Week 18: Interacting with Tough Content, Self-care, and Wellness

Question 1

Three questions for happiness

Answer 1

What makes us happy?

Why be happy?

Why is it hard to stay happy?

Question 2

Can/should you be happy all the time

Answer 2

NO.
- toxic positivity

*We should be more positive though

Question 3

Types of subjective wellbeing

Answer 3

1. life satisfaction
2. frequent positive feelings
3. Rare negative feelings

*Tends to be consistent across life span

Question 4

Inborn temperament

Answer 4

basis of one’s personality
*Biologically rooted

Question 5

Greater wellbeing

Answer 5

How well our Inborn temperament fit with out environment

Question 6

Personality and temperament

Answer 6

Personality results from interaction between inborn temperament and environment

Question 7

Extroversion

Answer 7

Positive affect

Question 8

Neuroticism

Answer 8

negative feelings

Question 9

Cognition on “Outlook”

Answer 9

Optimism, hope, gratitude, and positivity linked with positive well-being

Hope correlated with subjective well-being

Question 10

Internal causes of wellbeing

Answer 10

Resilience
- mediated relationship between hope/resilience and wellbeing
- Hope/resilience associated with happiness

Question 11

5 resilience factors

Answer 11

1. coping
2. control and self-efficacy
3. social relationships
4. disposition and emotions
5. stress management

Question 12

coping - problem focused

Answer 12

addresses actual event
- outcomes under our control

Question 13

coping - emotion focused

Answer 13

not as productive as problem focused

Question 14

Control & Self efficacy

Answer 14

PERCEPTION of control is what’s beneficial
*improve immune function
*reduces stress

• self efficacy = believing you can do what is needed to achieve the goal

Question 15

Social Support

Answer 15

Correlated with
- good mental health
- good physical health

Loneliness: leads to drug disorder
- lack of connection more dangerous than obesity, smoking, high blood pressure

More social support = less depression

Question 16

Disposition and emotions

Answer 16

Type A
- more likely to get heart disease

Type B

Type A Type B
Competitive Relaxed
Ambitious Laid-back
Time urgency Flexible
Controlling Tolerant
Impatient Even-tempered

Question 17

Stress management

Answer 17

high stress = High cortosal

• focus on controlling how we respond to stress
  We can control:
  Heart rate
  brain waves

Question 17

Kahneman & Deaton (2010)

Answer 17

• Large survey of > 450 000 Americans
• Emotional wellbeing doesn’t benefit from
  more money after $75 000
  ▪ This is ~ $140 500 CAD in 2024

*Closer to $140,000 today

Question 17

Relationship between money and happiness is

Killingsworth et al., (2022)

Answer 17

linear.

Killingsworth et al., (2022)
- Happiness does go up with income –
until $500 000
- BUT, not very many ppl make this much,
so data is lacking
- ~15% in the “unhappy” group didn’t
show this pattern after $100 000
- Some ppl may be more/less sensitive to
external factors

Question 17

External causes of wellbeing

Answer 17

WIFI???
1. Sufficient material needs
- we need enough to meet our basic needs

2. Sufficient Social Recources
   - relationships and belonging a fundamental human need
   * happily married vs just married

3.

Question 18

Sufficient Social Resources

Helliwell & Huang (2013)

Answer 18

Virtual friends are not as beneficial as IRL friends

Study:
- N = 5000
- IRL vs. online friends
- More IRL friends = 
subjective well-being
- Double your IRL friends = like
making 50% more $ in terms
of
- subjective well-being
- More important for those
w/o romantic partner
- Online friends unrelated to
subjective well-being

Question 18

Is it just having money or how we spend it?

Dunn et al. (2008)

Answer 18

Experiences vs. things?

Spending money on others has a better effect than on ourselves.

• After receiving a ~$5000 bonus
• Happiness: Prosocial > personal
  spending
• E.g. donating to charity, buying items for
  someone else
• Similar results in the survey study of
  >600 Americans

Question 19

External Cause on well being - Desirable society

Answer 19

The environment in which we live will influence our daily lives

E.g. developed countries
- Most people have enough food, shelter,
safety i.e. sufficient material resources
- War & Conflict
- Negatively impacts subjective wellbeing,
particularly for those directly impacted
e.g. displaced

Question 20

Finland - Happy

Answer 20

• low income inequality
• Public health system with short wait times
• cheap and reliable public transportation
• excellent education system
• social housing - low homelessness rates

Question 21

WHY be happy

Answer 21

• lowers morbidity and mortality
  *live longer, feel fine living longer
• more preventative health behaviours
  *More complacent with COVID measures

-Higher number and quality of social relationships
*highly satisfied marriage, more open, less stressful

Greater work productivity and income

Question 22

Adaptation to circumstances

Answer 22

Hedonic set point of happiness
- affective forecasting, overestimate impact of life events

E.g.
- Major lottery winners are not happier than
controls
- The impact of marriage on happiness lasts
about 2 yrs for most people
- Adaptation to losing a spouse after ~ 8yrs

IS NOT INEVITABLE*

people who idealize past

E.g. Lucas (2007)
* 2 studies of nearly 80 000
- Followed for up to 7 yrs before/after
acquiring a disability
▪ “officially certified as having a reduced capacity
to work or being severely handicapped”
 Disability = significant reduction in
happiness that did not rebound over
observed time

Question 23

How to increase wellbeing?

Answer 23

• Exercise
• frequent = better
• Social media detox
• IRL social interaction