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Robert A. CumminsAustralian Centre on Quality of Life
Deakin University
Is happiness good for you?
http://www.deakin.edu.au/research/acqol
The science of happiness
Science has captured the study of happiness from philosophy
There is now 30 years of systematic researchinto the theoretical basis and empirical performanceof the human sense of wellbeing
Quality of Life[wellbeing]
Objective Wellbeing Subjective Wellbeing[happiness]
Objective Conditionse.g. Physical health
Subjective Perceptionse.g. Satisfaction with health
?
www.vermontdairy.com/ice_cream
Feelings of ‘happiness’ come in two varieties
Short-term ‘emotional’ happinessAn emotional response to something nice
Long-term ‘mood’ happinessA mood with a genetic basis
Subjective wellbeing[Contentment]
How can we describe the sense of subjective wellbeing?
A normally positive state of mind that involves the whole life experience
Personal Wellbeing Index
• Standard of living• Health• Achieving in life• Relationships• Safety• Community connectedness• Future security• Spirituality/Religion
How satisfied are you with your-----?
∑ = Subjective
Wellbeing
We code all data to lie on a range from
0 100
Completedissatisfaction
Completesatisfaction
Why all the fuss about mood happiness?
Positive emotions build a range of personal resources as:
Physical resources (health, longevity)
Social resources (friendliness, social capital)
Intellectual resources (intellectual curiosity, expert knowledge,)
Psychological resources (resilience, optimism, creativity)
In 2000
Deakin University and Australian Unityformed a partnership
Purpose: to create a quarterly index of subjective wellbeing for the Australian
population.
As an alternative to the traditional economic indicators such as GDP
The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index Surveys
Geographically representative sample
N = 2,000
Telephone interview
#1: April 2001
------------
#26: Sept 2011
76.7
73.7
>S11
>S2, S4, S5
Scores above this line aresignif icantly higher than S1
SurveyDate
Major eventspreceding survey
72
73
74
75
76
77
S1
Ap
r 200
1
S2
Sep
t 200
1
S3
Mar
200
2
S4
Aug
200
2
S5
No
v 20
02
S6
Mar
200
3
S7
Jun
2003
S8
Aug
200
3
S9
No
v 20
03
S10
Feb
200
4
S11
May
200
4
S12
Aug
200
4
S13
May
200
5
S14
Oct
200
5
S15
May
200
6
S16
Oct
200
6
S17
Ap
r 20
07
S18
Oct
200
7
S18
.1 F
eb 2
008
S19
Ap
r 20
08
S20
Oct
200
8
S20
.1 F
eb 2
009
S21
May
200
9
S22
Sep
t 20
09
S23
Ap
ril 2
010
S24
Sep
t 20
10
S25
Ap
r 20
11
S26
Sep
t 20
11
Strengthof
satisfaction
Maximum = 76.3Current = 75.5Minimum = 73.2
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n
Personal Wellbeing Index2001 - 2011
76.7
73.7
>S11
>S2, S4, S5
Scores above this line aresignif icantly higher than S1
SurveyDate
Major eventspreceding survey
72
73
74
75
76
77
S1
Ap
r 200
1
S2
Sep
t 200
1
S3
Mar
200
2
S4
Aug
200
2
S5
No
v 20
02
S6
Mar
200
3
S7
Jun
2003
S8
Aug
200
3
S9
No
v 20
03
S10
Feb
200
4
S11
May
200
4
S12
Aug
200
4
S13
May
200
5
S14
Oct
200
5
S15
May
200
6
S16
Oct
200
6
S17
Ap
r 20
07
S18
Oct
200
7
S18
.1 F
eb 2
008
S19
Ap
r 20
08
S20
Oct
200
8
S20
.1 F
eb 2
009
S21
May
200
9
S22
Sep
t 20
09
S23
Ap
ril 2
010
S24
Sep
t 20
10
S25
Ap
r 20
11
S26
Sep
t 20
11
Strengthof
satisfaction
Maximum = 76.3Current = 75.5Minimum = 73.2
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n
Personal Wellbeing Index2001 - 2011
This represents a 3.0 percentage point variation
Normative range using survey mean scores as data (N=26)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
SD = 0.8Mean = 74.9
76.4
73.4
SubjectiveWellbeing
Very satisfied
Very dissatisfied
Why is subjective wellbeing held so steady?
Homeostasis
Just like we hold body temperature steady
Subjective wellbeing homeostasis
Each person has a set-point for their subjective wellbeing.
60
90
Range forindividualset-points
These set-points lie between
60 and 90
Set-points are always POSITIVEie above 50
The average set-point is 75.
75
60
90
Range For
individualset-points
[The set-point for the average person ]
75
Time
60
90
When nothing much is happening to them, people rate how they feel about their life in terms of their set-point for SWB
The average set-point
Homeostasis can fail
Overwhelmingnegative
challenges
Subjective wellbeing
The result of subjective wellbeing loss is depression
Subjective wellbeing constantly under challenge, but is well protected
ChallengesSubjective Wellbeing[normal]
X
External resources(eg. relationships,
money)
The most protective External Resources
A close relationship
http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/12651/small_-_old_couple.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Asia/China/photo114529.htm&h=267&w=400&sz=97&hl=en&start=13&sig2=g6PUgVjsMT8vqd1hp3DFsQ&um=1&tbnid=2jGBr7dyST6m0M:&tbnh=95&tbnw=143&ei=3rOhRt6XEJ2mggOIhqXlDQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dold%2Bcouple%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG
Money
How does money link to happiness?
Money is a flexible resource that allows people to defend themselves
against life’s challenges
Income is an external resource that enhances resilience
Median
Total N ≈ 30,000
76.3
Normal Range
73.0
*78.0
*76.5
*73.9
71.7
74.9
78.3
79.2
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
<$15 $15-30 $31-60 $61-90 $91-120 $121-150 $150+
Household Income ($'000)
Subjectivewellbeing *
Income and Mood Happiness
Australian Unity Wellbeing Index[cumulative data]
763
Normative Range
73.0
79.179.1
77.477.477.3
76.575.4
6263646566676869707172737475767778798081
<$15 $15-$30 $31-$60 $61-$90 $91-$120$121-$150 $150+
Household Income ($'000)
Partner only
SubjectiveWellbeing
median
Australian Unity Wellbeing Index[cumulative data]
76.3
73.0
Normative Range
79.1
80.7
75.476.5
77.3 77.477.4
79.1
77.3
78.9
70.3
72.6
75.9
78.2
6263646566676869707172737475767778798081
<$15 $15-$30 $31-$60 $61-$90 $91-$120$121-$150 $150+
Household Income ($'000)
Partner only
Partner & children
SubjectiveWellbeing
Australian Unity Wellbeing Index[cumulative data]
76.3
Normative Range
73.0
79.1
80.7
64.1
70.1
76.3
79.1
77.477.477.3
76.575.4
78.2
75.9
72.6
70.3
78.9
77.376.5
69.6
6263646566676869707172737475767778798081
<$15 $15-$30 $31-$60 $61-$90 $91-$120$121-$150 $150+
Household Income ($'000)
Partner only
Partner & children
Sole parent
SubjectiveWellbeing
Internal resources
ChallengesSubjective wellbeingX
External resources(eg. relationships,
money)
Internal resources(eg. Finding meaning)
BALLARD STREET
“I can’t be good at everything,” reasons Todd
When we fail to control the world around uswe use Cognitive Restructuring to protect SWB
The use of internal resources
Using internal resources to protect wellbeing
75
Time
Dropscoffee I can’t be
good at everything
Subjective wellbeing
Using external resources to protect wellbeing
75
Time
Hire abutler
Subjective wellbeing
In summary
Homeostasis can fail
MOODHappiness
<50/100
Challenges to homeostasis The loss of positive
wellbeing is
depression
Maintaining homeostasis
MOODHappiness
75/100
Challenges to homeostasis
Buffering resources
Is more better?Are high levels of happiness good for
you?
The answer lies in homeostasis therefore
Sometimes Yes and sometimes No
Happiness can be associated with pathology
Name a boss you can think of who---
1 Takes advantage of others to achieve for them self
2 Lacks empathy
3 Requires excessive admiration
4 Preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
5 Believes they can only be understood by other high-status people
6 Exaggerates own achievements and talents to the point of lying
7 Is envious of others or believes that others are envious of them.
8 Is arrogant and haughty
At least five criteria = Narcissistic Personality Disorder
They tend to have high levels of happiness
(at the expense of everyone else!)
School of Psychology
What about non-pathological happiness?
People have different set-points for happiness
So, do people with high set-points do better in life than people
with low set-points?
‘The Nun Study’ (Danner et al., 2001, Journal of Personality & Social
Psychology)
180 Catholic nuns in USA
Age: 75 – 95y (42% had died)
At age 22y produced a brief autobiography
Analysis: rated for positive & negative content
Strength of emotional content
Negative Positive
Correlation with longevity No Yes
LOWEST positive 25% – HIGHEST positive 25% = 10 Years
http://www.rootsw
eb.com/~flstjohn/shannon/
nun.jpg
SWB is a positive emotional state that
Buffers
the adverse effects of negative emotion.
High set-points buffer daily experience
Genetic highMood Happiness(High set-point)
STRONGBUFFERS
(High Resilience)
SUBJECTIVEWELLBEING
(above average)
POSITIVE NEGATIVE
ENVIRONMENT
Is a chronic high level of happiness good for you?
1. It is good for nuns
longevity morbidity
2. It is generally beneficial to pro-social behaviours
Principle of homeostasis
It is defending each person’s set-point for happiness, which is an adaptive level for that person
Movement of happiness either below or above the set-point range should be less adaptive
High levels of happiness can sometimes be BAD for you
risk-taking
over-confidence
Happiness in not risk-free
However, no one commits suicide while feeling happy
By far the largest risk-factor in low happiness [depression]
Broaden and Build ModelBarbara Fredrickson (2001)
Happiness
-Look outward-Seek new information / experiment and play
-High motivation to engage the world
Happiness
-Look inwards-Ruminate and try to find
the reason for theunhappiness
-Low motivation to engage the world
Fredrickson, B.L., & Branigan, C. (2001) Positive emotions. In T.J. Mayne., & G.A. Bonanno (Eds.).Emotions: Current issues
and future directions, 123-152, Guilford Press, New York.
SummaryWe have a gold standard for happiness and a theoretical
model for understanding how it is maintained by a homeostatic system.
Happiness does not necessarily = mental health [eg. Narcissistic Personality Disorder]
Happiness is generally good for us [but we cannot increase it beyond the set-point ceiling]
Acute periods of low happiness are adaptive and normal [Broaden and Build]
Chronically low happiness is caused by homeostatic defeat [Depression]
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