Psychology of Happiness: Conceptions

• Psychology of Happiness, course PY02OP4T for the academic years 2024-2025
• Study materials covers 44 pages
• Course director is Éric Raufaste, Professor of Cognitive Psychology

Conceptions of Happiness

• Philosophies from Greece, India, and China have shaped today’s understandings of happiness
• Scientific psychologists use these philosophical concepts to develop research
• Hedonism prioritizes pleasure in life, evident since the Epic of Gilgamesh (-1800)
• Utilitarianism seeks the greatest happiness, equates positive utility with pleasure and negative utility with avoiding pain
• Eudaimonic approach focuses on a life well lived that is virtuous so perfect happiness is self-sufficient and the purpose of human actions; developed by Aristotle
• Eliminating suffering leads to equanimity and a unique state of happiness, as in Buddhist philosophy (-500); known as "Sukha"
• Ataraxia, or absence of mental disturbance, later appeared with the philosopher Democritus
• Epicurus advocated temperance to achieve true happiness, even with physical pain
• Sceptics found ataraxia through suspending judgement, while Stoics like Epictetus combined it with apatheia (inner peace from absence of passion)
• Eastern philosophies, such as that of Confucius (-551 to -479), emphasizes harmony and quality interaction with the environment over individual independence
• Harmony requires suppressing the individual ego, achieved through recognizing interdependence (Buddhist) or ending ego-based illusion (Indian Advaita)

Psychological Conceptions of Happiness

• Scientific psychology historically focused on problems, but in 2000, positive psychology emerged
• Psychologists differ on happiness versus well-being, causing confusion
• “Happiness” describes an abstract concept, while “Well-being” refers to its measurement via psychological tests
• The "well-being" includes hedonic well-being, relating to pleasure, and eudemonic well-being, relating to developing one's potential.
• Some view well-being as naturally hedonic, while happiness is a mix of well-being and a sense of purpose (eudaimonic)
• Authentic happiness combines hedonic PLUS eudemonic well-being
• Bien-être Subjectif (Subjective Well-being SWB) theory includes instant experiences of positive and negative emotions - clearly hedonic
• For BEP Bien-être Psychologique, psychological well-being the "why" is the orientation of behavior, values, and personal motivation
• BEP uses 6 criteria for eudaimonic function : self-acceptance, positive relationships, personal growth, sense of purpose, environmental mastery, and autonomy
• Flourishing combines previous well-being elements
• Social well-being model adds 5 criteria social integration, social acceptance, social contribution, social actualization, and social coherence
• PERMA model combines positive emotions, positive relationships, meaning, engagement, and accomplishments
• Engagement is related to energy investment and immersive attention (flow), while Accomplishment links to achieving important goals
• Conditions inducing happiness (activities, character) are as important as studying happiness itself

Intercultural Conceptions of happiness

• Psychological approaches to happiness use Western-centric, time and space-bound definitions
• Recent scientific psychology research looks at cultural universals in happiness concepts
• An investigation showed that in different cultures, people refer to pleasure sensations, cognitive evaluations across assessment periods, and identity-based values
• One study featured qualitative question and quantitative evaluation of hedonic and eudemonic happiness components
• Participants answers about happiness were about context-specific domains and decontextualized categories
• Happiness connects harmony and psychological balance of domains, family and social contact
• The second study asked participants the open question "What is happiness for you?"
• Participants listed inter-alia harmony in 11 of 12 countries, and peace of mind, balance, contentment with one's self and mental & physical well-being
• More empirical investigation on harmony and inner peace is required
• Well-being assessment scales need supplementing via harmonic approach beyond individualistic, hedonic, or eudaimonic
• Millennia-old philosophical traditions isolated hedonism, eudaimonism, and inner peace
• Modern scientific psychology emphasizes hedonism and eudaimonism
• Population connects happiness to inner peace, but this receives little study

Measuring Happiness

• Measurement and instrument construction grounds science
• Researches develop tests since their various concepts of happiness differ; happiness and well-being have many tests
• Most distinguish hedonic from eudaimonic happiness, using specific measurement tools
• Behaviors relating to eudaimonic happiness result in positive feelings (hedonic), though correlation varies between the constructs
• First approach measures synthetic happiness unidimensionally with a question
• Cantril Scale asks subjects to think of a scale of 10, from best to worst life
• Some combine intensity and time into "measures of happiness"; can specify period and time
• Classical method integrates diverse, validated surveys, e.g. « Questionnaire de bien-être eudémonique » which uses items from BEP and Satisfaction de vie
• Three dimensions factor in hedonic happiness : positive affect, negative affect, and satisfaction with life
• Measuring instant joy or sadness depends on time and affect levels
• Questionnaires reflect long-term life spans and are items are scaled e.g. « Up to now I have acquired the important things I wanted from my life »
• Assessments on criteria divide authors so it's essential to account for philosophical approaches to life and items relating to experiences
• With few dedicated tools researchers use measures as mix of hedonic and eudaemonic, like le « Questionnaire de Bien-être Eudémonique » QEWB

Happiness, Harmonization and Well-being

• Assessing happiness as harmony is new: example le l'échelle d'Harmonie dans la vie
• Life Satisfaction Scale measures the space between one's life and expected values, using signifiers like money
• Harmony relates to peace and balance: good balance between one's self and environment
• Harmony results from adapting the individual to its environment, while “satisfaction” results from adapting the environment to individual needs
• Cognition is altered when one reduces gaps, accepts reality, and avoids judgement
• In evaluating well-being use "trait" and "state" measurements
• "Trait' means the individual's stable and intrinsic character, and "state' relates to short-term status like emotions
• Happiness study uses the Experience Sampling Method, and seeks to avoid memory-based bias
• The method supplies a recording tool for journaling responses, with mini-tests given when prompted
• The DRM, or Day Reconstruction Method mixes ESM with cognitive measures
• Recalled activities over a day yield journaling in memory suitable format

Objective Effects of Happiness

• Happiness has observable advantages
• The World Health Organization links it to health
• Happiness yields many objective advantages
• Studies use hedonic Biens-Être Subjectif Subjective Well-Being (BES) measures
• Authors studied numerous people, approximately 275,000 in 225 publications
• Happiness is associated with success in life, encompassing many aspects, including one's physicality, occupation, relationship, and mentality
• Analyses use varied techniques; co-occurrence tests, diachronic tests, interventions etc
• Interventions are given in simple affect term or improvement of a longer trend

Effects, health and longevity

• The WHO defines health is inclusive of having a sense that is good, and has long known about emotion's impact on health, well-being impacts
• Emotion has contrasting effects; stress/unhappiness induce elevations; positive moods reduce and increase immune system's resistance
• Happier people live longer/better, as stress can prevent wound mending. In illness healing tends to be more optimistic
• Pregnant women undergo fewer episodes of spontaneous abortion and their infant tend to weight more within parameters if more optimistic

Productivity

• Happiness fosters healthier habits like increased eating to health more
• Study of behavior requires causality study of emotion and reaction, or a third factor may affect both
• Analysis of experiments show emotion affects performance e. g. gratitude prompts indulgence
• Eudaemonic happiness and effects on the soul are less shown, yet seemingly link to survival: lower death rates in happy group

Determinants of Biological factors

• Each has a unique "Level Set", a inclination to affect mood independent of external events
• Level set impacts how respond to events negative or positive
• Most undergo an era when the person undergoes temporary affections
• Studies of twin groups showed 50% of well-being is hereditary
• Predictions can be well-grounded, good and bad, which are both impactful
• Health and well-being have strong relationships but studies show there is an offset, but those with limitations get nearly-normal results
• Physical actions show reductions if anxiety driven, especially if aerobic or sustained
• If these are present one's well-being turns more positive or more easy to address; cancer being something to deal with, or physical factors

Environmental Determinants and Adaption

• Possessing high salaries is linked to access in modern cultures i. e. property, education etc, although studies show low connections to satisfaction
• While within a nation, "high income earners" usually make more than those who don't, increased income isn't linked to improved happiness
• Multiple inter-nation tests run however, have good contact with improved Hedonistic Bien-être
• It's speculated that well-being may only be slightly elevated after a threshold
• Hedonistic well-being states that after an external disturbance a person returns to former state
• Economics have a similar finding; level improves vastly or even if one is paralyzed

Sociopolitical Determinants

• Sociopolitical factors, not people, are most decisive
• Democracies boost personal well-being
• Good governance bolsters and right is a positive relationship with well-being
• Countries are most well-off
• Many differences between nation are clear, but these ratings aren't without bias
• People from "happy" nations simply test ratings differently than those who are "unhappy". High rates of migration may or may not boost happiness

Psychological Determinants

• Relationships greatly relate to this
• It has been shown coupling tends to strongly increase the Bien Être, although children have a complicated relationship linked to financial stability
• The general, most all-encompassing element to well-being is to create links.
• ESM based analysis shows it to be with leaders or engineers
• Many fields that are valorized and highly-paid however show poor quality of overall satisfaction with average rates lower
• The most common factor comes from the outlook: It may enhance long-life experiences and those relationships to which individuals contribute
• Spiritual people most all of the time show well-being, reduced suicide rates and those effects can enhance and give powerful qualities

Increasing and maintaining happiness

• In what amount, by what method and is it beneficial from other aspects.
• One senses emotions and uses techniques. Will these changes resist temporal tests.
• The level, that varies chronologically, rests on various parts mainly genetics
• Circumstances only affect well-being briefly.

Tests for improvement

• Studies show people who follow styles to improve it
• Those with new happiness adopt some 14 characteristics: adopting new level of events, committing, adapting to new view
• The study showed a big gains of about 80%, although sometimes events block success.
• By knowing what makes folks better informed
• Those are better if they are given a chance and support them.

Character Development

• In the beginning is described a well-suited virtue, and is an action most are able to perform - With more or less effort, that is
• Three types, one being oriented on mind and other related to self-control
• The other parts show connections and the study comes as an agreement.
• These elements most all the time are desired by both children and parents
• There is always a solid set that can be related to positive outcomes
• By discovering what supports make self feel energized.