Positive Psy L3.pdf

LECTURE 3 Happiness and the Facts of Life 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Are people with more advantaged background and more money happier? How do the facts of life influence our well-being? Age and Happiness Money and Happiness Gender and Happiness Other Facts of Life and Happiness Stability of SWB Age and Happi...

LECTURE 3 Happiness and the Facts of Life 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Are people with more advantaged background and more money happier? How do the facts of life influence our well-being? Age and Happiness Money and Happiness Gender and Happiness Other Facts of Life and Happiness Stability of SWB Age and Happiness Inglehart (1990) ● “Turning points” in life do not affect one’s well-being much ○ Women experiencing menopause(停經) did not report increase in negative emotions Why do we feel that age is related to our well-being? ● Impact Bias: ○ People consistently overestimate the strength and duration of anticipated emotional reactions of both positive and negative events. ■ . Gilbert et al. (2004) conducted a study in subway station ● Results: Forecaster group’s predicted regret is stronger than experiencer group’s reported regret experience. In this way, forecasters overestimated their level of regret in missing the train. ● Why Impact Bias? ○ Focalism ■ The tendency to restrict our attention to one aspect of an event, thus neglected other aspects that may reduce one’s emotional reaction ● e.g. thinking break-up would be the end of the world, neglected support from close others that may help offset the emotional pain ○ Immune neglect ■ The tendency to downplay our ability to cope and adapt from bad situation ● Neglected our psychological immune system that helps us to bounce back from negative life events (i.e. underestimation of one’s resilience). So why subjective well-being is so stable across life span? ● Temperament (Three dimensions) ○ Temperament is general tendency to feel or act in certain ways, that represent the innate biological structures of personality. ■ Activity level: The overall amount of energy a person exhibits ■ Emotionality: The intensity of emotional reactions ■ Sociability: The general tendency to affiliate with others. ○ There seems to be a genetic set point determining our general level of happiness. ■ our internal response to events would be stabilized and return to the set point. ● e.g. divorce, getting new job, or moving a new place to live does not significantly alter most people’s long-term well-being ● The Shifting Basis of Life Satisfaction ○ Socioemotional selectivity theory ■ argues that people prioritize different kinds of goals as they perceive future time differently ● people are more motivated to pursue knowledge-related goals such as gaining new experiences and information ● expanding social networks, so as to bank for their long-term future. ■ when people perceive future time horizons as shorter and more limited (e.g. as in older adulthood) ● ● they prioritize emotionally meaningful goals by savoring the present, investing in sure things, and ● choosing to deepen close relationships rather than seeking new connections. ○ Socioemotional selectivity theory predicts no general age-related declines in well-being. ■ because older persons give priority to maximizing positive emotional experiences and minimizing negative ones. ■ i.e. older persons avoid situations that result in negative emotions and gravitate to those they enjoy (e.g. social interaction). What can we conclude about age and happiness? ○ Despite changes in our emotional lives, personal goals, and sources of happiness across the lifespan, happiness is not related to age. ○ Every age is potentially as happy as any other. We should embrace and enjoy what each new phase of life offers for well-being! Money and Happiness Can money buy happiness? ● Between-Nations Comparisons: Are people in those richer countries happier? ○ Studies report moderate to high correlations ● Within-Nations Comparisons: Studies report small correlations between income and happiness ○ Income and well-being show ■ Moderate correlations within poor countries ■ Very small or non-significant correlations within wealthy countries ● An explanation is the fulfillment of basic needs ○ If one fulfilled basic needs, the source of happiness would be shifted to other aspects of life. (ref. Maslow’s need hierarchy theory) ● Maslow’s need hierarchy ○ Individuals progress upward in the hierarchy when lower needs are satisfied reasonably well ○ Physiological → Safety → Love and Belongingness → Esteem Which one is true: Between-nations or within-nations correlation? ● Both correlations involves confounding variables ○ Between-nations correlation ■ Rich nations tend to have more democratic forms of government, more freedom, more individual rights to citizens, better health care and sanitation ■ Diener and Seligman (2004) note that when these variables are taken into consideration, the correlations would become non-significant. ○ Within-nation correlation ■ Personality ● A very outgoing person at a low-income level may have a higher level of happiness than an introvert. How can we better unfold the relationship of money and happiness at an individual level? ● Diener et al. (2002) - Longitudinal design ○ In general, more cheerful at college entry went on to make more money. ■ A cheerful outlook may create a “can do” attitude and motivates students to meet new challenges ■ Cheerfulness may be related to higher social skills and make the person more approachable ■ Cheerfulness makes a person more likeable and makes the performance seems better Gender and Happiness Gender and Negative Emotions ● Women ( more verbal and relational aggressive) ○ Much more likely to experience negative emotions and internalizing disorders ○ Internalizing disorders usually involve intense negative emotions such as anxiety and depression. ● Men (more physically aggressive) ○ Much more likely to experience externalizing disordersThose involve the acting out of emotions ○ e.g. drug abuse, antisocial personality disorder, and problems associated with uncontrolled anger and aggression ● Women experience more intense and express of positive emotions than men ○ e.g. joy, happiness, and love to others ○ e.g. women smile more frequently than men Other Facts Physical and Mental Health ● Happiness is associated with longer life, lower susceptibility to disease, and better recovery from illnesses such as cardiovascular disease. ● Lower well-being is also related to poorer mental health as well. Unemployment ● Unemployment has relatively immediate and negative effects on well-being ○ Increased risk for depression, physical illness, lowered self-esteem, and unhappiness Intelligence ● No significant relationship Education ● Argyle (2001) summarized a small positive relationship to happiness Race, Ethnicity, and Stigma ● Certain ethnic minority groups may be discriminated and negatively stereotyped ○ People with disabilities such as blindness have levels of SWB in the positive range, only slightly lower than averages within the nondisabled population. Stability of Subjective Well Being It seems all those factors (age, money, gender, health, intelligence, education, etc.) have only little influence on one’s SWB, why? ● Heritability of Personality ○ People have a genetic predisposition to be happy or unhappy ■ heritability studies ● Identical twins (100%) / Fraternal twins (50%) ● Identical twins who raised apart are more alike in personality then fraternal twins who were raised apart. ● It’s also found that identical twins who raised apart are more alike in personality then fraternal twins who were raised together. ● Indicated genetic influences on personality. ● Adaptation and the Hedonic Treadmill ○ Hedonic treadmill ■ Good and bad events temporarily affect happiness, but people quickly adapt back to hedonic neutrality or genetic baseline. ● like a treadmill, where you walk and walk but don’t get anywhere, our overall level of long term happiness does not change. ○ Brickman et al. (1978) ■ ○ Investing in whether winning a lottery and being paraplegic after an accident would influence one’s well-being. ● Lottery → Not significantly different ● Accident victims ○ This indicates that accident victims recalled their past as having been happier than did controls, while experiencing their present as less happy than controls Emotions, like many sensory experiences, appear to serve short-term purposes (e.g. fight or flight response) but do not last.