{"id":4538,"date":"2018-10-27T14:20:15","date_gmt":"2018-10-27T18:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/?p=4538"},"modified":"2018-10-27T15:25:04","modified_gmt":"2018-10-27T19:25:04","slug":"defining-happiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/positive-psychology\/defining-happiness\/","title":{"rendered":"Defining Happiness"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Today&#8217;s Goals<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Mini Review: Emotions over time<\/li>\n<li>Wrap-up on affective forecasting<\/li>\n<li>Understand the components of subjective well-being<\/li>\n<li>Begin to understand the correlates and causes of subjective well-being<\/li>\n<li>Understand Ryff&#8217;s 6 components of psychological well-being<\/li>\n<li>Understand the hedonic and eudaimonic approaches to happiness<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Mini Review<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Under what conditions is flow likely to occur?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When you&#8217;re interested in something<\/p>\n<p>When challenge and ability is balanced<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How is the experiencing self different than the remembering self?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Experiencing: in the present, experienced in the moment &#8211; only last a few seconds Remembering: in the past, reflection<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How was the emotional experience of each measured by Wirtz, et al.?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Experiencing: participants were paged in the moment Remembering: questionnaire afterward<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Which &#8216;self&#8217; seems more important to future choices?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Remembering self &#8211; what is considered when reflecting on past choices\/experiences One we have access to when making future plans<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Happiness<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>State vs. trait<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Close to right when comparing happiness to other personality traits<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Subjective well-being Operationalization of happiness<\/li>\n<li>Positive affect: lots of positive emotions<\/li>\n<li>Negative affect: few negative emotions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Can sometimes go in different directions &#8211; two separate things<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Life statisfaction: cognitive judgment\/assessment that things are pretty good<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>o Typically self-report, but corroborated by other approaches Other measures exist \u2022 Eudaimonia?<\/p>\n<p>Meaning and purpose in life<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>The Affect Circumplex<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Referred to in readings<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Satisfaction with Life Scale<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In most ways my life is close to my ideal<\/li>\n<li>The conditions of my life are excellent<\/li>\n<li>I am satisfied with my life<\/li>\n<li>So far I have gotten the important things I want in life<\/li>\n<li>If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Rate these items on a scale of agreement<\/p>\n<p>Doesn&#8217;t ask how are things at school, sex life, hobbies, familial relationships &#8211; on purpose<\/p>\n<p>This scale is very subjective &#8211; the participant gets to decide what is important (mental averaging, etc.)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Subjective Well-Being<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Relatively stable over time<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>People who are content\/happy at one state, tend to stay in that mindset<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Moderate associations with personality Personality traits &#8211; Big 5<\/li>\n<li>Moderately heritable o Twin studies<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>o What this means<\/p>\n<p>Meta-analysis: average of all results<\/p>\n<p>Genes are fixed across different generations<\/p>\n<p>Estimate &#8211; at about 50%<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Small associations with circumstances o Marriage, age, income, employment o What this means<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Eudaimonia (vs. hedonia)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>SWB often described as the &#8216;hedonic approach&#8217;<\/li>\n<li>Many view this as insufficient<\/li>\n<li>Consensus that psychological health is broader<\/li>\n<li>g. Ryff&#8217;s 6 dimensions<\/li>\n<li>But, much less consensus on what eudaimonia is, exactly<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Sept 28 &#8211; <\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Aristotle&#8217;s Eudaimonia<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Living up to true potential o Based on virtue and efforts o Includes society&#8217;s values<\/li>\n<li>Objective good life o g. assessed by others at end o Skepticism about subjective experience<\/li>\n<li>Sometimes only loosely related to modern approaches<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ryff&#8217;s Psychological Well-Being o Self acceptance o Purpose in life o Environmental mastery<\/p>\n<p>We are competent, we can master our environment o Positive relationships with others Support system<\/p>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li>Autonomy<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>We are doing what is right to us<\/p>\n<ol start=\"6\">\n<li>Personal growth (see table 1 reading)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Some demographic differences, but similar to SWB<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Come from the notion of broad psychological health<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Huta&#8217;s Motives (HEMA)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Seeking relaxation<\/li>\n<li>Seeking pleasure<\/li>\n<li>Seeking enjoyment<\/li>\n<li>Seeking fun<\/li>\n<li>Seeking to develop a skill, learn, or gain insight into something<\/li>\n<li>Seeking to do what you believe in<\/li>\n<li>Seeking to pursue excellence or a personal ideal<\/li>\n<li>Seeking to use the best in yourself<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Mainly about motivations &#8211; why we do things is may be more important than the experience of them<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Hedonia (vs. eudaimonia) \u2022 Is Eudaimonia happiness?<\/p>\n<p>Doesn&#8217;t necessarily include positive affect<\/p>\n<p>Some thing a part from happiness<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hedonia vs. hedonistic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Hedonia: positivity and negativity in evaluating something<\/p>\n<p>Is something pleasant or unpleasant<\/p>\n<p>Hedonist: someone that is doing everything to maximize pleasure<\/p>\n<p>Short-term pleasure at any cost &#8211; not what SWB is about<\/p>\n<p>SWB: hedonic balance, sense of satisfaction (hedonic)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Correlations high among constructs o Though may be possible to distinguish<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Correlation between hedonia and positive emotions<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Causes and consequences o Positive affect and meaning, authenticity o Pro-social sources of pleasure o Happiness vs. cause\/consequence<\/li>\n<li>Thought experiment<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Some times people would go through things that are unpleasant for some other gain (sense of purpose, accomplishment, etc.)<\/p>\n<p>Notion that there is more than just hedonism<\/p>\n<p>Authenticity is not the only thing that is offered &#8211; better to know better and be unhappy than be an idiot and be happy<\/p>\n<p>We value authenticity &#8211; we also value happiness<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Value of happiness<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><u>Happy People<\/u><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Today\u2019s Goals<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Discuss well-being project proposals<\/li>\n<li>Mini review (hedonic &amp; eudaimonic well-being)<\/li>\n<li>Finishing up hedonia-eudaimonia links<\/li>\n<li>Understand \u2018very happy people\u2019 study<\/li>\n<li>Touch on other personality correlates<\/li>\n<li>Discuss how personality &amp; happiness are related<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Well-Being Project<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Guide &amp; assignment details on cuLearn o What you must include o Resources to help find topic o Advice on how to develop it o Proposal template (use this file!)<\/li>\n<li>Be thinking about proposal\/project now o Still some time (due Oct. 16)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>o Early effort helpful in crafting good project<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Well-Being Project Proposals<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Identify source of inspiration (may or may not be academic reference) Identify project and where it came from<\/li>\n<li>Clear description of what you will do for project o Think through some details; be concrete<\/li>\n<li>Indication of how you will assess\/record outcomes and experience<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>i.e. questionnaire, journal, etc.<\/p>\n<p>Be creative &#8211; good fit to goals of project<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Provide a link between proposed activity and psychological literature o Include 2 good supporting academic sources (beyond exercise source if a direct adaptation) o Clearly and briefly described academic sources in relation to your project<\/li>\n<li>&#8216;Academic sources&#8217; o Peer-reviewed journal articles (&amp; chapters) o <em>NOT<\/em> dissertations o <em>NOT <\/em>magazine articles or blogs o <em>NOT<\/em> popular press or self-help books o <em>NOT<\/em> textbooks<\/li>\n<li>You can cite non-academic sources of inspiration, but not as \u2018support\u2019 or to meet the minimum required references<\/li>\n<li>You can cite articles from class, but they do not count towards the minimum required references<\/li>\n<li>Use APA style (formatting &amp; citations) o Tip sheet on cuLearn; other links in document<\/li>\n<li>Basic grammar, spelling, &amp; language count<\/li>\n<li>Overall structure, clarity, &amp; flow count o a single narrative flow is not needed for <em>proposal<\/em> o <em>U<\/em>se the template file (and rename it)<\/li>\n<li>It is fine to use \u201cI\u201d; this is about your plans and your experience.<\/li>\n<li>Avoid direct quotes o But give credit for others\u2019 ideas with citations Your project should add something <em>new<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Should be about 2 pages<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Mini Review<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>What are the 3 components of SWB?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Positive affect, negative affect, life satisfaction<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How is SWB trait-like (four main reasons from Lucas)?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Relatively stable (correlates over time, rank over stability), heritable, personality, independent from environmental circumstances<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How can heritability be different in different populations?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Differences in environment\/culture<\/p>\n<p>Nature vs. Nurture &#8211; where genes don&#8217;t account for, the environment can and vice versa<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How is eudaimonia different than SWB?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Aristotle: objective well-being<\/p>\n<p>Characteristics of the person that would still have insights to<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Very Happy People<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>What are the key ideas covered in the introduction?<\/li>\n<li>What were the main goals of this research?\n<ul>\n<li>Few studies of very happy (rationale for PP)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>A few basic questions o Necessary or sufficient factors?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Necessary: is it something that you have to have to be a very happy person?<\/p>\n<p>Sufficient: is there one thing, where if you have it, it&#8217;s enough you make you a very happy person? o Emotional range?<\/p>\n<p>Are the participants complete manics or do they have healthy, functioning, emotional systems?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What were [the major constructs and method features]?\n<ul>\n<li>Identify people in top 10% of happiness with multiple indicators o Compare to lowest 10% and \u2018middle\u2019 group<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>personality, emotions, events, relationships, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Happiness measures o SWLS\n<ul>\n<li>Global affect balance<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>People rated how much they tend to feel a whole bunch of emotions o Informant affect balance<\/p>\n<p>Each person in the study had a friend rate their emotions &#8211; objective reports o Daily affect balance<\/p>\n<p>Reported emotions, what their experiencing self was experiencing o Life event recall balance<\/p>\n<p>Write down all happy vs. unhappy emotions in x time<\/p>\n<p>Take number of happy vs. unhappy emotions against one another &#8211; correlation?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Trait adjectives (emotion balance vs. traits) o Suicide thoughts (reversed)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Sept 30 &#8211; <\/em><\/li>\n<li>What are the main results?<\/li>\n<li>Social relationships o Friend, family, romantic; peer rating; time use<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>One of the key things that help differential happy vs. sad groups<\/p>\n<p>Very happy people more likely to say they had been spending time with other people Correlate of happiness<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Personality o E, N, A, c, (O not significant); MMPI pathology<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>MMPI: personality questionnaire, more focused on pathological scales<\/p>\n<p>Very happy people tended to score lower on undesirable characteristics<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Daily emotions (but full range for all)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Happy people average happened to be more positive &#8211; but they did use the entire range for all emotions<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What are the main results?\n<ul>\n<li>Social ties necessary, but no sufficient factor<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>One necessary thing to be very happy, but that&#8217;s not the only thing o No major effects of circumstances\/activities<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Pos\/neg events; exercise; religious activity; smoking\/drinking; TV; sleep; money perceptions; GPA; physical attractiveness\n<ul>\n<li>BUT, careful of nulls with small, student sample (and cf. other studies) Other studies have found different results in what causes happiness<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>What is the main conclusion of the paper?\n<ul>\n<li>Very happy differ from others, particularly in:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Social relationships, personality o No sufficient single factor\n<ul>\n<li>Very happy not delusional (full mood range)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>What are the limitations of the study?\n<ul>\n<li>All student, modest size sample<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Why might this matter?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Different stressors, more opportunity to socialize, more time to meet goals\/needs<\/p>\n<p>Variation in social life &#8211; developmental period vs. stabilization<\/p>\n<p>Left out lots of things that could be related to happiness o Other measures not included\u2026 o Correlational approach<\/p>\n<p>Doesn&#8217;t always mean causation o (Novelty oversold?)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What are the implications of this study?\n<ul>\n<li>Many factors to happiness, yet social ties appear key o Usefulness of focusing on (very) happy in research o Can borrow general approach from study of \u2018negative\u2019<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Trying to point the spotlight at the other end of the distribution &#8211; toward a more positive side<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>A Bit More on \u2018Happy Personality\u2019<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Correlates o Big 5 facets<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>How these are broad traits, narrow facets o Motives, goals, needs<\/p>\n<p>Other levels of personality o Self-esteem, self<\/p>\n<p>Self-related constructs<\/p>\n<p>Self-compassion &#8211; to come later o Ryff scales<\/p>\n<p>Eudaimonic indicators &#8211; distinct from subjective well-being<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Example of Extraversion Domain<\/h2>\n<p>How these things might be related to happiness<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Many potential levels &amp; processes<\/li>\n<li>Genes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Same genes producing extraversion are producing SWB<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Physiology (e.g., BAS)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What are those genes coding for?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sociable\/reward behaviour (cause &amp; effect?) o Selection, evocation, manipulation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Notion that extraverts are more responsive\/sensitive to rewards<\/p>\n<p>Puts them in more of a reward state<\/p>\n<p>Physiological things manifesting into different behaviours<\/p>\n<p>Manipulation: active things we do in our environment &#8211; seeking out rewards through manipulation of environments<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cognitive biases (e.g., memory, homophones)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Homophones: spelled the same, have different meanings<\/p>\n<p>Extraverts vs. introverts &#8211; extraverts lean toward positive interpretations<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Self-regulation (mood)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Savouring &#8211; easier to put extravert into a good mood, and they stay in that good mood longer Better at maintaining positive moods?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Culture<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Effect is stronger in extraversion cultures<\/p>\n<p>Issue of how is it ideally that you want to feel?<\/p>\n<p>Most people are not extreme one way or another<\/p>\n<p>More present in long-term averages than in single moments<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today&#8217;s Goals Mini Review: Emotions over time Wrap-up on affective forecasting Understand the components of subjective well-being Begin to understand the correlates and causes of subjective well-being Understand Ryff&#8217;s&hellip; <a class=\"continue\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/positive-psychology\/defining-happiness\/\">Continue Reading<span> Defining Happiness<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[116],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4538"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4538\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}