Findings

• What factors did Myers and Diener research relating to the myths of happiness?

  If happiness is related to age, gender, race or culture and money
• What was discovered about age?

  People of all ages are equally happy
• How was this found

  Over 170,000 people were surveyed of all ages from 16 countries- Inglehart 1990
• What factors affect happiness at different ages?

  Social relations and health vary in importance in age (Herzos et al 1982)
• What was discovered about crises in age?

  People do have these but it is not restricted to a particular age- disproves the myth of the midlife crisis (McCrea et al 1990)
• What was found related to gender?

  80% of men and women are fairly satisfied with life- Inglehart 1990
• What was found specifically amongst women?

  Women are 2x as vulnerable to depression (Robins et al 1991)
• How much does gender account for in global wellbeing?

  1% (Haing et al 1984)
• What was found related to race and happiness?

  African Americans were found 2x happy than European Americans (Diener et al 1993)
• What were stats found by Inglehart?

  10% people were happy in Portugal than the 40% in the Netherlands.
• What was found across cultures?

  Individualistic cultures report greater SWB than collective cultures.
• What was the results of the correlation found between income and happiness?

  +0.12 (a moderate correlation) Diener et al.
• What was significant about those on the Forbes list?

  Those on the list were reported to be 37% less happy than the average American (Diener et al)
• What was the significance found in lottery winners?

  They reported only a brief increase in happiness (Argyle 1986)
• What was the explored as the characteristics of happiness?

  Traits, Relationship status, Flow and Faith
• What were the traits of happy people?

  • High Self Esteem
  • High sense of personal control
  • Optimism
  • Extraversion
• What was the issue of this?

  Its unclear of the cause and effect
• What is evident for some individuals in relationships?

  They cause more stress than happiness.
• For others...

  Benefits outweigh the strains
• What is evident in friendships?

  Those who can name several close friends are said to be happier. (Burt, 1986)
• What is the evident in marriages?

  Married people are happier than non married in some studies.
• What about flow was discovered?

  Work satisfaction affects happiness so people out of work are less happy
• Why is this?

  Work provides a sense of community and personal identity
• When does work become unhappy?

  Work becomes unhappy when there is excessive stress, lack of fulfillment, poor work-life balance, or toxic work environment.
• What are the findings on religion?

  People who are religious tend to report higher levels of happiness (Pendleton et al 1990)
• What was found about commitment?

  Those with high spiritual commitment were 2x more likely to say they were religious,
• What was happiness associated with?

  The strength of worship levels and religious affiliation (Witter eet al 1985)