in this area and so the conclusions are invalid

Question 20

Write a PEE paragraph about the disadvantage of social desirability bias

Answer 20

• P: self reports may be subject to social desirability bias
• E: For example it may put people in an awkward position to admit that they’re unhappy. And because there’s no way to confirm or challenge it, people will die
• E: this is a weakness because we can’t be sure of the validity and therefore our data may be invalid

Question 21

Write a PEE paragraph about the disadvantage of self reports giving a lack of insight

Answer 21

• P: self reports = lack of insight
• E: people might be repressing true feelings of unhappiness (psychodynamic view). This + the fact that people might find it difficult to accurately describe happiness leads to a lower reliability
• E: This is a weakness because we then have a lower validity
• COUNTER: research has asked that those who described themselves as happy and satisfied with life were described in the same way by friends and family

Question 22

Write a PEE paragraph about the disadvantage of using correlations

Answer 22

• P: correlations = can’t show cause and effect + there can be intervening variables
• E: we can’t say that marriage = happiness as (Lee et al, 1991) would suggest. Perhaps happier people are more likely to get married. Or perhaps there are intervening variables like money that’ll contribute to how likely you are to get married or how happy you are (which then could affect how likely you are to get married)
• E: This is a weakness because then we can’t have real world applications because we can’t predict behaviour

Question 23

Write a PEE paragraph about the disadvantage of the sample

Answer 23

• P: sample was western = not generalisable to all cultures
• E: e.g. some cultures such as individualistic ones tend to be happier. Therefore the roots of happiness is different in different cultures and we’re ignoring this variation by having only a western sample
• E: This is a weakness because it has low generalisability because the results would’ve varied in different cultures, therefore we have low population validity

Question 24

What was the alternative evidence

Answer 24

• Schinka et al (2004)
• Lyubomirsky (2013)

Question 25

What does the alternative evidence Schinka et al (2004) suggest

Answer 25

• one gene has been linked to happiness, the 5-HTT gene, which controls levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin
• some people have a form of this gene and report higher instances of life satisfaction
• this adds to the conclusions from Myers and Diener with the idea is genetics playing a role
• it also agrees with Myers and Diener’s idea of a ‘happiness set point’

Question 26

What is the ‘happiness set point’

Answer 26

A key idea that Myers and Dieber came up
- despite occasional ups and downs, happiness stays at a fairly steady level throughout life

Question 27

What does the alternative evidence Lyubomirsky (2013) suggest

Answer 27

• from a review of studies asking people about their happiness. Comparing happiness levels in twins and family (to estimate genetic factors) and studies comparing people who had ‘easy’ and ‘difficult’ lives (estimate the role of circumstantial factors)
• found that is was:
• 50% genetics
• 40% circumstances
• 10% ‘self-control’ (factors the individual has control over)

Question 28

when writing about the ethical issues of Myers and Diener (1995), what should you talk about

Answer 28

• no risk of harm by using a literature review
• problems using a self report
• upholding ethical guidelines is a participant reveals their depression

Question 29

describe the ethical issue of no risk of harm by using a literature review

Answer 29

• there was no risk because they weren’t doing anything with the participants or changing variables
• therefore they can’t cause harm = low risk of harm = ethical :)

Question 30

describe the ethical issue of using a self-report

Answer 30

• it can make those who are already unhappy feel more depressed after being asked about their sense of well-being
• therefore researchers must be sensitive to participants’ needs and debrief them appropriately

Question 31

describe the ethical issue of upholding ethical guidelines

Answer 31

• if a participant was to reveal that they’re depressed
• Myers and Diener are required to practise within the boundaries of their competence
• therefore is a participants does reveal = they must recommend a professional and not try and help themselves

Question 32

when writing about the social implications, what should you talk about

Answer 32

• the research being ‘socially sensitive’

Question 33

what is the definition of ‘socially sensitive’ in the context of research

Answer 33

• potential negative implications either directly for the participants in the research or for the class of individuals represented by the research
• it might make us think negatively or positively about certain groups

Question 34

describe the social implication of the research being ‘socially sensitive’

Answer 34

• because it makes claims about the happiness of groups of people, e.g. that Portuguese are less happy, which could lead to a stereotype of Portuguese people being unhappy and assumptions made about all Portuguese people based on this, ignoring the individual themselves