Individual differences in the relationship between domain satisfaction and happiness: The moderating role of domain importance

Previous studies have shown that personality traits account for a substantial amount of variance in individual levels of subjective well-being (SWB). However, these studies are limited in their ability to explain the intra- and interindividual differences in the processes of SWB. To redress this shortcoming, researchers have focused on moderators of the relationship between domain satisfaction and global life satisfaction. However, those studies assume only one specific type of interaction pattern for all life domains. Based on a national probability sample from Japan this paper analyzes the role of domain importance in the relationship between domain satisfaction and the overall SWB level. Our study is the first to explore different kinds of interaction patterns in the importance satisfaction moderation of life domains. We identify four different types of domains: (i) domains in which satisfaction correlates with happiness only when the domain is considered as important; (ii) domains in which satisfaction correlates with happiness no matter whether it is considered as important or not; (iii) domains in which the slope of the correlation between satisfaction and happiness increases when it is considered as important and (iv) domains which show no correlation with happiness not matter whether it is considered as important or not.     

Culture and conceptions of happiness: individual oriented and social oriented swb

Adopting a cultural psychological approach, we believe that culture and SWB are most productively analyzed together as a dynamic of mutual constitution. We outline a cultural theory of SWB to systematically analyze conceptions of happiness as embedded in both Euro-American and Asian cultures. Our cultural theory posits that distinct and different characteristics of the conceptions of happiness are prevalent in Asian and Euro-American cultures. For Asians, socially oriented SWB emphasizes role obligation and dialectical balance; for Euro-Americans, individually oriented SWB emphasizes personal accountability and explicit pursuit. The present paper provides empirical data on American conceptions of happiness and contrasts these with previously collected Chinese data. Both similarities and differences were observed and were in general consonant with our theoretical propositions.     

Interdependent Happiness: Theoretical Importance and Measurement Validity

We proposed the concept of “interdependent happiness,” which is interdependently pursued and attained. A nine-item Interdependent Happiness Scale (IHS) was developed to measure the happiness of individuals who are relationally oriented, quiescent and ordinary. Interdependent happiness correlated with both subjective well-being (SWB) and interdependent self-construal among Japanese students (Study 1); their SWB was more likely to be explained by IHS than the SWB of American students (Study 2); and IHS explained the SWB of working adults in the US, Germany, Japan, and Korea (Study 3) and Japanese adults and elders from collectivist regions of the country (Study 4). Cultural and cross-cultural psychological perspectives were incorporated to shed new light on collective happiness     

National Differences in Subjective Well-Being: The Interactive Effects of Extraversion and Neuroticism

Extraversion and neuroticism interact to affect subjective well-being (SWB) at the individual level of analysis, so that introverted neurotics tend to be particularly miserable. The goal of this study is to determine if this interaction can also be detected at a national level. Findings based on data from 30 countries confirmed that the interaction between extraversion and neuroticism was an extremely strong predictor of satisfaction with life and affect, and a similar though not significant effect was observed with happiness. Neuroticism lowered satisfaction with life and affect among all nations, but more so among introverted nations than among extraverted ones. These findings further confirm that personality traits can be used to extend our understanding of national differences regarding SWB. They also further validate national SWB scores, as they relate to personality in a complex but theoretically meaningful manner.     

Subjective well‐being and human welfare around the world as reflected in the Gallup World Poll

We present data on well‐being and quality of life in the world, including material quality of life such as not going hungry, physical health quality of life such as longevity, social quality of life such as social support, environmental health such as clean water, equality in income and life satisfaction, and levels of subjective well‐being (SWB). There are large differences between nations in SWB, and these are predicted not only by economic development, but also by environmental health, equality and freedom in nations. Improving trends in SWB are seen in many countries, but declining SWB is evident in a few. Besides average differences in SWB between nations, there are also large disparities within many countries. We discuss the policy opportunities provided by national accounts of SWB, which are increasingly being adopted by many societies. They provide the opportunity to inform policy deliberations with well‐being information that reflects not only economic development, but also other facets of quality of life as well. National accounts of SWB reflect the quality of life in areas such as health, social relationships and the natural environment, and therefore capture a broader view of societal well‐being than afforded by measures of economic progress alone.     

Happiness in Behaviour Genetics: An Update on Heritability and Changeability

In this paper we summarize recent behaviour genetic findings on happiness measured as life satisfaction (LS) and subjective wellbeing (SWB) and discuss important implications pertaining to stability and change, including the potential of individual and societal interventions. Broadly speaking, two main research strategies explore genetic and environmental influences on happiness, including quantitative and molecular genetics. Whereas molecular genetics seeks to trace the causal pathways from specific DNA variants, quantitative genetics estimates the magnitude of overall genetic and environmental influences without specifying actual DNA sequences and usually without specifying specific environmental circumstances. Molecular genetic studies have entered the happiness arena, but have shown mixed results. Most replicated findings are therefore based on quantitative genetics and derived from twin and family studies decomposing variation and co-variation into genetic, shared, and non-shared environmental sources. Recent meta-analyses of such studies report genetic influences (i.e., heritability) to account for 32–40 % of the variation in overall happiness (i.e., SWB, LS), and indicate that heritability varies across populations, subgroups, contexts and/or constructs. When exploring stable SWB levels, heritability is reported in the 70–80 % range, whereas momentary positive affect is often entirely situational. Happiness is thus heritable, stable, variable and changeable. What do these findings imply? Can happiness be raised as a platform in individuals and societies? We suggest that individual and societal interventions that target causal pathways and address both amplifying and compensatory processes (i.e., focus on developing strengths and mitigating risks)—thus providing for positive gene-environment matchmaking, are likely to be effective and longer lasting.     

Individualism/Collectivism and Cultures of Happiness: A Theoretical Conjecture on the Relationship between Consumption, Culture and Subjective Well-Being at the National Level

This theory paper seeks to explain an empirical puzzle presented by past research on the relationship between consumption and subjective well-being (SWB). Research has shown that people in rich countries are, on average, significantly higher in SWB than people in poor countries, which is consistent with a strong link between one's overall level of consumption and one's SWB. However, when individuals within the same country are compared, income has little relationship to SWB above the level at which basic needs can be met, suggesting that higher levels of consumption may not be linked to higher levels of SWB. This link between consumption and SWB when nations are compared to each other, but not when individuals within a given nation are compared to each other, presents a puzzle. As a solution, I propose that economic development leads to higher levels of national average SWB not by increasing consumption (again, with the caveat that this statement excludes situations where basic needs are not being met), but by creating more individualistic cultures which encourage their members to pursue personal happiness over honor and meeting social obligations. Whether or not this is seen as a socially positive development depends in a circular fashion on the cultural values of the person making the judgement.     

Subjective well-being,social buffering and hedonic editing in the quotidian

A previous study on the relationship between subjective well-being (SWB) and hedonic editing—the process of mentally integrating or segregating different events during decision-making—showed that happy individuals preferred the social-buffering strategy more than less happy individuals. The present study examined the relationship between SWB, social-buffering and hedonic outcomes in daily life. In Study 1, we used web-based diaries to measure the frequency with which individuals utilised social and non-social buffers as well as daily levels of happiness. Consistent with the previous finding, happy individuals utilised social buffers more frequently than less happy individuals. Interestingly, the utilisation of social buffers had a positive effect on daily happiness among all participants, regardless of individuals’ levels of SWB. In Study 2, we found that although the use of social buffers yielded similar effects across groups on online evaluations of events, happy individuals showed a positive bias in global evaluations of past events. This finding suggests that how one construes and remembers the outcomes of social buffering may shape the different hedonic editing preferences among happy and less happy individuals.     

Subjective Well-Being During the 2008 Economic Crisis: Identification of Mediating and Moderating Factors

We examine the effects of the 2008 economic crisis on the reported subjective well-being (SWB) of nationally representative samples in 36 mainly European countries between 2002 and 2013. We study how SWB fluctuates along the business cycle, and how it is mediated by individual and country-level socioeconomic factors. Our key finding is that the economic crisis had a negative and S-shaped effect on SWB, implying diminishing marginal sensitivity at higher income losses and gains. During the economic downturn, roughly half of individual-level and macro-level determinants exhibit notable changes in significance and/or magnitude of the effect on SWB. This is taken as an indication of psychological adaptation and shifting reference frames. Five factors display an augmented effect on happiness and life satisfaction during the crisis (below-average income, the Gini index, attitude towards income equality, religiosity, and conscientiousness), while two determinants exhibit attenuated impact on the SWB measures (relationship status and unemployment rate).     

WHO IS HAPPY?

A flood of new studies explores people's subjective well-being (SWB) Frequent positive affect, infrequent negative affect and a global sense of satisfaction with life define high SWB These studies reveal that happiness and life satisfaction are similarly available to the young and the old, women and men, blacks and whites, the rich and the working-class. Better clues to well-being come from knowing about a person's traits, close relationships, work experiences, culture, and religiosity. We present the elements of an appraisal-based theory of happiness that recognizes the importance of adaptation, cultural world view, and personal goals     

Adaptation and the Set-Point Model of Subjective Well-Being: Does Happiness Change After Major Life Events?

ABSTRACT— Hedonic adaptation refers to the process by which individuals return to baseline levels of happiness following a change in life circumstances. Dominant models of subjective well-being (SWB) suggest that people can adapt to almost any life event and that happiness levels fluctuate around a biologically determined set point that rarely changes. Recent evidence from large-scale panel studies challenges aspects of this conclusion. Although inborn factors certainly matter and some adaptation does occur, events such as divorce, death of a spouse, unemployment, and disability are associated with lasting changes in SWB. These recent studies also show that there are considerable individual differences in the extent to which people adapt. Thus, happiness levels do change, and adaptation is not inevitable.     

The Relative Importance of Personality,Financial Satisfaction,and Autonomy for Different Subjective Well-Being Facets

Abstract

Using a nationally representative sample (N?=?507) from Singapore, this study examined whether personality, financial satisfaction, and autonomy were important to subjective well-being (SWB), and how the importance of these predictors varied across different SWB facets—life satisfaction, happiness, positive feelings, and negative feelings. The findings indicated that neuroticism, financial satisfaction, and autonomy, were important predictors of happiness. Personality was most important for affective well-being (i.e., positive and negative feelings), whereas financial satisfaction was most important for life satisfaction. Specifically, neuroticism accounted for substantial variance in positive and negative feelings, and was the strongest correlate among the Big Five traits. In contrast, financial satisfaction explained most of the variance in life satisfaction. This highlights that the importance of well-being predictors depended on the facet of well-being examined. The findings suggest that residents in an affluent nation like Singapore do not emphasize only postmaterialist values (e.g., autonomy) and disregard materialist concerns (e.g., financial satisfaction). Though certain SWB facets (positive and negative affect) are largely influenced by dispositional factors, other facets (life satisfaction and happiness) are closely related to factors (e.g., financial satisfaction, autonomy) that may be affected by social policies. Policymakers can thus target those aspects to enhance people’s SWB.     

Subjective well-being. The science of happiness and a proposal for a national index

One area of positive psychology analyzes subjective well-being (SWB), people's cognitive and affective evaluations of their lives. Progress has been made in understanding the components of SWB, the importance of adaptation and goals to feelings of well-being, the temperament underpinnings of SWB, and the cultural influences on well-being. Representative selection of respondents, naturalistic experience sampling measures, and other methodological refinements are now used to study SWB and could be used to produce national indicators of happiness.     

Be yourself,believe in yourself,and be happy: Self‐efficacy as a mediator between personality factors and subjective well‐being

Strobel, M., Tumasjan, A. & Spörrle, M. (2011). Be yourself, believe in yourself, and be happy: Self‐efficacy as a mediator between personality factors and subjective well‐being. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 52, 43–48. Research has shown close connections between personality and subjective well‐being (SWB), suggesting that personality traits predispose individuals to experience different levels of SWB. Moreover, numerous studies have shown that self‐efficacy is related to both personality factors and SWB. Extending previous research, we show that general self‐efficacy functionally connects personality factors and two components of SWB (life satisfaction and subjective happiness). Our results demonstrate the mediating role of self‐efficacy in linking personality factors and SWB. Consistent with our expectations, the influence of neuroticism, extraversion, openness, and conscientiousness on life satisfaction was mediated by self‐efficacy. Furthermore, self‐efficacy mediated the influence of openness and conscientiousness, but not that of neuroticism and extraversion, on subjective happiness. Results highlight the importance of cognitive beliefs in functionally linking personality traits and SWB.     

The Genetic Overlap and Distinctiveness of Flourishing and the Big Five Personality Traits

The growing evidence that subjective well-being (SWB) produces an array of beneficial outcomes has increased requests for recommendations on how to promote it. Evidence that all of SWB’s genetic variance overlaps with personality led to the strong claim that it is a ‘personality thing’ and that personality is the strongest predictor of SWB. However, studies do not include a comprehensive assessment that reflects eudaimonic as well as hedonic SWB. We revisit the question of SWB’s complete overlap with personality employing the tripartite model—emotional, psychological, and social—of SWB that, together, reflect Keyes’ (2002) model of flourishing. Data are from the Midlife in the United States national sample of 1,386 twins. Analyses were done using Mx to test Cholesky decomposition models and a two latent factor common pathway model. One-third of the total (72 %) heritability of flourishing and 40 % of its environmental variability are distinct from the big-five personality traits. We also find a low phenotypic association (mean r = .22) between the three dimensions of SWB and big-five personality traits despite substantial shared genetic etiology. In addition to non-trivial amounts of distinctive genetic and environmental variance and low phenotypic correlation, we point to limited investigation of reciprocal causation of SWB and personality. Psychologist should not yet conclude that SWB is a ‘personality thing’ anymore than personality might be a ‘well-being thing’.     

National Culture,Creativity, and Productivity: What’s the Relationship with Student Achievement?

Using Hofstede’s culture dimensions and World Values Survey (WVS) dimensions, the study uses a series of multiple regressions to explore the relationship among national culture, creativity as measured by patents, economic productivity as measured by gross domestic product per capita, and student achievement as measured by Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. The findings of this exploratory study highlight long-term orientation value from Hofstede’s national culture dimensions and tradition versus secular-rational values from the WVS as the most significant predictors of student academic achievement. A series of 12 regression analyses indicated significant relationships among student achievement, creativity, and economic productivity with models explaining between 19.9% and 76.0% of the variance among countries.     

Happiness and Suffering in the Life Story: An Inquiry into Conflicting Expectations Concerning the Association of Perceived Past with Present Subjective Well-Being in Old Age

The study examined whether positive or negative aspects of the life story were predominantly associated with present subjective well-being (SWB). Two samples (N?=?815 and 213; mean ages 75 and 73) rated past emotions (happiness and suffering) in positive and negative anchor periods (e.g., ??the happiest period,?? ??the most miserable period??) of their life stories. The indices of present SWB were present happiness, present suffering, and life satisfaction. Results indicated that when the past emotions were net of each other, past happiness was related to the positive indices, but not to the negative index, of present SWB whereas past suffering was related to the negative index, and only partially to the positive indices, of present SWB. Congruent emotions (happiness in positive periods, suffering in negative periods) were stronger than incongruent emotions (happiness in negative periods, suffering in positive periods), yet each had unique associations with present SWB. Finally, past happiness weakened the inverse relationship between past suffering and present SWB, yet it strengthened this relationship when past emotions were both incongruent (i.e., when happiness in negative periods was analyzed in conjunction with suffering in positive periods). In conclusion, rather than presenting predominance over each other, positive and negative ingredients in the life story maintain complementary and interactive associations with present SWB. In this context, the study points to the SWB-related implications of the interplay between paramount life experiences in the individual??s anchor periods and the emotions that the individual attributes to these periods.     

Is It Possible to Become Happier? (And If So,How?)

Although some theory suggests that it is impossible to increase one's subjective well-being (SWB), our 'sustainable happiness model' ( Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, 2005 ) specifies conditions under which this may be accomplished. To illustrate the three classes of predictor in the model, we first review research on the demographic/circumstantial, temperament/personality, and intentional/experiential correlates of SWB. We then introduce the sustainable happiness model, which suggests that changing one's goals and activities in life is the best route to sustainable new SWB. However, the goals and activities must be of certain positive types, must fit one's personality and needs, must be practiced diligently and successfully, must be varied in their timing and enactment, and must provide a continued stream of fresh positive experiences. Research supporting the model is reviewed, including new research suggesting that happiness intervention effects are not just placebo effects.     

Social Capital and Individual Happiness in Europe

This paper explores the relationship between social capital and happiness both in Europe as a whole, as well as in its four main geographical macro-regions—North, South, East and West—separately. We test the hypothesis of whether social capital, in its three-fold definition established by Coleman (Am J Sociol 94:S95–S120 1988)—trust, social interaction, and norms and sanctions—influences individual happiness across European countries and regions. The concept of social capital is further enriched by incorporating Putnam (Making democracy work—civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1993) and Olson (The rise and decline of nations—economic growth, stagflation, and social rigidities. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1982) type variables on associational activity. Using ordinal logistic regression analysis on data for 48,583 individuals from 25 European countries, we reach three main findings. First, social capital matters for happiness across the three dimensions considered. Second, the main drivers of the effects of social capital on happiness appear to be informal social interaction and general social, as well as institutional trust. And third, there are significant differences in how social capital interacts with happiness across different areas of Europe, with the connection being at is weakest in the Nordic countries.     

Are Happiness and Life Satisfaction Different Across Religious Groups? Exploring Determinants of Happiness and Life Satisfaction

This study explores whether different religions experience different levels of happiness and life satisfaction and in case this is affected by country economic and cultural environment. Using World Value Survey (from 1981 to 2014), this study found that individual religiosity and country level of development play a significant role in shaping people’s subjective well-being (SWB). Protestants, Buddhists and Roman Catholic were happier and most satisfied with their lives compared to other religious groups. Orthodox has the lowest SWB. Health status, household’s financial satisfaction and freedom of choice are means by which religious groups and governments across the globe can improve the SWB of their citizens.