Curiously, economists, whose discipline has much to do with human well-being, have shied away from factoring the study of happiness into their work. Happiness, they might say, is an ''unscientific'' ...concept. This is the first book to establish empirically the link between happiness and economics--and between happiness and democracy. Two respected economists, Bruno S. Frey and Alois Stutzer, integrate insights and findings from psychology, where attempts to measure quality of life are well-documented, as well as from sociology and political science. They demonstrate how micro- and macro-economic conditions in the form of income, unemployment, and inflation affect happiness. The research is centered on Switzerland, whose varying degrees of direct democracy from one canton to another, all within a single economy, allow for political effects to be isolated from economic effects.
Not surprisingly, the authors confirm that unemployment and inflation nurture unhappiness. Their most striking revelation, however, is that the more developed the democratic institutions and the degree of local autonomy, the more satisfied people are with their lives. While such factors as rising income increase personal happiness only minimally, institutions that facilitate more individual involvement in politics (such as referendums) have a substantial effect. For countries such as the United States, where disillusionment with politics seems to be on the rise, such findings are especially significant. By applying econometrics to a real-world issue of general concern and yielding surprising results, Happiness and Economics promises to spark healthy debate over a wide range of the social sciences.
Background: Positive psychological well-being (PPWB) is associated with improved health outcomes and positive health behaviors in general populations. However, it is not clear if this is so in women ...with obesity (BMI>30 kg/m2) who can experience poorer health and weight stigma. Thus, it is important to understand the relationships between BMI and multiple aspects of PPWB, health, and internalized weight bias (IWB). Methods: 1001 women > 18 years of age were surveyed using a web-based design. Five constructs of PPWB were measured including, positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment (PERMA). Participants completed the PERMA-profiler (measures: PERMA, an overall well-being score, happiness, plus separate measures of health, loneliness, and negative emotion); and the modified Weight Bias Internalization Scale (WBIS-M). ANOVA was used to compare the five aspects of PERMA and happiness measures between BMI groups. MANCOVA was used to evaluate sources of variation on the significant individual PERMA measures with BMI groups, adjusting for health, IWB and demographic variables that were significantly different between BMI groups. Results: Women with obesity had significantly lower ratings of PERMA, happiness, general health, and higher IWB when compared to women in normal (BMI=18.5-24.99 kg/m2) and overweight (BMI=25-29.9 kg/m2) categories (p<.001). Health emerged as the greatest predictor of all aspects of PERMA accounting for up to 22% of the variance. IWB and BMI accounted for 1-6% of the variance in PERMA scores. Although women with class 3 obesity (BMI>40.0 kg/m2) had significantly lower PERMA scores than those with class 1 (BMI =30.0-34.9 kg/m2), obesity class was determined not to be a significant factor. Instead, health and IWB explained most of the differences. Conclusions: There is a complex relationship between health, IWB and PPWB in women. Further research is needed to understand the possible multidirectional relationship and to guide future interventions related to PPWB for women with obesity.
Happiness has been topic of research since ancient times. This study explores the theory of consumer happiness grounded in the tenets of mass prestige (Masstige), self-consciousness and social ideal ...self by linking it with brand-induced happiness (Brand Happiness). The relationship is explored in light of self-consciousness and social ideal self by taking them as moderators. Data was collected from a European country using a standard questionnaire measuring brand happiness, masstige, self-consciousness and social ideal self from 346 respondents for three mobile phone brands from America, South Korea and China – iPhone, Samsung and Huawei. Exploratory Factor Analysis, Structural Equation Modelling, and Moderation Analysis revealed that the consumption of masstige brands lead to brand happiness. This relationship is moderated by self-consciousness, whereas social ideal self is not moderating the relationship. The study also revealed that only iPhone is a masstige brand. Implications of the findings and managerial applications along with theoretical contributions are discussed.
Love is defined and examined as an emotion, using the psychoevolutionary theory of emotions developed by Robert Plutchik and extended to social psychiatry by Henry Kellerman. This theory posits a ...fourfold ethogram, representing the valanced adaptive reactions to problems of life which define the eight primary emotions. The problem of identity is addressed by acceptance and disgust; temporality, by joy-happiness and sadness. Using a hierarchical classification system, love is defined as a secondary-level emotion, a mixture of joy and acceptance. Examination of the brain infrastructure of these emotions supports their interpretation as basic emotions. In romantic and other forms of love, there is a global acceptance-incorporation, of the other, together with the joy of sexual pair-bonding. This can rise to the level of a clinical disposition that is both histrionic and manic, akin to a Durkheimian collective effervescence. The emotions of acceptance and joy are in everyday life constrained by ego-defense mechanisms: acceptance is constrained by a more critical, less idealised, view of a potential love object; uninhibited joy of sexuality is defended against by sublimation, in which libidinal energy is deflected into an emphasis on correct and proper behaviour, and purposive and productive activities.
This paper explores the trends and determinants in happiness and happiness inequality in South Africa at the individual and aggregate district municipality level using the four waves of National ...Income Dynamics data. The findings indicate that while both happiness as well as income levels show increasing trends in recent years, the inequality trends differ substantially between income and happiness measures. Despite increase in income inequality, South Africa has been registering decreased happiness inequality. The paper identifies the significant determinants of happiness and happiness inequality and finds that income determines happiness level as well as happiness inequality at both individual and aggregate level. The similarity of findings at the individual and aggregate levels indicate that the happiness–income paradox noted in literature does not seem to exist within the South African context. At the aggregate level, income inequality has significant negative and positive impact on happiness levels and happiness inequality respectively. Our finding of increasing happiness levels and decreasing happiness inequality in the backdrop of increasing income inequality, is indicative that absolute effect rather than relative effect of income dominates happiness and happiness inequality at the country level in South Africa. The paper’s findings reinforce the argument that happiness inequality may be a useful supplementary measure of inequality in society.
Abstract The pursuit of happiness has been an essential goal of individuals and countries throughout history. In the past few years, researchers and academicians have developed a huge interest in the ...notion of a ‘happiness economy’ that aims to prioritize subjective well-being and life satisfaction over traditional economic indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Over the past few years, many countries have adopted a happiness and well-being-oriented framework to re-design the welfare policies and assess environmental, social, economic, and sustainable progress. Such a policy framework focuses on human and planetary well-being instead of material growth and income. The present study offers a comprehensive summary of the existing studies on the subject, exploring how a happiness economy framework can help achieve sustainable development. For this purpose, a systematic literature review (SLR) summarised 257 research publications from 1995 to 2023. The review yielded five major thematic clusters, namely- (i) Going beyond GDP: Transition towards happiness economy, (ii) Rethinking growth for sustainability and ecological regeneration, (iii) Beyond money and happiness policy, (iv) Health, human capital and wellbeing and (v) Policy push for happiness economy. Furthermore, the study proposes future research directions to help researchers and policymakers build a happiness economy framework.
Nostalgia is a sentimental longing for one's past. We examined the effect of a 6-week, weekly nostalgia intervention on well-being (positive and negative affect, life satisfaction, subjective ...vitality, and eudaimonic well-being) over time. After 3 weeks, participants who engaged in nostalgic reflection had higher well-being than those who engaged in ordinary reflection. After 6 weeks, and at a 1-month follow-up, the positive effect of nostalgic reflection was reserved for those who were high on dispositional nostalgia (i.e., well-suited to the nostalgia intervention). However, at these time points, nostalgic reflection was associated with lower well-being among those particularly low on dispositional nostalgia. Across time points, nostalgic reflection was beneficial to the degree that it fostered social connectedness, meaning in life, and self-continuity, pointing to mechanisms that drive nostalgia's positive influence on well-being. In summary, weekly nostalgic reflection has temporary well-being benefits for most (out to 3 weeks) and, beyond that, is a matter of fit-beneficial or adverse to those especially high or low on dispositional nostalgia, respectively.
In recent years, an interest in measuring and increasing citizens’ happiness has characterised many Western democracies, including the UK. At the same time, the new scientific discipline of positive ...psychology has produced a set of knowledges, techniques and instruments that encourage people to work on and understand themselves in specific ways. While there is a substantial body of work critiquing this turn to happiness, there is a lack of empirical research that examines what it looks like at an everyday level, and how it may inform ideas about successful citizenship. To address this gap, this thesis takes a critical discursive psychological approach to analysing two datasets – four best-selling books, and interviews with 30 UK residents on the subject of happiness. It was found that the books worked to generate a public health-style narrative around happiness, positioning it as “threatened” due to a mismatch between humans’ “fallible” brains and the challenges of the modern world, such as consumerism. To counter this universalised danger, individualised solutions of working on one’s habits, thoughts and choices were proposed, with happiness constructed as an ongoing practice. There were considerable similarities in the interview data, with participants forming affective-discursive practices of cultivating appreciation, being mindful and making ‘good’ choices. However, participants took up a range of complex and shifting subject positions during the interviews, and their talk was dilemmatic, argumentative and occasionally troubled, particularly when they mobilised taken-for-granted, culturally dominant ideas about happiness in personal narratives. The thesis concludes that engaging with the rhetoric of positive psychology risks living out unresolvable contradictions. However, there were also resistances to the idea of being responsible for one’s happiness and to the habit of individualism, suggesting that alternatives are possible to the apparent dominance of neoliberal models of selfhood.
Bu çalışmanın amacı, Türkiye’de yaşayan bireylerin mutluluk düzeylerini etkileyen faktörlerin neler olduğunu araştırmak ve bu faktörlerin değişimini karşılaştırmalı olarak iki farklı dönemde takip ...etmektir. Bu amaç için TÜİK tarafından uygulanan Yaşam Memnuniyeti Araştırması’nın verileri, 2004-2012 ve 2013-2019 şeklinde havuzlanarak iki farklı dönemde kullanılmış ve bu veri setleri genelleştirilmiş sıralı logit model ile tahmin edilmiştir. Analiz bulgularına göre, her iki dönemde bireylerin mutluluğu arttıran ortak faktörler; yüksek gelire sahip olmak, evli olmak, çalışmak, sağlıktan ve aylık gelirden memnun olmak ve evde güvenli hissetmek olarak belirlenmiştir. Ayrıca 2013-2019 döneminde diğer dönemden farklı olarak gelirin artması, tasarruf yapmak mutluluğu olumlu etkilerken, ucuz ürün tüketmek ve borçlanmak mutluluğu olumsuz etkilemiştir. Öte yandan sadece 2004-2012 döneminde kentte yaşayan, gelecekte hayatın ve mali durumun iyi olmasını bekleyen kişiler daha mutlu yaşamaktadırlar.
Purpose of this research is to investigate the factors affecting the happiness levels of individuals living in Turkey and to follow the changes of these factors in two different periods comparatively. For this purpose, the data of the Life Satisfaction Survey applied by TURKSTAT used in two different periods by pooled in 2004-2012 and 2013-2019 and these datasets were estimated with the generalized ordered logit model. According to the findings of analysis, the common factors that increase the happiness of individuals in both periods are; having a high income, being married, working, being satisfied with health and monthly income, and feeling safe at home. In addition, in the 2013-2019 period, unlike the other period, the increase in income and saving had a positive effect on happiness, while consuming cheap products and borrowing negatively affected happiness. On the other hand, people living in the city and expecting a good life and financial situation in the future live more happily only in the 2004-2012 period.
Introduction While caffeine has been shown to slow the decline of self-reported positive mood compared to placebo during total sleep deprivation, what happens during chronic sleep restriction is not ...well known. Additionally, the effect of caffeine on mood beyond two nights of sleep restriction has not been studied. The current study aimed to investigate the impact of caffeine on positive mood (i.e., happiness) during chronic sleep restriction using a simulated work week design e.g. 5 nights of 5 hours time-in-bed (TIB). Methods Forty-eight healthy subjects underwent 5 nights of sleep restriction (TIB: 5 hr/night), followed by 3 nights of recovery sleep (TIB: 8 hr/night) in a sleep laboratory. Caffeine gum (200 mg) or placebo was administered at 0800 and 1200 hrs each day during the sleep restriction phase. While awake subjects rated hourly how well six happiness words described their current state. Results There was a strong main effect of day, such that both groups reported decreasing happiness throughout sleep restriction p=5.78 x 10-8 and recovery p=4.54 x 10-9 compared to baseline. There was an increase in happiness on the final day of recovery for both groups, but neither group fully recovered back to baseline levels. Interestingly, there was an interaction between day and group during sleep restriction p=0.04 such that participants receiving caffeine reported higher levels of happiness than those receiving placebo after the first night of sleep restriction. However, no subsequent group differences were seen during the rest of sleep restriction or into recovery. Conclusion Unsurprisingly, all participants reported decreased happiness during chronic sleep restriction. However, caffeine slowed the decline of self-reported happiness compared to placebo following the first night of sleep restriction. Nonetheless, the effect was lost after the following night of sleep restriction and the groups continued to be indistinguishable throughout the rest of the experiment. These results indicate that caffeine’s ability to prevent a decrease in positive mood is limited during chronic sleep restriction. Support (If Any) Department of Defense Military Operational Medicine Research Program (MOMRP)
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