Is happiness good for you?
Robert A. Cummins
Australian Centre on Quality of Life
Deakin University
http://www.deakin.edu.au/research/acqol
The science of happiness
Science has captured the study of happiness from
philosophy
There is now 30 years of systematic research
into the theoretical basis and empirical performance
of the human sense of wellbeing
Quality of Life
[wellbeing]
Objective Conditions
e.g. Physical health
Objective Wellbeing
Subjective Perceptions
e.g. Satisfaction with health
?
Subjective Wellbeing
[happiness]
www.vermontdairy.com/ice_cream
Feelings of ‘happiness’
come in two varieties
Short-term ‘emotional’ happiness
An emotional response to something nice
Long-term ‘mood’ happiness
A mood with a genetic basis
Subjective wellbeing
[Contentment]
How can we describe the
sense of subjective wellbeing?
A normally positive state of mind that involves
the whole life experience
Personal Wellbeing Index
How satisfied are you with your-----?
• Standard of living
• Health
• Achieving in life
• Relationships
• Safety
• Community connectedness
• Future security
• Spirituality/Religion
∑ = Subjective
Wellbeing
We code all data to lie on a range from
Complete
dissatisfaction
0
Complete
satisfaction
100
Why all the fuss about mood happiness?
Positive emotions build a range of personal
resources as:
Physical resources (health, longevity)
Social resources (friendliness, social capital)
Intellectual resources (intellectual curiosity, expert
knowledge,)
Psychological resources (resilience, optimism,
creativity)
Deakin
In 2000
University and Australian
formed a partnership
Unity
Purpose: to create a quarterly index of
subjective wellbeing for the Australian
population.
As an alternative to the traditional
economic indicators such as GDP
The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index
Surveys
Geographically representative sample
N = 2,000
Telephone interview
#1: April 2001
-----------#26: Sept 2011
Survey
Date
c
d
S26 Sept 2011
m
S25 Apr 2011
l
S24 Sept 2010
S23 April 2010
k
S22 Sept 2009
S21 May 2009
j
S20.1 Feb 2009
i
S20 Oct 2008
S19 Apr 2008
S18.1 Feb 2008
h
S18 Oct 2007
S17 Apr 2007
S16 Oct 2006
g
S15 May 2006
f
S14 Oct 2005
e
S13 May 2005
S12 Aug 2004
S11 May 2004
S10 Feb 2004
S9 Nov 2003
S8 Aug 2003
b
S7 Jun 2003
a
S6 Mar 2003
73
S5 Nov 2002
S4 Aug 2002
Major events
preceding survey
S3 Mar 2002
75
S2 Sept 2001
76
S1 Apr 2001
Personal Wellbeing Index
2001 - 2011
77
>S11
76.7
>S2, S4, S5
Scores above this line are
signif icantly higher than S1
Strength
of
satisfaction
74
73.7
Maximum = 76.3
Current = 75.5
Minimum = 73.2
72
n
Survey
Date
c
d
S26 Sept 2011
m
S25 Apr 2011
l
S24 Sept 2010
S23 April 2010
k
S22 Sept 2009
S21 May 2009
j
S20.1 Feb 2009
i
S20 Oct 2008
S19 Apr 2008
S18.1 Feb 2008
h
S18 Oct 2007
S17 Apr 2007
S16 Oct 2006
g
S15 May 2006
f
S14 Oct 2005
e
S13 May 2005
S12 Aug 2004
S11 May 2004
S10 Feb 2004
S9 Nov 2003
S8 Aug 2003
b
S7 Jun 2003
a
S6 Mar 2003
73
S5 Nov 2002
S4 Aug 2002
Major events
preceding survey
S3 Mar 2002
75
S2 Sept 2001
76
S1 Apr 2001
Personal Wellbeing Index
2001 - 2011
77
>S11
76.7
>S2, S4, S5
Scores above this line are
signif icantly higher than S1
Strength
of
satisfaction
74
73.7
Maximum = 76.3
Current = 75.5
Minimum = 73.2
This represents a 3.0 percentage point variation
72
n
Normative range
using survey mean scores as data (N=26)
Very satisfied 100
90
Subjective
Wellbeing
80
76.4
70
73.4
60
50
40
30
20
10
Very dissatisfied
0
Mean = 74.9
SD = 0.8
Why is subjective wellbeing
held so steady?
Homeostasis
Just like we hold body temperature steady
Subjective wellbeing homeostasis
Each person has a set-point for
their subjective wellbeing.
90
These set-points
lie between
60 and 90
Range for
individual
set-points
60
Set-points are always POSITIVE
ie above 50
The average set-point is 75.
90
Range
For
individual
set-points
60
75 [The set-point for the average person ]
90
The average set-point
75
60
When nothing much is happening to them, people rate how
they feel about their life in terms of their set-point for SWB
Time
Homeostasis can fail
Overwhelming
negative
challenges
Subjective
wellbeing
The result of subjective wellbeing loss is
depression
Subjective wellbeing constantly under
challenge, but is well protected
Challenges
X
External resources
(eg. relationships,
money)
Subjective
Wellbeing
[normal]
The most protective External Resources
A close relationship
http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/12651/small_-_old_couple.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Asia/China/photo114529.htm
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Fq%3Dold%2Bcouple%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG
Money
How does money link to happiness?
Money is a flexible resource that
allows people to defend themselves
against life’s challenges
Income is an external resource that
enhances resilience
81
Total N ≈ 30,000
80
79.2
*
79
78.3
78.0
78
*
76.5
77
Subjective76
wellbeing75
*
*
76.3
74.9
Normal Range
73.9
74
73.0
73
72
71.7
71
<$15
$15-30
$31-60
$61-90
$91-120
$121-150
Median
Household Income ($'000)
$150+
Income and Mood Happiness
Australian Unity Wellbeing Index
[cumulative data]
Subjective
Wellbeing
81
80
79
78
77
76
75
74
73
72
71
70
69
68
67
66
65
64
63
62
Partner only
79.1
79.1
77.3
77.4
76.5
77.4
763
75.4
Normative Range
73.0
median
<$15
$15-$30 $31-$60 $61-$90 $91-$120 $121-$150 $150+
Household Income ($'000)
Australian Unity Wellbeing Index
[cumulative data]
Partner only
Subjective
Wellbeing
81
80
79
78
77
76
75
74
73
72
71
70
69
68
67
66
65
64
63
62
Partner & children
80.7
78.9
77.3
76.5
75.4
77.4
77.3
75.9
72.6
77.4
79.1
79.1
78.2
76.3
Normative Range
73.0
70.3
<$15
$15-$30 $31-$60 $61-$90 $91-$120 $121-$150 $150+
Household Income ($'000)
Australian Unity Wellbeing Index
[cumulative data]
Subjective
Wellbeing
81
80
79
78
77
76
75
74
73
72
71
70
69
68
67
66
65
64
63
62
Partner only
Partner & children
Sole parent
80.7
78.9
77.3
76.5
75.4
77.4
77.3
75.9
76.3
77.4
79.1
79.1
78.2
76.5
Normative Range
72.6
76.3
73.0
70.1
70.3
69.6
64.1
<$15
$15-$30 $31-$60 $61-$90 $91-$120 $121-$150 $150+
Household Income ($'000)
Internal resources
Challenges
X
External resources
(eg. relationships,
money)
Subjective
wellbeing
Internal resources
(eg. Finding meaning)
The use of internal resources
When we fail to control the world around us
we use Cognitive Restructuring to protect SWB
“I can’t be good at everything,” reasons Todd
BALLARD STREET
Using internal resources to
protect wellbeing
Drops
coffee
75
I can’t be
good at
everything
Time
Using external resources to
protect wellbeing
75
Hire a
butler
Subjective wellbeing
Time
In summary
Homeostasis can fail
MOOD
Happiness
<50/100
Challenges to
homeostasis
The loss of positive
wellbeing is
depression
Maintaining homeostasis
Buffering
resources
Challenges to
homeostasis
MOOD
Happiness
75/100
Is more better?
Are high levels of happiness good for you?
The answer lies in homeostasis
therefore
Sometimes Yes and sometimes No
Happiness can be associated with pathology
Name a boss you can think of who--1 Takes advantage of others to achieve for them self
2 Lacks empathy
3 Requires excessive admiration
4 Preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power,
brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
5 Believes they can only be understood by other high-status
people
6 Exaggerates own achievements and talents to the point of
lying
7 Is envious of others or believes that others are envious of
them.
8 Is arrogant and haughty
At least five criteria =
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
They tend to have high levels of happiness
(at the expense of everyone else!)
What about non-pathological happiness?
People have different set-points for happiness
So, do people with high set-points
do better in life than people
with low set-points?
School of Psychology
‘The Nun Study’ (Danner et al., 2001,
Journal of Personality & Social
Psychology)
http://www.rootsweb.com/~flstjohn/shannon/nun.jpg
180 Catholic nuns in USA
Age: 75 – 95y (42% had died)
At age 22y produced a brief autobiography
Analysis: rated for positive & negative content
Strength of emotional
content
Correlation with longevity
Negative
Positive
No
Yes
LOWEST positive 25% – HIGHEST positive 25% = 10 Years
SWB is a positive emotional state
that
Buffers
the adverse effects of negative
emotion.
High set-points buffer daily
experience
STRONG
BUFFERS
(High Resilience)
POSITIVE
NEGATIVE
ENVIRONMENT
Genetic high
Mood Happiness
(High set-point)
SUBJECTIVE
WELLBEING
(above average)
Is a chronic high level of happiness
good for you?
1. It is good for nuns
longevity
morbidity
2. It is generally beneficial to
pro-social behaviours
Principle of homeostasis
It is defending each person’s set-point
for happiness, which is an adaptive
level for that person
Movement of happiness either below
or above the set-point range should
be less adaptive
High levels of happiness can sometimes
be BAD for you
risk-taking
over-confidence
Happiness in not risk-free
However, no one commits suicide while
feeling happy
By far the largest risk-factor in low
happiness [depression]
Broaden and Build Model
Barbara Fredrickson (2001)
Happiness
Happiness
-Look outward
-Look inwards
-Seek new information / -Ruminate and try to find
experiment and play
the reason for the
unhappiness
-High motivation to
-Low motivation to engage
engage the world
the world
Fredrickson, B.L., & Branigan, C. (2001) Positive emotions. In T.J. Mayne., & G.A. Bonanno (Eds.).Emotions: Current issues
and future directions, 123-152, Guilford Press, New York.
Summary
We have a gold standard for happiness and a theoretical
model for understanding how it is maintained by a
homeostatic system.
Happiness does not necessarily = mental health
[eg. Narcissistic Personality Disorder]
Happiness is generally good for us
[but we cannot increase it beyond the set-point ceiling]
Acute periods of low happiness are adaptive and normal
[Broaden and Build]
Chronically low happiness is caused by homeostatic defeat
[Depression]