Classic research

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Holly

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Cards (20)

  • What is the classic research of the positive approach?
    Myers & Diener
    Who is happy?
  • Methodology of Myers & Diener
    Literature review
    The research reviewed had used:
    Structured interviews made up of closed questions
    Questionnaire made up of closed questions
    Observation - time sampling (participants sent message to researchers detailing what they were doing & thinking when a beeper went off)
    Correlation
    Meta-analysis
  • Myers & Diener findings - happiness & age
    All ages equally happy
    Herzog et al (1982) - different factors contribute to happiness at different ages
    People do face times of crisis but not at any predictable age
  • Myers & Diener findings - happiness & gender 

    Women have a greater capacity to feel joy in good times compared to men.
    Robins & Regier (1991) - found women are twice as vulnerable to depression and anxiety compared to men. Men are 5x as vulnerable to alcoholism & anti-social personality disorder compared to women.
    Haring et al (1984) - gender accounted for less than 1% of people’s global wellbeing in a meta-analysis of 146 studies.
    Inglehart (1990) - 80% of men and women said that they were at least fairly satisfied with life.
  • Myers & Diener findings - happiness & ethnic group 

    Black and people scored similarly
    Knowing someone’s ethnic group gives little clue to their happiness
  • Myers & Diener findings - happiness & culture 

    Nations differ strikingly in happiness
    Inglehart (1990) - in Portugal 10% of people say they are very happy compared to 40% in the Netherlands
    Collectivist cultures reported lower SWB than individualistic individualistic cultures.
  • Myers & Diener findings - happiness & money 

    Increases & decreases in income had no long term influence in SWB.
    Inglehart (1990) - noted Europe income has a weak effect on happiness.
  • Myers & Diener findings - key characteristics / traits of happy people
    Self-esteem
    Sense of personal control
    Optimism
    Extraversion
  • Myers & Diener findings - happiness & relationships 

    Those who can name several intimate friends to share things with are happier, healthier and less likely to die prematurely compared to those who have few or no intimate friends.
    Pavot et al (1999) - people report higher positive affect when they are with others.
    Lee et al (1991) - 39% of married couples said they were ’very happy’ compared to 24% of never married adults.
    The happiness gap between married & never married people was slightly greater among men than women.
  • Myers & Diener findings - happiness & work (flow)

    Work satisfaction affects life satisfaction.
    Work provides people with a personal identity, a sense of community, a network of relationships, a sense of purpose.
    If we are challenged & engaged by our work, we enter a state of ‘flow’ which increases wellbeing.
    Out of work people are less likely to feel satisfied with life than those productively engaged in work or leisure.
    Csikszentmihalyi (1990) - found happiness comes from engagement. People are happier when absorbed in the flow of an activity than when doing nothing meaningful.
  • Myers & Diener findings - happiness & faith / religion 

    Batson et al (1993) - religious people are much less likely to become delinquent, abuse drugs & alcohol, to divorce, be unhappily married & to commit suicide.
    Poloma & Pendleton (1990) - in North America & Europe religious people reported higher levels of happiness & life satisfaction.
  • Conclusions of Myers & Diener
    3 elements identified as contributing to the theory of happiness:
    Importance of adaptation - longitudinal research found that only events that have occurred in the last 3 months influence overall SWB. This shows we have the capacity to adapt our life circumstances.
    Cultural worldview.
    Values & goals - having goals and making progress towards them.
  • Methodological strengths of Myers & Diener’s research
    Sees trends and patterns across many studies.
    Standardised procedure.
    Large sample from different countries.
    Closed questions - objective.
  • Methodological weaknesses of Myers & Diener’s research 

    May have chosen the studies that supported them.
    Correlation not causation.
    Self-report - social desirability bias.
    Closed questions may be restrictive - forced into an answer.
    Meta-analysis is time consuming.
    Small number of collectivist cultures studied.
  • Ethical issues of Myers & Diener’s research 

    Beeper study (flow) - privacy
  • Ethical strengths of Myers & Diener’s research 

    Literature review - no direct participants - lack of ethical issues
    Confidentiality - no names used
  • Social implications of Myers & Diener’s research
    Money ≠ happiness could lead to more satisfaction in jobs.
    Traits of happy people - innate, hard to change, people who don’t have these traits may feel they have less of a chance at being happy.
    Stigmatise collectivist cultures.