POSITIVE: Myers & Diener Flashcards
1
Q
Methodology of Myers & Diener
A
- literature review: collected findings of many studies to make a paper/article using the current knowledge on a topic including previous studies and findings
—> secondary sources, do not report new or original experimental work - methods collected involve self reports, observations and correlations
- report: interviews and questionnaires, measure SWB to quantify happiness
- obs: report what doing at times
- correlations: covarying factors of happiness
- subjective wellbeing - sense of satisfaction with life, work, marriage etc
—> high SWB mainly pleasant emotions and low SWB interpretation life circumstances as undesirable
2
Q
Procedure
A
- search for articles relating to their aim
- select topic, search literature, develop argument, survey and critique literature, write review
3
Q
Findings: age
A
- no real difference
- 170,000 people from 16 diff countries (Inglehart 1990) revealed no time of life is notably happier or unhappier than others
- predictors of happiness change with age
- knowing age gives no clue to their emotional wellbeing
- times of crisis do not occur at any predictable age
4
Q
Findings: gender
A
- no difference in general
- women twice as vulnerable as men to depression and anxiety
- men five times as vulnerable to women to alcoholism and anti social personality disorder (robins & reiger 1991)
- reports of happiness roughly equal between men and women
- meta analysis show gender accounts for less than 1% of peoples well being
- 80% men and 80% women report being ‘fairly satisfied’ - inglehart 1990
5
Q
Findings: race
A
- no real difference
- different nationalities score similarly on tests of self esteem
- despite discrimination people non disadvantaged groups maintain self esteem by valuing things that they excel at (Crocker & Majort 1989)
6
Q
Findings: nations
A
- larger differences found
- differ strikingly in happiness even when income is controlled
- Portugal - about 10% are happy whilst 40% in Netherlands
- collectivist cultures report lower SWB than individual cultures where expression positive emotions is encouraged
7
Q
Findings: money
A
- moderate positive correlations
- 75% of Americans at beginning of college said being financially well off as a very important life goal and often more important than raising a family or helping others (Austin, green & Korn 1987)
- many adults believe increased income would make happier (Strumpel 1976)
- strong correlation between national wealth and well being (inglehart 1990)
- in poorer countries financial satisfaction is a moderate predictor of SBW as when people can afford life’s necessities, money matters much less
- correlation between income and happiness is modest
- lottery winners experience brief period of joy before normal emotional levels return (Argyle 1986)
8
Q
Findings: traits of happy people
A
- best indicators of a happy person are self-esteem, sense of personal connections, optimism and extroversion
- strong correlation between self esteem and SWB
- happy people end to be more ethical, intelligent, healthier , less prejudice and better able to get alone with others
- link is weaker in collectivist cultures where group has priority over individual
- those who feel empowered do better in school and cope better with stress
- people in prisons with totalitarian regimes suffer lower morale and worse health as low control over own life
- optimists more successful than pessimist
- extroverts happier when alone and with others
- not known if these traits lead to happiness or if happiness leads to developing these traits
9
Q
Findings: relationships
A
- those with more friends are happier and have higher positive emotions
- those who name several intimate friends are healthier, less likely to die prematurely and happier than those who have few or no friends
- holocaust survivors who confided more openly in others about their experiences had the most improved health
- married people are more likely to describe themselves as very happy
10
Q
Findings: flow
A
- greater work satisfaction also have better life satisfaction
- work provides personal identity, sense of community and pride
- focus and purpose
- important work is not too challenging to cause anxiety but not too underwhelming to result in boredom
- challenges engage and match a persons skills - enables optimal state called flow where one becomes oblivious to time and fully focused
- people enjoy themselves more when absorbed in the flow of ana city try rather than doing something meaningless
11
Q
Findings: faith
A
- religious people report higher levels of happiness
- religious people less likely to become delinquent, to abuse drugs and alcohol, to divorce and to commit suicide
- tend to be physically healthier
- higher levels of satisfaction and less vulnerable to depression
- strong positive correlation between happiness and worship attendance
- 2 best predictors of wellbeing among the elderly are religion and health
- not fully understood what about faith increases happiness
—> supportive close relationships, meaning and purpose of view that offers answers to life’s deepest questions, optimistic view
12
Q
Conclusions
A
- theory of happiness must recognise the importance of adaption: immediate emotional response to signif events fades as humans adapt to circumstance
- cultural worldview: some cultures see world as controllable whilst others emphasise normality of negative emotion - influence interpretation and therefore affect SBW
- values and goals: having non-conflicting views and making progress toward them are all predictors of SWB
- age/race/gender/income does not inform us of a person happiness - better clues are relationships/traits.culture/work/faith
- new research on psychological wellbeing is a good addition to the long term studies of depression/anixety etc
—> understand how to enhance peoples well being
13
Q
Methodology evaluation: self reports
A
- weakness
- data on SWB is subjective as when someone says they are happy, they could easily not be telling the truth
- in questionnaires Ps may demonstrate social desirability bias in order to be seen in a good light
- people may think they’re happy but they’re actually repressing their true feelings of unhappiness (psychodynamic view)
- misreading of Qs can be an issue
—> internal validity
14
Q
Methodology evaluation: correlations
A
- weakness
- correlations in research dont allow us to conclude that a certain factor has caused happiness
- may be other variables
- ie correlation betwene marriage and happiness may be due to things in the marriage such as two incomes and so it is not the marriage but the money that leads to happiness
- cannot tell cause and effect of variables involved
—> scientific validity
15
Q
Methodology evaluation: sample
A
- weakness
- lot of research used Western samples
- culture bias arises as basis of happiness may be different between cultures
- developed further by use of Western tools - eg questionnaires
- but did have very large sample
—> population validity
