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219
Beyond the hedonic treadmill: Revising the adaptation theory of well-being.
- American Psychologist,
, 2006
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Watching alone: Relational goods, television and happiness
- Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organisation
, 2008
"... This paper discusses the role of relational goods and television viewing for individual happiness. Using individual data from the World Values Survey, we find evidence of a positive effect of rela-tionality on life satisfaction, and a negative effect of television viewing on relational activities. B ..."
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Cited by 58 (3 self)
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This paper discusses the role of relational goods and television viewing for individual happiness. Using individual data from the World Values Survey, we find evidence of a positive effect of rela-tionality on life satisfaction, and a negative effect of television viewing on relational activities. Both relationships are strongly significant and robust to the use of alternative indicators of relationality. The results are also robust to estimation by instrumental variables to deal with possible simultaneity. We interpret these findings as an indication that the pervasive and increasing role of television viewing in contem-porary society, through its crowding out effect on relational activities, contributes to the explanation of the income-happiness paradox.
Life cycle happiness and its sources: Intersections of psychology, economics, and demography
- Journal of Economic Psychology
, 2006
"... In the United States happiness rises slightly, on average, from ages 18 to midlife, and declines slowly thereafter. This pattern for the total population is the net result of disparate trends in the satisfaction people get from various life domains: their financial situation, family life, health, an ..."
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Cited by 52 (0 self)
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In the United States happiness rises slightly, on average, from ages 18 to midlife, and declines slowly thereafter. This pattern for the total population is the net result of disparate trends in the satisfaction people get from various life domains: their financial situation, family life, health, and work. The slight rise in happiness through midlife is due chiefly to growing satisfaction with one’s family life and work, which together more than offset decreasing satisfaction with health. Beyond midlife, happiness edges downward as a continuing decline in satisfaction with health is joined by diminishing satisfaction with one’s family situation and work; these negative trends are offset considerably, however, by a sizeable upturn in later life in people’s satisfaction with their financial situation. These findings come from an analysis of the United States General Social Surveys, using the demographer’s synthetic panel technique. They support neither the mainstream economics view that well-being depends only on one’s objective conditions nor the psychologists ’ strong setpoint model in which adaptation to such conditions is rapid and complete. They are consistent with a “bottom up ” model in which happiness is the net outcome of both objective and subjective factors in various life domains.
The Optimum Level of Well-Being -- Can People Be Too Happy?
- PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE
, 2007
"... Psychologists, self-help gurus, and parents all work to make their clients, friends, and children happier. Recent research indicates that happiness is functional and generally leads to success. However, most people are already above neutral in happiness, which raises the question of whether higher l ..."
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Cited by 38 (1 self)
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Psychologists, self-help gurus, and parents all work to make their clients, friends, and children happier. Recent research indicates that happiness is functional and generally leads to success. However, most people are already above neutral in happiness, which raises the question of whether higher levels of happiness facilitate more effective functioning than do lower levels. Our analyses of large survey data and longitudinal data show that people who experience the highest levels of happiness are the most successful in terms of close relationships and volunteer work, but that those who experience slightly lower levels of happiness are the most successful in terms of income, education, and political participation. Once people are moderately happy, the most effective level of happiness appears to depend on the specific outcomes used to define
A history of psychology
- in autobiography, Vol. II
, 1932
"... This is to certify that the thesis prepared ..."
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Too much of a good thing: The challenge and opportunity of the inverted-U
- Perspectives on Psychological Science
, 2011
"... Aristotle proposed that to achieve happiness and success, people should cultivate virtues at mean or intermediate levels between deficiencies and excesses. In stark contrast to this assertion that virtues have costs at high levels, a wealth of psychological research has focused on demonstrating the ..."
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Cited by 22 (0 self)
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Aristotle proposed that to achieve happiness and success, people should cultivate virtues at mean or intermediate levels between deficiencies and excesses. In stark contrast to this assertion that virtues have costs at high levels, a wealth of psychological research has focused on demonstrating the well-being and performance benefits of positive traits, states, and experiences. This focus has obscured the prevalence and importance of nonmonotonic inverted-U-shaped effects, whereby positive phenomena reach inflection points at which their effects turn negative. We trace the evidence for nonmonotonic effects in psychology and provide recommendations for conceptual and empirical progress. We conclude that for psychology in general and positive psy-chology in particular, Aristotle’s idea of the mean may serve as a useful guide for developing both a descriptive and a prescriptive account of happiness and success.
How money buys happiness: Genetic and environmental processes
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
, 2006
"... Measures of wealth such as income and assets are commonly considered to be objective measures of environmental circumstances, making direct contributions to life satisfaction. Here, the authors explored the accuracy of this assumption. Using a nationwide sample of 719 twin pairs from the National Su ..."
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Cited by 21 (0 self)
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Measures of wealth such as income and assets are commonly considered to be objective measures of environmental circumstances, making direct contributions to life satisfaction. Here, the authors explored the accuracy of this assumption. Using a nationwide sample of 719 twin pairs from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States, the authors first noted the relative independence of most perceptions about financial status from measures of actual wealth. They then demonstrated that perceived financial situation and control over life completely mediated the association between measures of actual wealth and life satisfaction. Finally, they showed that financial resources appeared to protect life satisfaction from environmental shocks. In addition, control appeared to act as a mechanism translating life circumstances into life satisfaction.
On the Curvature of the Reporting Function from Objective Reality to Subjective Feelings
, 2008
"... I suggest the idea of a reporting function, r(.), from reality to feelings. The ‘happiness’ literature claims we have demonstrated diminishing marginal utility of income. I show not, and that knowing r(.)’s curvature is crucial. A quasi-experiment on heights is studied. Key words: Money, diminishing ..."
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Cited by 21 (6 self)
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I suggest the idea of a reporting function, r(.), from reality to feelings. The ‘happiness’ literature claims we have demonstrated diminishing marginal utility of income. I show not, and that knowing r(.)’s curvature is crucial. A quasi-experiment on heights is studied. Key words: Money, diminishing marginal utility, height, concavity. JEL codes: I3, D1 I thank a referee for useful comments and encouragement to broaden its precursor, Oswald (2005). This work began while I held the post of Jacob Wertheim Fellow at Harvard University. I thank Ville S.Kamppi for fine research assistance. I have had valuable conversations on the topic with Gordon Brown, Amanda
2006c) Life goals matter to happiness: A revision of set-point theory, DIW Discussion Paper No. 639
"... views of the institute. ..."
