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Abstract
Subjective well-being reflects the happiness of citizens and includes whether they believe and feel that their lives are desirable, satisfying, and rewarding. It is a key indicator of national quality of life – that is the extent circumstances in a nation are desirable – in addition to other economic and social indicators. It is important for societies to monitor subjective well-being because it reflects people’s experience of the quality of life due to desirable conditions such as good social relationships, economic prosperity, and health. However, there is also causation in the other direction in that happy people are likely to be friendlier, healthier, more cooperative, and better citizens. Furthermore, they are more likely to be successful and productive at work, and are likely to earn more money. In other words, happiness leads to circumstances associated with a better quality of life. The benefits of happiness generalize to the societal level in that happy societies are on average healthier and have higher social capital. Therefore, it is essential for societies to monitor subjective well-being or “happiness” not only because the measures of happiness broadly reflect the quality of life in the society, including circumstances beyond money, but also because they assess a characteristic that helps the society function effectively. Happiness can no longer be viewed as a luxury; we now know it is essential for quality of life. Although other facets of quality of life can be measured, such as capabilities, subjective well-being reflects the influence of these in people’s lived experience. Furthermore, subjective well-being is a crucial societal resource in producing good outcomes.
... However, there are still three important research gaps in this area. First, previous research has reported results mainly from the Western world (Rain et al., 1991;Heller et al., 2002;Diener and Tay, 2012). Second, most research in the subject is correlational, which does not allow for the inferring of causality (Bowling et al., 2010). ...
... From this point of view, happiness is often called subjective well-being (Diener, 1984), which consists of cognitive (life satisfaction) and emotional (positive and negative emotions) experiences. Life satisfaction represents the judgment that a person makes about his/her life in several domains (Diener, 1984;Diener and Tay, 2012), and it is the most extended construct for assessing subjective well-being (Helliwell et al., 2013). A growing body of research has shown that higher life satisfaction is associated with several desirable companies' results, such as higher career satisfaction, organizational commitment, and especially, job satisfaction (Diener and Tay, 2012). ...
... Life satisfaction represents the judgment that a person makes about his/her life in several domains (Diener, 1984;Diener and Tay, 2012), and it is the most extended construct for assessing subjective well-being (Helliwell et al., 2013). A growing body of research has shown that higher life satisfaction is associated with several desirable companies' results, such as higher career satisfaction, organizational commitment, and especially, job satisfaction (Diener and Tay, 2012). ...
The link between job satisfaction and life satisfaction has been extensively explored in the relevant literature. However, the great majority of past research has been carried out using cross-sectional analyses, and almost exclusively in the Western world. Moreover, the underlying psychological mechanisms explaining the link are not yet completely understood. Thus, we report the first research to date which uses both cross-sectional and longitudinal data among workers in Chile—a fast-developing Latin American economy—and which aims to tackle previous limitations. Three studies consistently support a positive link between the constructs. Study 1 (N = 636) found that higher job satisfaction predicted higher life satisfaction both contemporaneously and longitudinally, and vice versa, above and beyond several key control variables. Study 2 (N = 725) and Study 3 (N = 703) replicated Study 1 results, but tested for the first time the role of satisfaction of basic psychological needs (as stated by self-determination theory) in the job–life satisfaction link. This is the most novel contribution of our paper. Key implications not only for individual quality of life, but also for companies' human resource practices emerge from our findings.
... Life satisfaction refers to the judgment that an individual does about his/her life in several domains (Diener, Inglehart, & Tay, 2013;Diener & Tay, 2012), and it is rather a cognitive than a simple report of one's feeling state, leading some researchers to label it "cognitive well-being" (Luhmann, Hofmann, Eid, & Lucas, G. Stephanou, S. Giorgali Psychology 2012). Diener (1994) considers satisfaction to represent the cognitive component of one's well-being, and affect to represent its emotional counterpart, while, according to Helliwell, Layard and Sachs (2013), life satisfaction is a significant contributor to subjective well-being. ...
... This research, in consistency with life satisfaction, and, considering that the participants have a certain career in the certain domain of education, focuses on work satisfaction. In the literature, job satisfaction and work satisfaction have been indiscriminately used each other.Life satisfaction is positively related to several desirable companies' results, such as career satisfaction, organizational commitment and, particularly, job satisfaction(Diener & Tay, 2012). Similarly, job satisfaction is a beneficious to various organization-related factors, such as job performance, work engagement and organizational citizenship behavior, and to life satisfaction(Erdogan, Bauer, Truxillo, & Mansfield, 2012;Heller, Judge, & Watson, 2002;Judge & Bono, 2001;Mafini & Pooe, 2013;Swaminathan & Jawahar, 2013), while it is inversely associated within underproductive, interpersonal and organizational behaviors ...
... On the basis of the "top-down model, " it is hypothesized that life satisfaction would positively contribute to academic satisfaction. Some studies showed that higher life satisfaction predicted higher job and career satisfaction among adolescents (Judge and Watanabe, 1993;Diener and Tay, 2017). In addition, research showed that life satisfaction led to higher student motivation and school engagement (Lewis et al., 2011;Dilling, 2016), which predicted increased academic satisfaction (Wach et al., 2016;Johnson et al., 2017). ...
... The findings support the "top-down model" that global life satisfaction is a relatively stable psychological strength which would influence an individual's perceptions of specific aspects of life or experiences (Diener, 1984;Scherpenzeel and Saris, 1996). While no study has been done to examine the relationship between global satisfaction with life and specific satisfaction with academic study, the results are consistent with some existing studies supporting the "top-down model" that global satisfaction with life would influence satisfaction with specific life aspects such as job satisfaction, career satisfaction, and relationship satisfaction (Judge and Watanabe, 1993;Diener and Tay, 2017). Hence, the present study constitutes a theoretical advance in this area. ...
While research studies revealed that positive youth development (PYD) attributes have beneficial impact on adolescent developmental outcomes, whether and how PYD qualities are related to academic well-being (such as academic stress and academic satisfaction) are unclear. Based on a longitudinal study (N = 2,312 secondary school students; Mage = 12.54 ± 0.68; 51% female) in Hong Kong, the present study tested a longitudinal mediation model in which it was hypothesized that PYD qualities predicted life satisfaction, academic stress, and academic satisfaction, with satisfaction with life mediating the influence of PYD qualities on academic well-being. Results showed that PYD qualities positively predicted academic satisfaction but negatively predicted academic stress over time. While life satisfaction partially mediated the influence of PYD attributes on academic satisfaction, it fully mediated the influence of PYD attributes on academic stress. The present study supports the proposed conceptual model and underscores the role of PYD qualities in academic well-being through the mediation of life satisfaction.
... Well-being or happiness as referred to in parts of the literature has an extensive influence on human lifes. Happy people have not only been found to live longer and healthier, furthermore they are even more productive and successful (Diener & Chan, 2011;Diener & Tay, 2013;Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener, 2005). Happiness is per se an aspired feeling, which makes us confident and satisfied with the life we live. ...
... While there is agreement in literature that higher levels of well-being lead to success in life (see also Diener & Tay, 2013), it is contrarily discussed whether success results in higher well-being. For example, Samuel, Bergman, and Hupka-Brunner (2013) found no evidence for adolescents that a "lack of educational and occupational success [. . . ...
The study of well-being is an interdisciplinary field integrating aspects from psychology, economics, and the social and political sciences. Until today, research is still struggling to provide a robust definition of well-being, explaining its variation and dependencies on e.g. personality, demographics, way of life and life events. For this study, several machine learning techniques including kernel smoothing algorithms, neural networks and feature selection methods are applied in order to expand the structural understanding of subjective well-being and its dependencies. Well-being data from a four weeks study sequence including 362 participants is analyzed for non-parametric structures upon thirteen predictor variables, including the big five personality traits, a maximizer-satisficer scale, a fairness measure and six demographic variables. Neuroticism, extraversion and conscientiousness were confirmed as the most important predictors. Although identified non-parametric structures do not lead to significantly higher prediction accuracy, 54% of the well-being variance between participants was explained upon the predictors set. Surprisingly, the cross-validated machine learning algorithms were not found to achieve higher accuracy than the linear model.
... Recent research has shown that sustainable development is closely linked to subjective well-being (Layard, 2011;Layard, Clark & Senik, 2012;Sachs, 2012;UN, 2011aUN, , 2011b. In fact, subjective well-being correlates significantly with various desirable indicators of individual, community, social well-being and country (Diener & Tay, 2012). For example, individuals with higher levels of subjective well-being tend to show better indicators of mental and physical health, to build more lasting and meaningful relationships, to be more cooperative, to be less prejudiced, to be more charitable and to show higher levels of prosocial-social behavior and concern for others (Adler & Seligman, in press;Diener & Tay, 2012). ...
... In fact, subjective well-being correlates significantly with various desirable indicators of individual, community, social well-being and country (Diener & Tay, 2012). For example, individuals with higher levels of subjective well-being tend to show better indicators of mental and physical health, to build more lasting and meaningful relationships, to be more cooperative, to be less prejudiced, to be more charitable and to show higher levels of prosocial-social behavior and concern for others (Adler & Seligman, in press;Diener & Tay, 2012). On the other hand, it has also been found that subjective well-being predicts environmental protection, which would help planetary sustainability (Brown & Kasser, 2005;Unanue et al, 2016). ...
Nations assess human progress mainly through objective economic indicators of material progress (e.g., gross domestic
product, consumption, etc.). However, these measures have important limitations. Moreover, the excessive focus on material
aspects is leading the world to ecological, social and economic crises that are putting the future of humankind at risk. Building
on previous work, this paper has three goals. First, to show how subjective measures of (psychological) well-being can complement the standard economic indicators of material progress. Second, to discuss the recent evidence which states that subjective well-being can help to build a better world. Third, to show policy examples concerning how subjective measures can
help in allocating scarce resources, complementing the traditional economic methodologies.
... L. Graham, Morse, O'Donnell, & Steger, 2017). Having a healthy physical, emotional, and social will lead one towards a happier life, as stated by (Diener & Tay, 2017) that besides being able to improve interpersonal relations, forgiving others can also improve well-being. ...
p>The ability to forgive others is a condition in which a person is able to change the negative influence and solve dissonance and distress that accompany some life events into something constructive and pleasant. One technique that can be used to improve forgiveness is the Value Clarification Technique. The purpose of this study is to find out whether value clarification techniques are effective in increasing the ability to forgive others in MTs students. The research method used was experimental research with the type of One group pretest-posttest design. The research subjects were 8th grade MTs Al-Urwatul Wutsqo Jombang which were selected by purposive sampling technique. The instruments used were the Enright Forgiveness Inventory (EFI) attitude scale, and the training guide used as training material. Data is analyzed by analysts at Wilcoxon Matched Pairs Signed Ranks Test. Based on the results of the study it can be concluded that the value clarification technique is effective to increase the ability to forgive others in MTs students. The suggestions for this research are: (1) To get maximum results in the application of value clarification techniques, the counselor is expected to pay more attention to the cultural factors possessed by the subject, (2) Further researchers are expected to further deepen the research topic on self forgiveness (self-forgiveness/intrapersonal forgiveness), which is also a matter that needs attention, in order to maximize character education activities.
القدرة على مسامحة الآخرين هي موقف سلبي ومضطرب يكون أحيانًا بناء وممتعًا. أحد الأساليب التي يمكن استخدامها لتحسين المغفرة هي تقنية توضيح القيمة. الغرض من هذه الدراسة هو معرفة ما إذا كانت تقنيات التوضيح فعالة في زيادة القدرة على مسامحة الآخرين في طلاب MTs. طريقة البحث المستخدمة هي البحث التجريبي مع نوع من تصميم الاختبار القبلي التجريبي. كانت الموضوعات البحثية هي MTs من الصف الثامن Al-Urwatul Wutsqo Jombang التي تم اختيارها بواسطة تقنية أخذ العينات الهادفة. كانت الأدوات المستخدمة هي مقياس اتجاه مخزون الغفران (EFI) ، ودليل التدريب المستخدم كمواد تدريبية. تحليل البيانات من قبل المحلل في ويلكوكون المتطابقة أزواج وقعت في المرتبة اختبار. بناءً على نتائج هذه الدراسة ، تم التوصل إلى أن قيمة تقنية التوضيح كانت زيادة القدرة على مسامحة الآخرين في طلاب MTs. الاقتراحات الخاصة بهذا البحث هي: (1) مزيد من المعلومات حول التقنيات المملوكة ، أهم العوامل التي يمتلكها هذا الموضوع ، (2) من المتوقع أن يواصل الباحثون المزيد من تعميق موضوع بحث عن المغفرة الذاتية (المغفرة الذاتية / المغفرة الشخصية) ، وهي أيضًا مسألة تحتاج إلى اهتمام ، من أجل تعظيم طابع الأنشطة التعليمية.</p
... Sin embargo, la mayoría de autores coincide en que la conceptualización más adecuada que se le ha dado a la felicidad, dada su naturaleza subjetiva, es la de "bienestar subjetivo" (Mayers, 1995). El bienestar subjetivo tiene el objetivo de reflejar la felicidad de las personas y su propia percepción de qué tan satisfactorias, deseables y reconfortantes son sus vidas (Diener & Tay, 2012). ...
El bienestar subjetivo es un indicador de la felicidad y de la calidad de vida de los individuos. Refleja la experiencia de los seres humanos de acuerdo a condiciones de vida como buenas relaciones sociales, prosperidad económica y salud. Las personas felices tienden a ser más saludables, mejores ciudadanos y empleados más productivos. En esta investigación se aborda la teoría y los diversos estudios que analizan diferentes determinantes de la felicidad. Se toma como terreno de campo al Grupo Difare, una cadena de retail farmacéutico en Ecuador. Se realizó una encuesta que permitió determinar el nivel de bienestar subjetivo y de otros nueve indicadores: 1) bienestar psicológico, 2) felicidad laboral, 3) espiritualidad, 4) salud, 5) apoyo social, 6) afectos positivos, 7) bienestar material, 8) balance trabajo-vida y 9) acceso a educación, cultura y recreación. Se evidencia, como resultado, qué dominios afectan más la felicidad de los trabajadores y se sugiere en cuáles se debería trabajar más.
... The advent of measurement strategies to assess SWB opened a field of work aimed at identifying the consequences of happiness. An ever-expanding body of research suggests that happiness not only feels good, it also has wide ranging individual and societal benefits in domains including physical health, social relationships, productivity, and prosociality (De Neve, Diener, Tay, and Xuereb, 2013;Diener & Tay, 2012;Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener, 2005). ...
Individuals want to be happy, and groups throughout the world are increasingly noting the value of happiness for well-functioning societies. In this chapter we review evidence supporting the importance of happiness across life domains and review strategies for effectively increasing happiness. First, we review conceptual research regarding the definition and measurement of happiness. Next, we highlight a number of life domains in which happiness is associated with beneficial outcomes, covering research that links happiness to health and longevity, social relationships, productivity, and prosociality. Given the wide-spanning benefits of happiness, we next focus on scientifically validated means for improving happiness, taking the form of individual efforts as well as targeted workplace and community programs and policies. We end with a discussion of prospective research directions including a push towards understanding the nuances of these positive activity interventions. Additionally, we suggest future work taking a process-oriented view of happiness and utilizing big data approaches in the study of happiness.
... 情绪对个体身心健康、主观幸福感有十分重要的影响 (Diener & Tay, 2017;Shi et al., 2017 (Lang et al., 1990(Lang et al., , 1996。相似地，与中性刺激相比，高接近动机的积极刺激使注意范围变窄，而低接 近动机的积极情绪使注意范围拓宽 (Gable & Harmon-Jones, 2008)。 其中，情绪对注意的影响尤为重要。研究表明，在视觉注意的早期，情绪增强了注意的对比敏感度 (Phelps et al., 2006)；影响个体的注意偏好 (Wadlinger & Isaacowitz, 2006)。此外，情绪还影响着注意广度。 积极情绪状态能拓宽注意广度，并促进思维灵活性，而消极情绪状态促使注意范围变窄但更加集中，不 利于思维灵活性发展 (Fredrickson, 2001(Fredrickson, , 2004 但是探测不到 T2，出现注意暂时性的脱离，即注意瞬脱 (Raymond et al., 1992;Shapiro et al., 1994Shapiro et al., , 1997 ...
... Recent cross-sectional studies based on large general population have shown that PA is associated with happiness (Lathia et al. 2017;Richards et al. 2015). Some reviews indicate that the PA might be an important correlate of happiness and the investigation of the effects of PA on happiness would be a very promising research area (Diener and Tay 2012;Dolan et al. 2008). Such investigation is also thought to enable new channels to apply health promotion models to PA interventions (Huppert 2009). ...
This study aimed to examine the relationship between physical activity and happiness through systematically reviewing the existing literature. A systematic search of major databases including PubMed/Medline, PsychInfo, SportDiscus, and Embase was performed in 2017 for original research articles published post-1980 with the related keywords of happiness and physical activity. From 1142 retrieved records, fifteen observational studies (thirteen cross-sectional studies and two longitudinal studies) and eight intervention studies (six randomized controlled trials and two non-randomized trials) were included for further analysis. These studies involved a wide range of population from various countries and areas. All the observational studies reported positive associations between physical activity and happiness. As little as 10-min physical activity per week or 1 day of doing exercise per week might result in increased levels of happiness. Mediation effects were examined in two studies indicating the positive relationship between physical activity and happiness might be mediated by health and social functioning. The randomized controlled trials mostly focused on older adults and cancer survivors, and suggested that both aerobic exercise and stretching/balancing exercise were effective in improving happiness. Evidence showed a consistent positive relationship between physical activity and happiness. However, due to the limited number of randomized controlled trials, we cannot draw firm conclusions regarding the causal relationship between physical activity and happiness. Future research is suggested to explore the mechanism of how physical activity influences happiness and to determine the optimal dose and type of physical activity for gaining the benefits of happiness.
... Consistent with other studies considering the association between psychosocial factors and psychological distress (i.e., Barrett, 2011;Rohmer & Louvet, 2012), the findings of the current study indicate that higher levels of perceived discrimination and lower levels of perceived social support are associated with greater psychological distress. It might be argued that when people perceive themselves as discriminated against they are more aware of and reactive to their external circumstances, resulting in high levels of frustration and psychological distress (Diener & Tay, 2012). ...
Objectives:
Psychological distress among people with physical disabilities (PWPD) might affect their physical morbidity, reduce their quality and duration of life, and increase their need for health care services. Therefore, it is essential to explore the factors that might affect psychological distress among PWPD. The current study assesses the association between demographic factors (gender, education, and employment status), health- and disability-related factors (type of disability, visibility of the disability, disability duration, and self-rated health), and psychosocial factors (perceived discrimination and perceived social support), and psychological distress among PWPD in Israel.
Design:
The data were collected through structured questionnaires administered to a sample of 433 PWPD.
Results:
The findings suggest negative associations between education, employment status, duration of disability, self-rated health, and perceived social support, and psychological distress among PWPD. In addition, the findings indicate a positive association between perceived discrimination and psychological distress. No association was found between gender, type of disability, and visibility of the disability, and psychological distress.
Conclusions and implications:
PWPD who are unemployed, less educated, with a shorter duration of disability and lower self-rated health, as well as those who feel more discriminated against and less social support, are more likely to experience higher levels of psychological distress. Therefore, it is important to raise PWPD's awareness of their rights and of the social possibilities and services available to them, to provide them with mental help, to engage in extensive social activities aimed at providing resources to PWPD, and to act to eliminate discrimination. (PsycINFO Database Record
... Fredrikson, Tugade, Waugh, and Larkin (2003) emphasised the critical importance of positive affect in well-being, positive functioning and human flourishing more generally. Numerous studies have found evidence that positive emotions enhance individuals' global well-being (Watson et al. 1988;Kringelbach & Berridge, 2017) and quality of life (Diener, 1984;Diener & Tay, 2017;Keyes, 2006;Wilson & Gullone, 1999). Positive affect is generally defined as including emotions such as happiness, satisfaction with life, joy, energy, relaxation etc. (Keyes, 2006). ...
Informed by a perspective centred on psychological health and well-being, the present research investigated whether teachers’ overall well-being was influenced by their affect balance, as well as the extent to which both affect and well-being are influenced by social capital, in conflict-ridden areas such as the occupied Palestinian Territories (Gaza Strip and West Bank). The study involved three cohorts of Palestinian teachers working in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, respectively (N = 153). Dynamics of social exclusion, religious difference, educational disparity, poor educational standards and a lack of opportunity are factors affecting Palestinian teachers in both Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. The results supported the hypothesis that emotional balance directly influences teachers’ well-being. Teachers with higher levels of positive affect reported greater personal well-being than those with higher levels of negative affect. Social capital also positively influenced teachers’ personal well-being, both directly, and indirectly by fostering positive emotions. These results suggest that availability of community resources plays a key role in promoting teachers’ well-being.
... One of the reasons for these different results may be the shift from material well-being to subjective well-being, which also includes cognitive and emotional aspects (e.g., Diener et al.,2017;Frey and Stutzer, 2002;Layard, 2005). Seligman Crowdfunding has recently emerged as a novel way for funding projects, an alternative to venture capital or other traditional fund raising methods (Belleflamme, Lambert and Schwienbacher, 2014;Mollick, 2014). ...
Purpose
The paper aims to examine the unique nature of crowdfunding and its association with supporters' well-being, measured by Seligman's (2011) well-being theory and its five elements of PERMA: positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment.
Design/methodology/approach
22 structured interviews were conducted with supporters of crowdfunding projects. The interviews were analyzed using deduction, generating themes and assigning them to the relevant PERMA elements.
Findings
Almost all interviews included five or four PERMA elements, supporting the hypothesis about crowdfunding as a form of economic behavior that is triggered by the desire for fulfillment in life. The authors found that the tendency to become a serial crowdfunder is triggered by PERMA and a sense of trust.
Originality/value
This is the first study that presents a well-being theory of non-investment crowdfunding contributions. Based on the interviews, we suggest a theory linking the motivation for backing current and future projects with PERMA elements, sense of trust and the nature of adaption to activities with intrinsic attributes.
... Although well-being in the workplace setting has been thoroughly examined, the notion of overall employee well-being (beyond only while at work) has been established only recently (Zheng et al. 2015;Węziak-Białowolska, McNeely, and Vanderweele 2019). Further, well-being in the work setting is usually conceptualized through the lens of a single life-related measure, such as mental health/depression (Sanne et al. 2005;Stansfeld et al. 2012;Bentley et al. 2015;Saijo et al. 2015;Madsen et al. 2017), the life satisfaction-job satisfaction link (Diener and Tay 2017;Near and Sorcinelli 1986;Rice, Near, and Hunt 1980), workplace friendship (Sias and Cahill 1998;Morrison and Cooper-Thomas 2016), and work motivation and the life cycle (Kets De Vries et al. 1984), while disregarding the complex multidimensional links between well-being in the workplace, work outcomes, job resources, job demands and resources in life. ...
A growing body of research links working environment with employee health and well-being. We argue that greater employee well-being is associated with positive work outcomes, benefits likely vital to business performance. We have expanded the literature on this topic by evaluating these questions within a population of factory workers. To date, studies have examined well-being in the workplace in middle-and low-income countries mostly through the lens of disease and disability or have been restricted to human rights, rather than human well-being in general. This paper connects (1) job resources/work conditions and (2) worker well-being with (3) work outcomes in Mexican apparel factories belonging to the apparel supply chain. Our analysis builds on the first wave of the SHINE Worker Well-Being Survey. We examined links between working conditions, job resources, individual well-being and work outcomes using path analysis within a cross-sectional study comprising approximately 2200 Mexican factory workers. We report that job satisfaction and self-assessed work performance are positively and directly associated with worker well-being. We found that job control, trust, respect and recognition were significant correlates of all examined work outcomes (job satisfaction, work engagement and self-assessed work performance), with significant indirect effects on well-being.
... We hypothesised that for well-informed employers, namely those who are familiar with the causal mechanisms through which happiness affects business performance (Bryson, Forth, and Stokes 2017;Diener and Tay 2017), including a happiness statement in the CV would improves one's chances of gaining employment. ...
This novel study investigated the response of the labour market to employee happiness. Two field experiments examined the role of happiness in the hiring process. We found that including a personal happiness statement in the curricula vitae significantly increases employer callbacks for men. Strikingly, women do not enjoy the same happiness premium.
... Consider feeling good. Feeling good may directly contribute to well-being, but feeling good also makes us more likely to be nice to other people, which may lead to stronger or more friendships (Diener & Tay, 2017), and friendship has also been suggested as a non-instrumental good (e.g., Finnis, 1980). Of course, having many strong friendships might also make us feel good, but as long as friendship also directly contributes to prudential value (over and above any effect is has on how we feel), then friendship is a non-instrumental prudential good as well as an instrumental prudential good. ...
Before academic disciplines were invented, philosophers were teaching their students about the good life. These days, academics from a broad range of disciplines, including philosophy, teach their students about various aspects of well-being or quality of life. This chapter discusses the methods, topics, and perspectives that characterise a philosophical approach to teaching well-being or quality of life, focussing especially on how to create and critique a theory of well-being. While discussing these features of the philosophical approach, key differences with other mainly social scientific approaches to teaching well-being and quality of life will be highlighted. Then the chapter discusses some ideas about how to teach well-being and quality of life in a methodologically informed way, one that enables students to critique the methods used by a range of well-being and quality of life researchers, especially those used by philosophers. The chapter concludes with some suggestions on how to harness the subject matter in a way that creates an engaging undergraduate-level course on well-being and quality of life.
... Because it is much easier to make spiritual aid, it is more than financial aid. Research on financial aid argues that concrete support should be expressed in particular for the purpose of increasing financial aid (Atkins, Hart & Donnelly, 2004, Diener & Tay, 2017. In these two experimental studies, the effects of empathy and helping behaviors on social identity and the effect of social identity on the helping behavior of social identity were examined and it was seen that empathy had a regulatory role in this effect. ...
Social identity, empathy and helping behavior are some of the most interesting topics in psychology. It is the volunteer behavior which is shown to meet the needs of an individual is called helping behavior. Also empathy, which is one of the best predictors of prosocial behaviors, is that the individual expresses this situation by understanding feelings and thoughts. Aim of this studies are to examine the relationship between social identity, empathy and helping behavior. The sample group of the study consisted of university students in Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University. In an experimental study, social identity manipulation was carried out in two different ways: Turkish and Syrian group. In order to measure the empathy scores of the participants, Basic Empathy Scale (TEO) was used. In the first study, the helping behavior was measured by the Help Text prepared by the researchers; in the second study, the participants were given the participant fee and the helping behaviors were measured by asking the amount of financial aid if they would give to UNICEF. When the findings were examined, only the helping behavior differed from the group according to the social identity in the first study, while in the second study that the helping behavior and empathy scores of the participants differed significantly between the groups. In addition, in both studies, empathy had a moderator role in the impact of social identity on helping behavior. lt is adviced that research design can be tested with other samples.
... According to the studies in literature, spiritual helping is easier than financial helping and they do not have to share any material things such as money when they help spiritually. Research on material helping argues that explaining the purpose of helping increase the amount of financial helping (Diener & Tay, 2017). ...
In this study, the effect of social identity on helping behavior and the moderator role of empathy on this effect were examined. Participants were university students who study in Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University. Social identity was manipulated by providing information about university student who was a Turkish, Syrian or Greek student. Participant's empathy levels were measured by Basic Empathy Scale (BES). And also, helping behavior measured by the Help Text which was improved by researchers. In expressions were given to participants about a university student who needs help and then they were asked how much they would share with him if they had the amount the student needed. Findings indicated that helping behavior and empathy levels of participants were manipulated by social identity. Participants who are in Syrian student condition helped more and felt more empathy than other conditions. Also, we found that there is a moderator role of empathy on the effect of social identity on helping behavior. The results are consistent believing in same religion, social responsibility norms and Conservation of Resources Theory. There is suggested that new researchers can examine this research design in another identities and samples.
... Studies in both the psychological and health sciences have revealed that people's experiences of wellbeing bears many desirable consequences for individuals and society at large, including improved health and longevity, better social relationships, greater civic engagement and prosocial citizenship and more fulfillment and success across numerous life domains (i.e., work education, family) (for reviews see Diener and Tay 2017;2003;Steptoe 2019). Enhancing wellbeing potentially could lead to a more productive society and may translate into improvements to a nation's gross domestic product (GDP) (Judge and Kammeyer-Mueller 2011;Oswald et al 2015). ...
While the past decade has brought growing interest in and focus on the subjective wellbeing of society, there have been few empirical studies that have explored the social responsibilities, roles, and contributions of business, despite the pervasiveness of businesses as one of the core social institutions of modern societies. Through a survey of 1319 Australians, this study examines public perspectives of the social responsibilities of business to enhance subjective wellbeing. The findings suggest that the public does believe that businesses have some social responsibilities for subjective wellbeing. Exploratory analyses suggest that support is stronger for less privileged segments of the Australian public, and that a greater degree of social responsibility is expected for high-proximity stakeholders (e.g., employees) than low-proximity stakeholders (e.g., customers). Further, business activities that enhance subjective wellbeing may translate into desirable instrumental outcomes relevant to business performance. While findings need to be confirmed in other samples and using alternative study designs, the results suggest that ongoing policy debates on the various social determinants of societal wellbeing might benefit from incorporating consideration of the roles and responsibilities of business.
... Because it is much easier to make spiritual aid, it is more than financial aid. Research on financial aid argues that concrete support should be expressed in particular for the purpose of increasing financial aid (Atkins, Hart & Donnelly, 2004, Diener & Tay, 2017. In these two experimental studies, the effects of empathy and helping behaviors on social identity and the effect of social identity on the helping behavior of social identity were examined and it was seen that empathy had a regulatory role in this effect. ...
Social identity, empathy and helping behavior are some of the most interesting topics in psychology. It is the volunteer behavior which is shown to meet the needs of an individual is called helping behavior. Also empathy, which is one of the best predictors of prosocial behaviors, is that the individual expresses this situation by understanding feelings and thoughts. Aim of this studies are to examine the relationship between social identity, empathy and helping behavior. The sample group of the study consisted of university students in Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University. In an experimental study, social identity manipulation was carried out in two different ways: Turkish and Syrian group. In order to measure the empathy scores of the participants, Basic Empathy Scale (TEO) was used. In the first study, the helping behavior was measured by the Help Text prepared by the researchers; in the second study, the participants were given the participant fee and the helping behaviors were measured by asking the amount of financial aid if they would give to UNICEF. When the findings were examined, only the helping behavior differed from the group according to the social identity in the first study, while in the second study that the helping behavior and empathy scores of the participants differed significantly between the groups. In addition, in both studies, empathy had a moderator role in the impact of social identity on helping behavior. lt is adviced that research design can be tested with other samples.
... Главными достоинствами конструкта субъективного благополучия являются его простота и универсальность: его определение и процедуры измерения не при вязаны к конкретным характеристикам жизненных условий или содержанию деятельности. Многочисленные исследования свидетельствуют о валидности субъективного благополучия: этот конструкт демонстрирует как корреляционные, так и причинные связи с показателями соматического и психического здоровья, успешности в различных сферах жизни и другими переменными [Diener, Tay, 2017;Diener, Oishi, Tay, 2018]. Е. Н. Осин, Д. А. Леонтьев МЕТОДЫ И МЕТОДОЛОГИЯ Вместе с тем психометрически этот конструкт выглядит неоднозначным: показатели, входящие в его состав (позитивный аффект, негативный аффект и удовлетворенность жизнью), можно рассматривать как индикаторы единого фактора, компоненты единой системы, связанные причинноследственными свя зями, или же как три отдельных феномена [Busseri, Sadava, 2011]. ...
В статье дан краткий обзор основных возможностей и ограничений модели субъективного благополучия Э. Динера, а также существующих русскоязычных методик для измерения различных характеристик благополучия. Представлены два исследования, посвященных русскоязычной валидизации популярных инструментов для измерения благополучия. В первом исследовании изучаются психометрические характеристики Шкалы субъективного счастья С. Любомирски и Шкалы удовлетворенности жизнью Э. Динера на большой выборке взрослых, представителей различных социальных групп (N=7091). Оба русскоязычных инструмента демонстрируют теоретически ожидаемую структуру, высокую надежность и предсказуемые связи с другими индикаторами субъективного благополучия, конструктивного мышления и позитивного функционирования. Во втором исследовании на выборке онлайн-панели (N=1021), стратифицированной по федеральным округам России, изучена валидность опросника «Спектр психологического благополучия» К. Киза, включающего шкалы эмоционального, социального и психологического благополучия. Изучены связи его показателей с другими индикаторами субъективного благополучия и качества жизни. Результаты свидетельствуют о структурной валидности и высокой надежности показателей методики. В приложении представлен стимульный материал методик, которые могут быть использованы в рамках мониторинговых исследований благополучия на русскоязычных выборках.
Благодарность. Статья подготовлена при поддержке Российского научного фонда, проект № 18-18-00341.
... Warner and Vroman [24] found that physical health significantly affected the level of happiness in a university sample. The positive relationship between health and happiness has also been documented in general populations as well [25]. Veenhoven [26] found that freedom is positively correlated with happiness in nations with a relatively high standard of living. ...
Sustainability and Subjective Well-Being (SWB) are strongly interrelated domains. The way students view them and prioritize their dimensions should be factored into curricular developments in education for sustainability. Instruments developed to examine sustainability and SWB preferences typically use rating scale items to measure dimensions as separate entities. In contrast, the question format used in this study forces the students to rate variables in relation to each other. The sum of both SWB and sustainability variables was fixed, which means that increasing the weight of a priority automatically meant a decrease in the weight that could be allocated for the remaining elements. Two-block Partial Least Squares (PLS) modelling was used to examine how pre-defined SWB and sustainability dimensions behave when handled within the same model. It was found that those who ordered the three sustainability dimensions as Environment > Society > Economy tended to rank SWB dimensions as (Relations with others, Inner peace) > (Health, Close to nature) > (Good job, Leisure). Our research proved that the use of question formats resembling real-life resource allocation dilemmas and the treatment of SWB and sustainability as one system can yield invaluable information for the educational process.
... Asimismo, puesto que los empleados más satisfechos tienden a poseer mayores niveles de work engagement (Pujol-Cols & Lazzaro-Salazar, 2018), también resultan más proclives a sentirse plenos durante el ejercicio de las tareas con las que se hallan psicológicamente implicados, experimentando, en consecuencia, emociones más positivas durante el ejercicio de su rol, como placer, alegría, entusiasmo, felicidad y disfrute (Bakker & Demerouti, 2014). Por estas razones, la satisfacción laboral constituye un determinante fundamental del bienestar subjetivo (Diener & Tay, 2017) y la satisfacción con la vida (Bowling, Eschleman & Wang, 2010;Unanue, Gómez, Cortez, Oyanedel & Mendiburo-Seguel, 2017), encontrándose, como resultado, positivamente relacionada con la experimentación de estados mentales más saludables (Bakker & Demerouti, 2014). Se espera que individuos en estas condiciones tiendan, a su vez, a gozar de una mejor salud física (Zhong, You, Gan, Zhang, Lu & Wang, 2009). ...
Este estudio examina la prevalencia de un conjunto de síntomas relacionados con la salud física y mental en una muestra de 124 gerentes argentinos. Subsecuentemente, analiza los efectos directos e indirectos de la satisfacción laboral sobre la salud. Los análisis de prevalencia revelan que más del 75% de los directivos suelen sentirse estresados, cansados, tensos, nerviosos, desanimados y/o agotados mentalmente. Además, entre el 10% y el 35% suelen experimentar dolores de espalda, problemas de sueño, dolores de cabeza, indigestión ácida, tensión ocular, fatiga, trastornos estomacales, erupciones cutáneas y/o diarrea. El análisis de ecuaciones estructurales muestra que la satisfacción laboral ejerce un efecto indirecto sobre la salud física a través de la salud mental.
Major sport events have important effects on fans´ well-being. Chile won its very first international football contest – the Copa América tournament – in July 2015, playing against Argentina. Thus, we explored the impact of the Chilean victory on Chileans’ subjective well-being (SWB), using a natural intervention setting. We extended the previous literature in three ways. First, we used more comprehensive measures than previous research. We collected measures of global SWB, evaluated SWB and experienced SWB. We also measured national identification with the Chilean team. Second, previous research has been conducted only in the Western world, whereas we studied a South American context. Third, and finally, we followed the same participants before and after the final. Most longitudinal research in the field has used cohort designs, but no panel data. The results showed that (1) a victory in a major sport event, which generates so much expectation from fans, induces high emotional activation effects and changes the levels of experienced SWB. However, our results show that it is also necessary (2) to analyze separately the cognitive and emotional SWB components, and (3) to assess different time frames after the match. For example, whereas evaluated SWB showed stable patterns of increase from pre- to post- game, global SWB and experienced SWB showed different results depending on the proximity with the final of the tournament. Similar results were found regarding the effects of national identification on SWB. Key implications about the importance of major sport events for people’s SWB are discussed.
We provide original, international evidence documenting that self-assessed health (SAH) is a leading health indicator, that is, a significant predictor of future changes in health conditions, in a large sample of Europeans aged above 50 and living in 13 different countries. We find that, after controlling for attrition bias, lagged SAH is significantly and negatively correlated with changes in the number of chronic diseases, net of the correlations with levels, and changes in sociodemographic factors and health styles, country and regional health system effects, and declared symptoms. Illness-specific estimates document that lagged SAH significantly correlates with arthritis, cholesterol, and lung diseases (and weakly so with ulcer, hypertension, and cataracts) and has a significant correlation with the probability of contracting cancer. Interpretations and policy implications of our findings are discussed in the paper.
This review examined the main ndings that have emerged in the last decade in relation to Positive Psychology. The article includes a revision of theories and empirical data on happiness and subjective well-being of people. In this literature, there is a tendency to focus on mostly individual aspects. This focus raises some questions about the current body of empirical evidence. Because of the focus on individual aspects, important factors such as culture are not frequently considered in Positive Psychology. Thus, we review studies that focus on sociocultural issues and we observe that culture can have an impact on happiness. In this article we promote an insight that integrates cultural aspects to investigate these issues.
Gratitude and life satisfaction are associated with several indicators of a good life (e.g., health, pro-social behavior, and relationships). However, how gratitude and life satisfaction relate to each other over time has remained unknown until now. Although a substantial body of research has tested the link from gratitude to life satisfaction, the reverse association remains unexplored. In addition, recent cross-cultural research has questioned the link between gratitude and subjective well-being in non-Western countries, suggesting that the benefits of gratitude may only prevail in Western societies. However, previous cross-cultural studies have only compared western (e.g., American) and eastern (e.g., Asian) cultures, but this simple contrast does not adequately capture the diversity in the world. To guide further theory and practice, we therefore extended previous cross-sectional and experimental studies, by testing the bi-directional longitudinal link between gratitude and life satisfaction in a Latin American context, aiming to establish temporal precedence. We assessed two adult samples from Chile, using three-wave cross-lagged panel designs with 1 month (Study 1, N = 725) and 3 months (Study 2, N = 1,841) between waves. Both studies show, for the first time, that gratitude and life satisfaction mutually predict each other over time. The reciprocal relationships suggest the existence of a virtuous circle of human well-being: higher levels of gratitude increase life satisfaction, which in turn increases gratitude, leading to a positive spiral. Key theoretical and practical implications for the dynamics of human flourishing and field of positive psychology are discussed.
This study aimed to investigate how personal characteristics of motorcyclists influenced their affect and sense of happiness with their motorcycles. Data on personal characteristics, motorcycle characteristics, feelings about owning a motorcycle, discreet emotions, and overall happiness were collected from 367 motorcyclists attending the annual charity run event (female = 29%, male = 71%, average age ranged between 40 and 49). Results, following Structural Equation Modelling, indicated male and younger motorcyclists to experience higher discreet positive emotions compared to females and those with a preference for outdoors lifestyle. Male motorcyclists reported being happier, overall, with their motorcycles compared to female motorcyclists. Amongst males, those reporting to be self-employed and with a social life involving drinking places, tended to report higher discreet negative emotions than other male motorcyclists. Lifestyle characteristics of motorcyclists appear to have a direct effect on their overall happiness.
Happy societies are healthier and contribute to higher social capital, something which most nations aspire to (Diener & Tay, 2013). Well-being represents an individual’s level of happiness (Diener, 2009). Higher well-being correlates positively with multiple social, psychological and physiological outcomes, including prosocial behavior, better social relationships, increased success in the workplace (Diener & Tay, 2013), as well as improved physiological and immunological responses (Diener & Chan, 2011). Multiple approaches to increasing well-being exist. Meditation and poetry, independently, increased physical and psychological conditions, among elderly, and those with other diagnoses. The use of aloud reading demonstrated effective for improving language acquisition for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners (Kato & Tanaka, 2015). Few studies included the merging of meditative, or mantric, poetry to increase well-being, particularly among general, adolescent populations (Croom, 2015). Sri Chinmoy’s The Jewels of Happiness audiobook and book were the instruments used in this study.
Lifelogging records personal data generated from one’s own physical and emotional activities in daily life. It is widely used to discover sleep, exercise, or socializing patterns. In recent years, wearable devices and mobile applications have been used to automatically log daily activities, expanding the capabilities of lifelogging applications for a variety of purposes. One such application is the development of self-awareness, comprehensive knowledge about the self with which one may discover their inclinations and set clear goals to enhance future performance. This study proposes an approach for improving self-awareness that allows users to precisely review personal standards and levels of happiness and stress using a smartwatch and mobile application. Related work is investigated to understand the various types of methods and purposes involved, and a survey is conducted to gain insights on daily activities that induce specific emotional states. The findings support dividing one’s daily activities into seven categories, which are socialization, leisure, eating, sleeping, working, studying, and other, and an effective mobile application is thus designed. The potential for behavioral changes and the positive effects of the gamification of data visualization to be deployed in the mobile application are also discussed.
What role does self-leadership play for individuals' physical vitality and subjective well-being? The authors examined the data from 177 job incumbents and 165 students. Nonlinear structural equation modeling revealed a latent moderator effect of self-leadership on physical vitality and well-being. For individuals with low self-leadership, more physical vitality led to increased well-being, while for those with high self-leadership, no effect was detected. Understanding the role of high vs. low self-leadership in current and future physical vitality and well-being adds insight as to how health-related interventions should be structured to optimize well-being and accompanying positive working behaviors.
A growing body of evidence shows that materialistic values are linked to lower well-being. Self-determination theory offers an explanation through the low fulfilment of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. However, recent research suggests that frustration of these psychological needs may also play an additional role. Using structural equation modelling in adult samples from an established mass-consumer society (UK: N = 958) and a fast-developing new economy (Chile: N = 257) and employing more comprehensive measures to tap into a materialistic orientation than used in previous studies, we found that a materialistic value orientation related negatively to well-being and positively to ill-being and that both psychological need satisfaction and psychological need frustration played an explanatory role herein. The model was found to be highly equivalent across both samples, supporting the cross-cultural generality of the mechanisms involved. Copyright © 2014 European Association of Personality Psychology
Leisure is a key life domain and a core ingredient for overall well-being. Yet, within positive psychology, its definition and the psychological pathways by which it evokes happiness are elusive (Diener and Biswas-Diener 2008). In this paper, we seek to address these issues by delineating leisure and presenting a conceptual framework linking leisure to subjective well-being (SWB). Leisure is defined as a multidimensional construct, encompassing both structural and subjective aspects. Respectively, it is the amount of activity/time spent outside of obligated work time and/or perceived engagement in leisure as subjectively defined. To explain the effects of leisure on SWB, a quantitative summary of theories from
363 research articles linking leisure and SWB was conducted. Based on our findings, we propose five core psychological mechanisms that leisure potentially triggers to promote leisure SWB: detachment-recovery, autonomy, mastery, meaning, and affiliation (DRAMMA). These psychological mechanisms promote leisure SWB which leads to enhanced global SWB through a bottom-up theory of SWB. We discuss how future research can use this conceptual model for understanding the interplay between leisure and SWB.
Is it possible to enhance the subjective wellbeing of individuals and societies? If so, what are the mental health interventions and economic mechanisms by which subjective wellbeing could be enhanced? We address these questions in our review of the literature on subjective wellbeing. Research now shows that although subjective wellbeing is heritable and stable, it can change substantially over time. Long-term changes can be affected by positive or negative life events; subjective wellbeing interventions have also proved to be effective for boosting wellbeing for as long as six months. At the societal level, economic factors matter for the subjective wellbeing of citizens. Economic wealth is shown to be a predictor of societal wellbeing across countries and over time. Also, high unemployment severely lowers the wellbeing of individuals and has spillover effects on other societal members, such as the employed. Given the weight of evidence, we are optimistic that subjective wellbeing can be enhanced. For practitioners, policy makers, and economists interested in the wellbeing of individuals, we propose that these findings have implications for mental health practice and economic policies. Future research and methodological issues are discussed.
Traces the factors producing the beginning of real creativity during adolescence
The hypothesis that happy persons are more cooperative than sad persons has become a popular presumption in social and applied psychology. However, empirical evidence for this notion is less clear than often assumed. We argue that mood affects the process of decision making rather than (or in addition to) affecting the level of cooperation, increasing heuristic processing when persons feel good or secure, but leading to more systematic processing when persons feel sad or insecure. As a consequence, feeling states should moderate persons' reactions to heuristic cues, as for example the expected or perceived behaviour of others. Two experiments are reported varying feeling states, descriptive social norms, and the perceived behaviour of other group members in a chicken dilemma game. As expected, happy (Experiment 1) or secure participants (Experiment 2) showed shorter decision latencies and heuristically imitated others' behaviour in the chicken dilemma, whereas sad or insecure participants exhibited more systematic and rational behaviour, tending to defect when others' cooperation was high, but to increase their investment for the common when others' cooperation was low. No main effect of mood on cooperation occurred in either experiment.
Life satisfaction (LS) is prospectively associated with the occurrence of several major events in work and family life. Analyzing longitudinal data from three nationally representative panel studies (Ns between 2,321 and 18,692), the authors found that higher LS is associated with a higher likelihood of marriage and childbirth, and with a lower likelihood of marital separation, job loss, starting a new job, and relocating. These effects held even after controlling for gender, age, socioeconomic status, and the Big Five, and were highly consistent across the three samples. Discrete-time survival analyses indicated that for most of these events, temporary rather than stable mechanisms account for the prospective effect of LS. Together, these findings provide evidence that LS is an important predictor of major life outcomes.
Happiness is generally considered a source of good outcomes. Research has highlighted the ways in which happiness facilitates the pursuit of important goals, contributes to vital social bonds, broadens people's scope of attention, and increases well-being and psychological health. However, is happiness always a good thing? This review suggests that the pursuit and experience of happiness might sometimes lead to negative outcomes. We focus on four questions regarding this purported "dark side" of happiness. First, is there a wrong degree of happiness? Second, is there a wrong time for happiness? Third, are there wrong ways to pursue happiness? Fourth, are there wrong types of happiness? Cumulatively, these lines of research suggest that although happiness is often highly beneficial, it may not be beneficial at every level, in every context, for every reason, and in every variety.
© The Author(s) 2011.
Humans run on a fuel called food. Yet economists and other social scientists rarely study what people eat. We provide simple evidence consistent with the existence of a link between the consumption of fruit and vegetables and high well-being. In cross-sectional data, happiness and mental health rise in an approximately dose-response way with the number of daily portions of fruit and vegetables. The pattern is remarkably robust to adjustment for a large number of other demographic, social and economic variables. Well-being peaks at approximately 7 portions per day. We document this relationship in three data sets, covering approximately 80,000 randomly selected British individuals, and for seven measures of well-being (life satisfaction, WEMWBS mental well-being, GHQ mental disorders, self-reported health, happiness, nervousness, and feeling low). Reverse causality and problems of confounding remain possible. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of our analysis, how government policy-makers might wish to react to it, and what kinds of further research -- especially randomized trials -- would be valuable.Institutional subscribers to the NBER working paper series, and residents of developing countries may download this paper without additional charge at www.nber.org.
Abstract Human,well-being is important but hard to measure. Using data on approximately
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 success, as well as
the resources that are available.
This paper presents a review and integrative model of how, when, and why the behaviors of one negative group member can have powerful, detrimental influence on teammates and groups. We define the negative group member as someone who persistently exhibits one or more of the following behaviors: withholding effort from the group, expressing negative affect, or violating important interpersonal norms. We then detail how these behaviors elicit psychological states in teammates (e.g. perceptions of inequity, negative feelings, reduced trust), how those psychological states lead to defensive behavioral reactions (e.g. outbursts, mood maintenance, withdrawal), and finally, how these various manifestations of defensiveness influence important group processes and dynamics (e.g. cooperation, creativity). Key mechanisms and moderators are discussed as well as actions that might reduce the impact of the bad apple. Implications for both practice and research are discussed.
This research provides the first support for a possible psychological universal: Human beings around the world derive emotional benefits from using their financial resources to help others (prosocial spending). In Study 1, survey data from 136 countries were examined and showed that prosocial spending is associated with greater happiness around the world, in poor and rich countries alike. To test for causality, in Studies 2a and 2b, we used experimental methodology, demonstrating that recalling a past instance of prosocial spending has a causal impact on happiness across countries that differ greatly in terms of wealth (Canada, Uganda, and India). Finally, in Study 3, participants in Canada and South Africa randomly assigned to buy items for charity reported higher levels of positive affect than participants assigned to buy the same items for themselves, even when this prosocial spending did not provide an opportunity to build or strengthen social ties. Our findings suggest that the reward experienced from helping others may be deeply ingrained in human nature, emerging in diverse cultural and economic contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
Group emotional contagion, the transfer of moods among people in a group, and its influence on work group dynamics was examined in a laboratory study of managerial decision making using multiple, convergent measures of mood, individual attitudes, behavior, and group-level dynamics. Using a 2 times 2 experimental design, with a trained confederate enacting mood conditions, the predicted effect of emotional contagion was found among group members, using both outside coders' ratings of participants' mood and participants' self-reported mood. No hypothesized differences in contagion effects due to the degree of pleasantness of the mood expressed and the energy level with which it was conveyed were found. There was a significant influence of emotional contagion on individual-level attitudes and group processes. As predicted, the positive emotional contagion group members experienced improved cooperation, decreased conflict, and increased perceived task performance. Theoretical implications and practical ramifications of emotional contagion in groups and organizations are discussed.
The question of whether there is a connection between income and psychological well-being is a long-studied issue across the social, psychological, and behavioral sciences. Much research has found that richer people tend to be happier. However, relatively little attention has been paid to whether happier individuals perform better financially in the first place. This possibility of reverse causality is arguably understudied. Using data from a large US representative panel, we show that adolescents and young adults who report higher life satisfaction or positive affect grow up to earn significantly higher levels of income later in life. We focus on earnings approximately one decade after the person's well-being is measured; we exploit the availability of sibling clusters to introduce family fixed effects; we account for the human capacity to imagine later socioeconomic outcomes and to anticipate the resulting feelings in current well-being. The study's results are robust to the inclusion of controls such as education, intelligence quotient, physical health, height, self-esteem, and later happiness. We consider how psychological well-being may influence income. Sobel-Goodman mediation tests reveal direct and indirect effects that carry the influence from happiness to income. Significant mediating pathways include a higher probability of obtaining a college degree, getting hired and promoted, having higher degrees of optimism and extraversion, and less neuroticism.
This research synthesis integrates findings from 150 experimental, ambulatory and longitudinal studies that tested the impact of well-being on objective health outcomes. Results demonstrated that well-being positively impacts health outcomes (r=0.14). Well-being was found to be positively related to short-term health outcomes (r=0.15), long-term health outcomes (r=0.11), and disease or symptom control (r=0.13). Results from the experimental studies demonstrated that inductions of well-being lead to healthy functioning, and inductions of ill-being lead to compromised health at similar magnitudes. Thus, the effect of subjective well-being on health is not solely due to ill-being having a detrimental impact on health, but also to well-being having a salutary impact on health. Additionally, the impact of well-being on improving health was stronger for immune system response and pain tolerance, whereas well-being was not significantly related to increases in cardiovascular and physiological reactivity. These findings point to potential biological pathways, such that well-being can directly bolster immune functioning and buffer the impact of stress.
W. Wilson's (1967) review of the area of subjective well-being (SWB) advanced several conclusions regarding those who report high levels of "happiness." A number of his conclusions have been overturned: youth and modest aspirations no longer are seen as prerequisites of SWB. E. Diener's (1984) review placed greater emphasis on theories that stressed psychological factors. In the current article, the authors review current evidence for Wilson's conclusions and discuss modern theories of SWB that stress dispositional influences, adaptation, goals, and coping strategies. The next steps in the evolution of the field are to comprehend the interaction of psychological factors with life circumstances in producing SWB, to understand the causal pathways leading to happiness, understand the processes underlying adaptation to events, and develop theories that explain why certain variables differentially influence the different components of SWB (life satisfaction, pleasant affect, and unpleasant affect). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
To quantify the link between lower, subclinically symptomatic, levels of psychological distress and cause-specific mortality in a large scale, population based study.
Individual participant meta-analysis of 10 large prospective cohort studies from the Health Survey for England. Baseline psychological distress measured by the 12 item General Health Questionnaire score, and mortality from death certification.
68,222 people from general population samples of adults aged 35 years and over, free of cardiovascular disease and cancer, and living in private households in England at study baseline.
Death from all causes (n = 8365), cardiovascular disease including cerebrovascular disease (n = 3382), all cancers (n = 2552), and deaths from external causes (n = 386). Mean follow-up was 8.2 years (standard deviation 3.5).
We found a dose-response association between psychological distress across the full range of severity and an increased risk of mortality (age and sex adjusted hazard ratio for General Health Questionnaire scores of 1-3 v score 0: 1.20, 95% confidence interval 1.13 to 1.27; scores 4-6: 1.43, 1.31 to 1.56; and scores 7-12: 1.94, 1.66 to 2.26; P<0.001 for trend). This association remained after adjustment for somatic comorbidity plus behavioural and socioeconomic factors. A similar association was found for cardiovascular disease deaths and deaths from external causes. Cancer death was only associated with psychological distress at higher levels.
Psychological distress is associated with increased risk of mortality from several major causes in a dose-response pattern. Risk of mortality was raised even at lower levels of distress.
Handwritten autobiographies from 180 Catholic nuns, composed when participants were a mean age of 22 years, were scored for emotional content and related to survival during ages 75 to 95. A strong inverse association was found between positive emotional content in these writings and risk of mortality in late life (p < .001). As the quartile ranking of positive emotion in early life increased, there was a stepwise decrease in risk of mortality resulting in a 2.5-fold difference between the lowest and highest quartiles. Positive emotional content in early-life autobiographies was strongly associated with longevity 6 decades later. Underlying mechanisms of balanced emotional states are discussed.
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 success, as well as the resources that are available. © 2007, Association for Psychological Science. All rights reserved.
Rationale/statement of the problem : Retrospective studies show that childhood adversity is associated with systemic inflammation in adulthood. Few prospective studies have examined whether childhood adversity influences inflammation in an observable manner during childhood or adolescence and whether these effects are sustained over time. Methods : Using longitudinal data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, we examined associations between acute adverse events at seven time points prior to age 8 and inflammation at ages 10 and 15. Inflammatory markers at age 10 included interleukin-6 (IL-6; N=4,655) and C-reactive protein (CRP; N=4,647), and CRP was measured again at age 15 (N=3,286). We further evaluated whether body mass index (BMI), depression, or cigarette smoking mediated associations between adverse events and inflammation. Results : Adverse events in middle childhood (occurring between ages 6 and 8), as well as cumulative adversity between the ages of 1.5 and 8 years, were associated with higher levels of IL-6 and CRP at age 10. Adverse events occurring in early childhood (age 1.5) or middle childhood (age 8), and cumulative adversity between the ages of 1.5 through 8 years predicted increased levels of CRP at age 15, and these associations persisted after adjustment for CRP at age 10. Some, but not all, of these associations were mediated by BMI. Conclusions : This study documents that exposure to adverse events prior to age 8 is associated with elevated inflammation at age 10 and in mid-adolescence. These findings provide prospective evidence for a biological mechanism by which early experiences may shape long-term health.
Utilizing sophisticated methodology and three decades of research by the world's leading expert on happiness, Happiness challenges the present thinking of the causes and consequences of happiness and redefines our modern notions of happiness. shares the results of three decades of research on our notions of happiness covers the most important advances in our understanding of happiness offers readers unparalleled access to the world's leading experts on happiness provides "real world" examples that will resonate with general readers as well as scholars Winner of the 2008 PSP Prose Award for Excellence in Psychology, Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division of the Association of American Publishers.
Male and female subjects performed several tasks either in the presence or absence of an environmental source of positive affect (pleasant artificial scents produced by two commercially manufactured air-fresheners). Consistent with the findings of previous research on the impact of positive affect, results indicated that several aspects of subjects' behavior were influenced by this variable. Participants exposed to pleasant scents set higher goals on a clerical coding task and were more likely to adopt an efficient strategy for performing this task than subjects not exposed to such conditions. In addition, males (but not females) reported higher self-efficacy in the presence of pleasant artificial scents than in their absence. Participants exposed to pleasant scents also set higher monetary goals and made more concessions during face-to-face negotiations with an accomplice. Finally, subjects exposed to pleasant scents reported weaker preferences for handling future conflicts with the accomplice through avoidance and competition. Analyses of covariance suggested that these differences stemmed largely from contrasting levels of positive affect among subjects in the neutral and pleasant scent conditions. Together, these results suggest that pleasant artificial scents may provide a potentially useful means for enhancing the environmental quality of work settings, and hence the performance and attitudes of persons in them.
In this article, the author describes a new theoretical perspective on positive emotions and situates this new perspective within the emerging field of positive psychology. The broaden-and-build theory posits that experiences of positive emotions broaden people's momentary thought-action repertoires, which in turn serves to build their enduring personal resources, ranging from physical and intellectual resources to social and psychological resources. Preliminary empirical evidence supporting the broaden-and-build theory is reviewed, and open empirical questions that remain to be tested are identified. The theory and findings suggest that the capacity to experience positive emotions may be a fundamental human strength central to the study of human flourishing.
In this article, the author describes a new theoretical perspective on positive emotions and situates this new perspective within the emerging field of positive psychology. The broaden-and-build theory posits that experiences of positive emotions broaden people's momentary thought-action repertoires, which in turn serves to build their enduring personal resources, ranging from physical and intellectual resources to social and psychological resources. Preliminary empirical evidence supporting the broaden-and-build theory is reviewed, and open empirical questions that remain to be tested are identified. The theory and findings suggest that the capacity to experience positive emotions may be a fundamental human strength central to the study of human flourishing.
This introduction to the two-part special issue reviews recent evidence that suggests that positive mood may play a beneficial, multifaceted, and flexible role in self-regulatory processes that cannot be explained by most current theories. First, under some conditions positive mood seems to facilitate careful processing of goal-relevant information, even negative information. Second, the relation of positive mood to cognition and behavior seems to be strongly moderated by goal-relevant features of the task context. Three frameworks (mood as input, processing advantages conferred by positive mood, and mood as resource) that may account for these facilitating effects of positive mood on self-regulation are discussed.
How are job satisfaction and firm value linked? I tackle this long-standing management question using a new methodology from finance. I study the effect on firm-level value, rather than employee-level productivity, to take into account the cost of increasing job satisfaction. To address reverse causality, I measure firm value by using future stock returns, and control for risk, firm characteristics, industry performance, and outliers. Companies listed in the "100 Best Companies to Work For in America" generated 2.3-3.8%/year higher stock returns than their peers from 1984-2011. These results have three main implications. First, consistent with HRM theories, job satisfaction is beneficial for firm value. Second, corporate social responsibility can improve stock returns. Third, the stock market does not fully value intangible assets, and so it may be necessary to shield the manager from short-term stock prices to encourage long-run growth.
Numerous changes in physiological functioning accompany the aging process. Gradual declines in fundamental aspects of the neuroendocrine, cardiovascular, and immune systems contribute to increased risks for morbidity and mortality. Importantly, alterations in physiological processes are not invariant with age but are influenced by individual differences in vulnerability and resilience that accrue across the life span. In this review, I focus on what is known about positive emotion as a contributing factor in lowering morbidity and mortality in older adults. I describe plausible pathways that may underlie the association between positive emotion and health and review illustrative studies examining these pathways. The findings point to new research questions that pose important research opportunities.
The purpose of this study was to explore the relations between trait curiosity and the well-being of adolescents. The differences between adolescents with high, average and low trait curiosity on a number of subjective well-being (SWB) and distress measures have been examined. The sample consisted of 408 high school students, with an average age of 16.6years. The results showed that adolescents high in trait curiosity have higher levels of life satisfaction and positive affect and greater sense of purpose in life and hope than adolescents with both low and average curiosity. Contrary to significant differences on positive well-being measures, there were no robust differences between adolescents with high, average and low curiosity in distress. The findings of this research indicated that curiosity is a specific predictor of positive well-being and gave support to the two continua model of mental health, which view positive and negative well-being as relatively independent constructs.
The separate process model of mood and behavior suggested that positive mood is associated with a social, expansive, approach motivation, while negative mood is associated with an avoidant, egocentric motivation. The present experiment examined the differential impact of positive and negative mood stimuli that were self-relevant or non-self-relevant on males' social interaction and self-disclosure with a female. The self-relevant conditions were effective in altering both the subjects' self-esteem and mood states, while the non-self-relevant conditions were effective in altering only the subjects' moods. Supporting the separate process model prediction that positive mood increases sociability, the self-relevant and non-self-relevant positive mood inductions were equal in motivating more total communication and more moderately and highly intimate self-disclosures compared with the two negative mood conditions. The self-relevant and non-self-relevant negative mood conditions generally produced equivalent effects on communication behaviors, although the self-relevant negative mood subjects may have made a more rapid recovery from the negative experience than their counterparts.
A relatively new and promising area of research is the effect of mood in the workplace. In an effort to extend existing literature on the subject, we examined the impact of two mood dimensions (positive affect and negative affect) on employees’ withdrawal behavior—specifically, on their absenteeism and turnover from an organization. A longitudinal study of 129 employees of a division of an electronics firm revealed that positive affect reduced absenteeism, while negative affect increased absenteeism and turnover. Job satisfaction moderated the relationship between positive affect and absenteeism. These results point to the importance of considering both job attitudes and emotions in efforts to predict and manage employee withdrawal behavior.
Two experiments were conducted with US college students to determine whether affective states influence cross-cultural empathy. Participants read about a target who experienced distress and assumed a perspective that was consistent or inconsistent with US norms. When evaluating targets with a dissimilar (versus similar) cultural perspective, participants in neutral affect (Experiments 1 and 2) or negative affect (Experiment 2) conditions exhibited less perspective taking and emotional empathy. However, those differences were not observed for participants in a positive affect condition. Indeed, students in the positive (versus neutral or negative) affect condition exhibited greater perspective taking and feelings of compassion and sympathy for the dissimilar target. Results support (Fredrickson, B.L. (1998). What good are positive emotions? Review of General Psychology, 2, 300–319; Fredrickson, B.L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden and build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56, 218–226) broaden and build theory, suggesting positive affect promotes open-minded, flexible thinking and builds social resources.
Myers and Diener (1995) asked “Who is happy?” but examined the question of who is more and who is less happy In fact, most people report a positive level of subjective well-being (SWB), and say that they are satisfied with domains such as marriage, work, and leisure People in disadvantaged groups on average report positive well-being, and measurement methods in addition to self-report indicate that most people's affect is primarily pleasant Cross-national data suggest that there is a positive level of SWB throughout the world, with the possible exception of very poor societies In 86% of the 43 nations for which nationally representative samples are available the mean SWB response was above neutral Several hypotheses to explain the positive levels of SWB are discussed
Life satisfaction is a key indicator of subjective well-being. This article is a review of the multidisciplinary literature on the relationship between life satisfaction and the work domain. A discussion of top-down and bottom-up theories of life satisfaction is included, and the literatures on work-related antecedents of life satisfaction, the proximal mediators (quality of work life, quality of nonwork life, and feelings of self-worth), and consequences of life satisfaction were reviewed. A meta-analysis of life satisfaction with respect to career satisfaction, job performance, turnover intentions, and organizational commitment was performed. Each major section of the article concludes with a future opportunities subsection where gaps in the research are discussed.
Past research has demonstrated a relationship between happiness and workplace success. For example, compared with their less happy peers, happy people earn more money, display superior performance, and perform more helpful acts. Researchers have often assumed that an employee is happy and satisfied because he or she is successful. In this article, the authors review evidence in support of an alternative hypothesis—namely, that happiness is a source of why particular employees are more successful than others. To this end, the authors consider evidence from three types of studies—cross-sectional, longitudinal, and experimental—that relate happiness to various work outcomes. Taken together, the evidence suggests that happiness is not only correlated with workplace success but that happiness often precedes measures of success and that induction of positive affect leads to improved workplace outcomes.
Two studies were conducted to investigate the impact of socially-induced positive affect on organizational conflict. In Study I, male and female subjects were provoked or not provoked, and then exposed to one of several treatments designed to induce positive affect among them. Results indicated that several of these procedures (e.g., mild flattery, a small gift, self-deprecating remarks by an opponent) increased subjects' preference for resolving conflict through collaboration, but reduced their preference for resolving conflict through competition. In addition, self-deprecating remarks by an opponent (actually an accomplice) increased subjects' willingness to make concessions to this person during negotiations. In Study 2, male and female subjects were exposed to two treatments designed to induce positive affect (humorous remarks, mild flattery). These were presented before, during, or after negotiations with another person (an accomplice). Both treatments reduced subjects' preferences for resolving conflict through avoidance and increased their preferences for resolving conflict through collaboration, but only when delivered during or immediately after negotiations. Together, the results of both studies suggest that simple interventions designed to induce positive affect among the parties to conflicts can yield several beneficial effects.
The primary goal of this paper is to summarise current evidence on social relations and health, specifically how social integration and social support are related to health behaviors and health outcomes, using results from published reviews. Our analysis revealed that social relations are beneficial for health behaviors such as chronic illness self-management and decreased suicidal tendency. The salutary effects of general measures of social relations (e.g. being validated, being cared for, etc.) on health behaviors (e.g. healthy diet, physical activity, smoking, alcohol abuse) are weaker, but specific measures of social relations targeting corresponding health behaviors are more predictive. There is growing evidence that social relations are predictive of mortality and cardiovascular disease, and social relations play an equally protective role against both the incidence and progression of cardiovascular disease. On the other hand, evidence was mixed for the association between social relations and cancer. We discuss these findings and potential areas for future research such as other dimensions of social relations, support-receiver interactions, and observer ratings of social relations.
The case is made for implementing national accounts of well-being to help policy makers and individuals make better decisions. Well-being is defined as people's evaluations of their lives, including concepts such as life satisfaction and happiness, and is similar to the concept of 'utility' in economics. Measures of well-being in organizations, states, and nations can provide people with useful information. Importantly, accounts of well-being can help decision makers in business and government formulate better policies and regulations in order to enhance societal quality of life. Decision makers seek to implement policies and regulations that increase the quality of life, and the well-being measures are one useful way to assess the impact of policies as well as to inform debates about potential policies that address specific current societal issues. This book reviews the limitations of information gained from economic and social indicators, and shows how the well-being measures complement this information. Examples of using well-being for policy are given in four areas: health, the environment, work and the economy, and social life. Within each of these areas, examples are described of issues where well-being measures can provide policy-relevant information. Common objections to using the well-being measures for policy purposes are refuted. The well-being measures that are in place throughout the world are reviewed, and future steps in extending these surveys are described. Well-being measures can complement existing economic and social indicators, and are not designed to replace them.
The present investigation examined the extent to which the assessment of children's social skills could be influenced by a positive affect induction experience. Thirty‐two psychiatric inpatient children, ages 6 to 12, completed behavioral and self‐report measures of social skills on two separate occasions. Prior to the second assessment, half of the children engaged in a laboratory task, unrelated to social skills, that provided a success experience designed to induce positive affect. The other half of the children were tested under standard assessment conditions without the positive‐induction experience. Children who received the positive‐induction experience showed significantly higher levels of social skills, as reflected in concrete responses (e.g., number of words spoken, motor movements) and molar behaviors (e.g., making requests, responding to provocation) and self‐reported confidence in their social behavior. The results suggest that social skills performance can be readily altered as a function of nontreatment experiences. The implications of the results for the design and interpretation of social skills assessment are discussed.
Two studies explored the relations of positive and negative affect (PA and NA) to social interaction. In Study 1, unacquainted dyads were surreptitiously videotaped as they participated in a 6-min interaction. Participants then evaluated the quality of the interaction. Independent observers also rated the videotaped interactions. Trait PA was positively related to both participant and observer evaluations of interaction quality. In Study 2, undergraduates kept diaries of their social interactions for 1 week, PA was again related to interaction quality. Both PA and NA were positively related to the number of interactions in which participants engaged, and the amount of time spent engaged in social contact, although different types of social encounters produced these relations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
What if being lonely were a bigger problem than we ever suspected? Based on John T. Cacioppo's pioneering research,
Loneliness explores the effects of this all-too-human experience, providing a fundamentally new view of the importance of social connection and how it can rescue us from painful isolation. His sophisticated studies relying on brain imaging, analysis of blood pressure, immune response, stress hormones, behavior, and even gene expression show that human beings are simply far more intertwined and interdependent—physiologically as well as psychologically—than our cultural assumptions have ever allowed us to acknowledge. Bringing urgency to the message, Cacioppo's findings also show that prolonged loneliness can be as harmful to your health as smoking or obesity. On the flip side, they demonstrate the therapeutic power of social connection and point the way toward making that healing balm available to everyone. Cacioppo has worked with science writer William Patrick to trace the evolution of these tandem forces, showing how, for our primitive ancestors, survival depended not on greater brawn but on greater commitments to and from one another. Serving as a prompt to repair frayed social bonds, the pain of loneliness engendered a fear response so powerfully disruptive that even now, millions of years later, a persistent sense of rejection or isolation can impair DNA transcription in our immune cells. This disruption also impairs thinking, will power, and perseverance, as well as our ability to read social signals and exercise social skills. It also limits our ability to internally regulate our emotions—all of which can combine to trap us in self-defeating behaviors that reinforce the very isolation and rejection that we dread.
Loneliness shows each of us how to overcome this feedback loop of defensive behaviors to achieve better health and greater happiness. For society, the potential payoff is the greater prosperity and social cohesion that follows from increased social trust. Ultimately,
Loneliness demonstrates the irrationality of our culture's intense focus on competition and individualism at the expense of family and community. It makes the case that the unit of one is actually an inadequate measure, even when it comes to the health and well-being of the individual. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Employed a direct induction of mood to determine the role of affect in a resistance to temptation test given to a total of 57 7- and 8-yr-olds. Ss were preselected for homogeneity in socioeconomic status, locus of control, need for social approval, and self-esteem measures (e.g., the Self-Esteem Inventory). Ss were assigned to 2 affect conditions and 1 control condition. Subsequently, they were exposed to a resistance to temptation test involving play with a forbidden toy. Measures of latency, frequency, and duration of deviance were taken. As hypothesized, Ss in the positive affect condition resisted for a longer time than Ss in the negative affect condition, and Ss in the negative affect condition deviated more quickly than those in the control condition. Results are compared to findings of previous studies regarding the effect of children's affects on situational responses and behaviors. Implications of affective state variables for children's resistance to temptation studies are discussed. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The positive core construct of psychological capital (consisting of efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience) has been conceptually and empirically demonstrated to be related to employee performance. However, much of this work has relied on cross-sectional designs to examine these relationships. This study utilizes longitudinal data from a large financial service organization (N= 179 financial advisory-type employees) to examine within-individual change in psychological capital over time and if this change relates to their change in performance. Latent growth modeling analyses revealed statistically significant within-individual change in psychological capital over time, and that this change in psychological capital was related to change in 2 types of performance outcomes (supervisor-rated performance and financial performance, i.e., individual sales revenue). Moreover, results of an exploratory cross-lagged panel analysis suggested a causal relationship such that prior psychological capital leads to subsequent performance rather than vice versa. Taken together, these results highlight the impact employees’ psychological capital may have on their subjectively and objectively measured performance over time and offer evidence-based practical guidelines for human resource selection, development, and performance management.
Male and female subjects interviewed a same-sex applicant for an entry-level management position. In reality, this person was an accomplice who presented a carefully standardized pattern of positive and negative information. Prior to the interview, participants were exposed to treatments designed to place them in a positive, neutral, or negative mood. Results indicated that subjects’ moods influenced their reactions to the applicant. They rated this individual higher on job-related and personal dimensions and made more favorable employment decisions about him or her when in a positive than negative mood. In addition, participants recalled more information presented by the applicant that was consistent with their current mood than information that was inconsistent with these feelings. Implications of these findings for the development of closer conceptual links between (a) basic knowledge about social cognition and (b) practical issues relating to the conduction of fair employment interviews are discussed.
Until recently, it was widely held that happiness fluctuates around set points, so that neither individuals nor societies can lastingly increase their happiness. Even though recent research showed that some individuals move enduringly above or below their set points, this does not refute the idea that the happiness levels of entire societies remain fixed. Our article, however, challenges this idea: Data from representative national surveys carried out from 1981 to 2007 show that happiness rose in 45 of the 52 countries for which substantial time-series data were available. Regression analyses suggest that that the extent to which a society allows free choice has a major impact on happiness. Since 1981, economic development, democratization, and increasing social tolerance have increased the extent to which people perceive that they have free choice, which in turn has led to higher levels of happiness around the world, as the human development model suggests.
© 2008 Association for Psychological Science.
We develop a dual-tuning perspective concerning how positive and negative moods interact to influence creativity in supportive contexts. Using data on employees in an oil field services company, we hypothesized and found that when supervisors provided a supportive context for creativity and positive mood was high, negative mood had a strong, positive relation to creativity, with creativity being the highest when the context was supportive and both positive and negative moods were high. We explored three alternative ways in which supervisors can provide a supportive context: by providing developmental feedback, by displaying interactional justice, and by being trustworthy.
Negative affective styles such as anxiety, de-pression, and hostility have long been accepted as predic-tors of increased risk for illness and mortality. In contrast, positive affective styles have been relatively ignored in the health literature. Here we highlight consistent patterns of research associating trait positive affect (PA) and physical health. The evidence we review suggests an association of trait PA and lower morbidity and decreased symptoms and pain. PA is also associated with increased longevity among community-dwelling elderly. The association of PA and survival among those with serious illness is less clear and suggests the possibility that PA may be harmful in some situations. We conclude by raising conceptual and meth-odological reservations about this literature and suggest-ing directions for future research. The role of emotions in physical health has been a central topic in health psychology for some time. Emotions are thought to represent the principal pathway linking psychological stress to disease, and enduring affective styles such as anxiety and de-pression have been found to be associated with greater morbidity and mortality. However, when health psychologists have referred to the roles of emotions and affect in health, they have typically meant negative emotions such as anger, depression, and anxiety. Only recently has there been any serious discussion of the po-tential effect of positive affect (PA). One challenge in making sense of the literature on PA and health is that there is little agreement on what is meant by PA. We define positive emotion or affect as feelings that reflect a level of pleasurable engagement with the environment, such as happi-ness, joy, excitement, enthusiasm, and contentment (Clark, Watson, & Leeka, 1989). These can be brief, longer lasting, or more stable trait-like feelings. Importantly, the lack of positive engagement does not necessarily imply negative affect such as anger, anxiety, and depression.