findings & conc

• key finding = happiness is a stable factor, people who report themselves happy at one time continue to be happy despite changes
• factors relating to happiness:

  • age
  • gender
  • culture
  • money
  • race
• age doesnt relate to happiness - a survey of 170,000 from 16 countries show no time in life is happier then another and no evidence of the mid life crisis
• gender doesnt relate to happiness - 16 countries, 80% of men and women are fairly satisfied with life
• culture does relate to happiness as individualist cultures have a greater subjective well being
• money can relate to happiness - money relates to happiness as far as to afford basic needs but people who won the lottery only report a brief increase in happiness and return normal after 3 months
• race doesnt relate to happiness - no difference on self esteem tests across different nationalities
• features of happy people:

  • personality
  • relationships
  • flow
  • religion
• happy people possess 4 key personality traits:

  • high self esteem
  • control
  • optimisum
  • extroversion
• relationships - people who have several friends are happier then people with few friends and married people are more ikely to describe themselves as very happy
• is work is challenging and creates flow and individual feels absorbed there is a sense of well being
• religious people report higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction
• people who are strongly religious are 2x more likely to say they are very happy
• there is a strong positive corrolation between happiness and worship attendance
• knowing a persons age, sex , race and income does not inform us about how happy they are
• better clues to knowing how happy someone is comes from knowing what traits a person has
• the theory of happiness:

  • the importance of adaptation
  • cultural world view
  • values and goals
• the importance of adaptation = adjust and adapt to significant life events and the effects of highs and lows will not alter happiness levels in the long term (around 3 months)
• cultural world view = your culturally influenced view of the world will affect how you respond to life events and therefore your happiness
• values and goals = you are making progress towards your long term goal