describe Myers and Diener conclusions + findings (10)

• Findings

  • P: Myers and diener (1995) found happiness not strongly related to demographic factors like age, gender or income.

  • E: surveys across 16 countries found consistent life satisfaction across all ages (inglehart, 1990), and gender was found to explain only 1% of variation in wellbeing (Haring et al 1984). similarly, income showed only a modest correlation of +0.12 with happiness (diener et Al 1993), and wealthy individuals, like Forbes rich list, reported being less happy than average American

  • E: suggests commonly held beliefs about what makes people happy - being young, male, or wealthy - largely myths. Instead, cultural background and values appeared more significant, E.g. People in individualist cultures and strong religious beliefs tended to report higher levels of happiness

  • L: therefore, happiness is meaningfully linked to internal traits and cultural influences than external, demographic factors
• Conclusions

  • P: Myers and diener concluded happiness is shaped by adaptation, cultural worldviews, and personal values and goals

  • E: found impact of life events, both positive and negative, fades due to ability to adapt over time, e.g. lottery winners only experience temporary increase in happiness (Argyle 1986). Moreover, individuals from cultures with more optimistic worldviews + pursued meaningful goals reported higher subjective well-being

  • E: conclusions indicate happiness is largely psychological + context dependent. Factors like personality traits (optimism and self esteem) having close relationships, work satisfaction, and religious commitment play a role in well-being

  • L: ultimately, highlights happiness less about circumstance and how individuals perceive, adapt to, and derive meaning from their lives