Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Social Psychology Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

2013

Happiness

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Social Psychology

Rising Income And The Subjective Well-Being Of Nations, Ed Diener, Louis Tay, Shigehiro Oishi Feb 2013

Rising Income And The Subjective Well-Being Of Nations, Ed Diener, Louis Tay, Shigehiro Oishi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We explored whether rising income in nations is associated with increasing subjective well-being (SWB), with several advances over earlier work. Our methods are improved in that across time, the same well-being questions were asked in the same order, and we employed broad and equivalent representative samples over time from a large number of nations. We also assessed psychosocial factors that might mediate the relation of income and SWB. We found that changes in household income were associated with concomitant changes in life evaluations, positive feelings, and negative feelings. The effects of gross domestic product (GDP) change were weaker and significant …


Comparing Well-Being Across Nations: Conceptual And Empirical Issues, William Tov, Evelyn Wing-Mun Au Jan 2013

Comparing Well-Being Across Nations: Conceptual And Empirical Issues, William Tov, Evelyn Wing-Mun Au

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In this chapter, we review cross-national survey studies of subjective well-being. We begin with a short history of the concept of subjective well-being and examine how it has been measured in national surveys. We then review some findings on well-being at the level of societies and individuals. The former concerns how the economic and social conditions of countries are related to their average level of happiness and life satisfaction. The latter considers how the characteristics of happy and unhappy individuals may differ across cultures. Next we discuss important issues in research design and analysis of cross-national data, and in the …


Subjective Well-Being, William Tov, Ed Diener Jan 2013

Subjective Well-Being, William Tov, Ed Diener

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The cross-cultural importance of happiness and contentment can be inferred from their emergence in philosophical discussions across many cultural traditions. We begin by focusing on similarities, noting what has been found to correlate with the components of SWB across most cultures. Subjective well being (SWB) involves the various ways that people evaluate and experience their lives. In many ways, the term is synonymous with the everyday notion of happiness – positive feelings are an important aspect of well being. Cross-cultural similarities are important because they highlight our common humanity and hint at which factors may be fundamental to wellbeing. Next, …