Robert A. CumminsAustralian Centre on Quality of Life

Deakin University

Is happiness good for you?

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 researchinto the theoretical basis and empirical performanceof the human sense of wellbeing

Quality of Life[wellbeing]

Objective Wellbeing Subjective Wellbeing[happiness]

Objective Conditionse.g. Physical health

Subjective Perceptionse.g. Satisfaction with health

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www.vermontdairy.com/ice_cream

Feelings of ‘happiness’ come in two varieties

Short-term ‘emotional’ happinessAn emotional response to something nice

Long-term ‘mood’ happinessA 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

• Standard of living• Health• Achieving in life• Relationships• Safety• Community connectedness• Future security• Spirituality/Religion

How satisfied are you with your-----?

∑ = Subjective

Wellbeing

We code all data to lie on a range from

0 100

Completedissatisfaction

Completesatisfaction

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)

In 2000

Deakin University and Australian Unityformed a partnership

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

76.7

73.7

>S11

>S2, S4, S5

Scores above this line aresignif icantly higher than S1

SurveyDate

Major eventspreceding survey

72

73

74

75

76

77

S1

Ap

r 200

1

S2

Sep

t 200

1

S3

Mar

200

2

S4

Aug

200

2

S5

No

v 20

02

S6

Mar

200

3

S7

Jun

2003

S8

Aug

200

3

S9

No

v 20

03

S10

Feb

200

4

S11

May

200

4

S12

Aug

200

4

S13

May

200

5

S14

Oct

200

5

S15

May

200

6

S16

Oct

200

6

S17

Ap

r 20

07

S18

Oct

200

7

S18

.1 F

eb 2

008

S19

Ap

r 20

08

S20

Oct

200

8

S20

.1 F

eb 2

009

S21

May

200

9

S22

Sep

t 20

09

S23

Ap

ril 2

010

S24

Sep

t 20

10

S25

Ap

r 20

11

S26

Sep

t 20

11

Strengthof

satisfaction

Maximum = 76.3Current = 75.5Minimum = 73.2

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n

Personal Wellbeing Index2001 - 2011

76.7

73.7

>S11

>S2, S4, S5

Scores above this line aresignif icantly higher than S1

SurveyDate

Major eventspreceding survey

72

73

74

75

76

77

S1

Ap

r 200

1

S2

Sep

t 200

1

S3

Mar

200

2

S4

Aug

200

2

S5

No

v 20

02

S6

Mar

200

3

S7

Jun

2003

S8

Aug

200

3

S9

No

v 20

03

S10

Feb

200

4

S11

May

200

4

S12

Aug

200

4

S13

May

200

5

S14

Oct

200

5

S15

May

200

6

S16

Oct

200

6

S17

Ap

r 20

07

S18

Oct

200

7

S18

.1 F

eb 2

008

S19

Ap

r 20

08

S20

Oct

200

8

S20

.1 F

eb 2

009

S21

May

200

9

S22

Sep

t 20

09

S23

Ap

ril 2

010

S24

Sep

t 20

10

S25

Ap

r 20

11

S26

Sep

t 20

11

Strengthof

satisfaction

Maximum = 76.3Current = 75.5Minimum = 73.2

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n

Personal Wellbeing Index2001 - 2011

This represents a 3.0 percentage point variation

Normative range using survey mean scores as data (N=26)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

SD = 0.8Mean = 74.9

76.4

73.4

SubjectiveWellbeing

Very satisfied

Very dissatisfied

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.

60

90

Range forindividualset-points

These set-points lie between

60 and 90

Set-points are always POSITIVEie above 50

The average set-point is 75.

75

60

90

Range For

individualset-points

[The set-point for the average person ]

75

Time

60

90

When nothing much is happening to them, people rate how they feel about their life in terms of their set-point for SWB

The average set-point

Homeostasis can fail

Overwhelmingnegative

challenges

Subjective wellbeing

The result of subjective wellbeing loss is depression

Subjective wellbeing constantly under challenge, but is well protected

ChallengesSubjective Wellbeing[normal]

X

External resources(eg. relationships,

money)

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&h=267&w=400&sz=97&hl=en&start=13&sig2=g6PUgVjsMT8vqd1hp3DFsQ&um=1&tbnid=2jGBr7dyST6m0M:&tbnh=95&tbnw=143&ei=3rOhRt6XEJ2mggOIhqXlDQ&prev=/images%3Fq%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

Median

Total N ≈ 30,000

76.3

Normal Range

73.0

*78.0

*76.5

*73.9

71.7

74.9

78.3

79.2

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80

81

<$15 $15-30 $31-60 $61-90 $91-120 $121-150 $150+

Household Income ($'000)

Subjectivewellbeing *

Income and Mood Happiness

Australian Unity Wellbeing Index[cumulative data]

763

Normative Range

73.0

79.179.1

77.477.477.3

76.575.4

6263646566676869707172737475767778798081

<$15 $15-$30 $31-$60 $61-$90 $91-$120$121-$150 $150+

Household Income ($'000)

Partner only

SubjectiveWellbeing

median

Australian Unity Wellbeing Index[cumulative data]

76.3

73.0

Normative Range

79.1

80.7

75.476.5

77.3 77.477.4

79.1

77.3

78.9

70.3

72.6

75.9

78.2

6263646566676869707172737475767778798081

<$15 $15-$30 $31-$60 $61-$90 $91-$120$121-$150 $150+

Household Income ($'000)

Partner only

Partner & children

SubjectiveWellbeing

Australian Unity Wellbeing Index[cumulative data]

76.3

Normative Range

73.0

79.1

80.7

64.1

70.1

76.3

79.1

77.477.477.3

76.575.4

78.2

75.9

72.6

70.3

78.9

77.376.5

69.6

6263646566676869707172737475767778798081

<$15 $15-$30 $31-$60 $61-$90 $91-$120$121-$150 $150+

Household Income ($'000)

Partner only

Partner & children

Sole parent

SubjectiveWellbeing

Internal resources

ChallengesSubjective wellbeingX

External resources(eg. relationships,

money)

Internal resources(eg. Finding meaning)

BALLARD STREET

“I can’t be good at everything,” reasons Todd

When we fail to control the world around uswe use Cognitive Restructuring to protect SWB

The use of internal resources

Using internal resources to protect wellbeing

75

Time

Dropscoffee I can’t be

good at everything

Subjective wellbeing

Using external resources to protect wellbeing

75

Time

Hire abutler

Subjective wellbeing

In summary

Homeostasis can fail

MOODHappiness

<50/100

Challenges to homeostasis The loss of positive

wellbeing is

depression

Maintaining homeostasis

MOODHappiness

75/100

Challenges to homeostasis

Buffering resources

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!)

School of Psychology

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?

‘The Nun Study’ (Danner et al., 2001, Journal of Personality & Social

Psychology)

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

Negative Positive

Correlation with longevity No Yes

LOWEST positive 25% – HIGHEST positive 25% = 10 Years

http://www.rootsw

eb.com/~flstjohn/shannon/

nun.jpg

SWB is a positive emotional state that

Buffers

the adverse effects of negative emotion.

High set-points buffer daily experience

Genetic highMood Happiness(High set-point)

STRONGBUFFERS

(High Resilience)

SUBJECTIVEWELLBEING

(above average)

POSITIVE NEGATIVE

ENVIRONMENT

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 ModelBarbara Fredrickson (2001)

Happiness

-Look outward-Seek new information / experiment and play

-High motivation to engage the world

Happiness

-Look inwards-Ruminate and try to find

the reason for theunhappiness

-Low motivation to engage 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.

SummaryWe 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]