core study

• methodology of myers and diener - literature review
• two experiments - "myths of happiness" and "happy people"
• F1- age, no real difference. (Ingelhart, 1990) revealed that no

  time of life is notably happier or unhappier than others.
• F1 - gender, no difference. 80% of men and 80% of women said

  they were at least ‘fairly satisfied’ with life (Ingelhart, 1990).
• F1- Race No real difference. People of different nationalities scored similarly on tests of self esteem.
• F1 - culture, large differences found. Nations differ in happiness even when income differences are controlled. For example, in Portugal, about 10% of people say they are very happy, whilst in the Netherlands, 40% of people say the same.
• F1- Money, moderate correlation. 75% of Americans beginning college said that ‘being very well off financially’ was a ‘very important’ life goal and was ranked more important than ‘raising a family’ for example.
• F2- Traits- Self-esteem, personal control, optimism, and extraversion. Happy people tend to like themselves and feel a sense of personal control. They are also optimists and are more extraverted.

  It is not known if these traits cause happiness or being happy leads to these traits.
• F2- Relationships -Those with more friends are happier. People who can name several friends are healthier and happier. Married people are morelikely to describe themselves as ‘very happy’.
• F2- People with greater work satisfaction have

  better life satisfaction.-Work should help the individual reach a ‘flow’

  state, where one is so caught up in an activity that the mind does not wander, one becomes oblivious to surroundings and time flies. Csikszentmihalyi.
• F2- Faith, religous people are happier

  Surveys have shown that people who are strongly religious are twice as likely to say they are ‘very happy’. Faith seems to help people to

  cope with a crisis.
• C1- Adaptation. Only events within the last three months have a significant effect on well-being as the response to either positive or negative events fades over time.
• C2- Cultural worldview. An individual’s culture influences how life events are interpreted, which in turn affects well-being
• C3- Values and goals. Having goals and making progress towards them can predict well-being. Therefore, things like money are only important if they are relevant to a person’s life goals.

  They dismissed the idea that factors such as age, sex were important indicators of happiness, instead focusing on things like personality traits and relationships.

  Their study will "complement’ to negative psych studies. Believed that by researching who is happy, may help people rethink their priorities and better understand how to build a world that enhances human well-being.