Top

Social Indicators Research

Published in:

01-07-2008

Is the Study of Happiness a Worthy Scientific Pursuit?

Authors: Jacolyn M. Norrish, Dianne A. Vella-Brodrick

Published in: Social Indicators Research | Issue 3/2008

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

This paper critiques the view that the study of happiness is not a worthy scientific pursuit. The happiness set point and hedonic treadmill theories denote the complexity of increasing happiness levels due to genetic limitations and adaptation, however, there is mounting evidence to suggest that with the use of appropriate measures and specific interventions aimed at fostering strengths and virtues, happiness can be increased. Furthermore, the benefits of investigating methods for increasing happiness include improvements in physical, psychological and social health and well-being. It is concluded that approaching human needs from a top down or holistic standpoint where individuals can use their strengths to overcome life’s challenges, is beneficial to health and well-being. Hence, the study of happiness is a worthy scientific pursuit.

previous article Understanding and Using Mediators and Moderators

next article India’s Social Development in a Decade of Reforms: 1990–91/1999–2000

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Adler, M. G., & Fagley, N. S. (2005). Appreciation: individual differences in finding value and meaning as a unique predictor of subjective well-being. Journal of Personality, 73, 79–114.CrossRef

Alexandrova, A. (2005). Subjective well-being and Kahneman’s ‘objective happiness’. Journal of Happiness Studies, 6, 301–324.CrossRef

Brickman, P., & Campbell, D. T. (1971). Hedonic relativism and planning the good society. In M. H. Appley (Ed.), Adaptation-level theory: a symposium (pp. 287–302). New York: Academic Press.

Brickman, P., Coates, D., & Janoff-Bulman, R. (1978). Lottery winners and accident victims: is happiness relative? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 917–927.CrossRef

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Finding flow: the psychology of engagement with everyday life. New York: Basic Books.

Cummins, R. A. (2003). Normative life satisfaction: measurement issues and a homeostatic model. Social Indicators Research, 64, 225–256.CrossRef

Diener, E. (2000). Subjective well-being: the science of happiness and a proposal for a national index. American Psychologist, 55, 34–43.CrossRef

Diener, E. (2006). Guidelines for national indicators of subjective well-being and ill being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 7, 397–404.CrossRef

Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71–75.CrossRef

Diener, E., Lucas, R. E., & Scollon, C. N. (2006). Beyond hedonic adaptation: revising the adaptation theory of well-being. American Psychologist, 61, 305–314.CrossRef

Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being: three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 276–302.CrossRef

Diener, E., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Beyond money: towards an economy of well-being. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 5, 1–31.CrossRef

Easterlin, R. A. (1995). Will rising the incomes of all increase the happiness of all? Journal of Economic Behavior and Organizations, 27, 35–47.CrossRef

Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: an experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2, 377–389.CrossRef

Fredrickson, B. L. (1998). What good are positive emotions? Review of General Psychology, 2, 300–319.CrossRef

Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56, 218–226.CrossRef

Fredrickson, B. L., & Branigan, C. (2005). Positive emotions broaden scope of action and though-action repertoires. Cognition and Emotion, 19, 313–332.CrossRef

Fredrickson, B. L., Mancuso, R. A., Branigan, C., & Tugade, M. M. (2000). The undoing effect of positive emotion. Motivation and Emotion, 24, 237–258.CrossRef

Headey, B. (2006). Subjective well-being: revisions to dynamic equilibrium theory using national panel data and panel regression methods. Social Indicators Research, 79, 369–403.CrossRef

Held, B. S. (2004). The negative side of positive psychology. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 44, 9–46.CrossRef

Isen, A. M. (2000). Positive affect and decision making. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (pp. 417–435). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Kahneman, D. (1999). Objective happiness. In D. Kahneman, E. Diener, & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Wellbeing: the foundations of hedonic psychology (pp. 3–21). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Kahneman, D., & Krueger, A. B. (2006). Developments in the measurement of subjective well-being. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20, 3–24.CrossRef

King, L. A., & Pennebaker, J. W. (1998). What’s so great about feeling good? Psychological Inquiry, 9, 53–56.CrossRef

Lykken, D. T. (1999). Happiness: what studies on twins show us about nature, nurture and the happiness set-point. New York: Golden Books.

Lykken, D. T., & Tellegen, A. (1996). Happiness is a stochastic phenomenon. Psychological Science, 7, 186–189.CrossRef

Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K. M., & Schkade, D. (2005a). Pursuing happiness: the architecture for sustainable change. Review of General Psychology, 9, 111–113.CrossRef

Lyubomirsky, S., King, L., & Diener, E. (2005b). The benefits of frequent positive effect: does happiness lead to success? Psychological Bulletin, 131, 803–835.CrossRef

Maslow, A. (1954). Motivation and personality. New York: Harper.

Maslow, A. (1968). Toward a psychology of being (2nd ed.). New York: Van Nostrand.

Myers, D. G. (1993). The pursuit of happiness: discovering the pathway to fulfilment, well-being and enduring personal joy. New York: Avon.

Myers, D. G. (2000). The funds, friends and faith of happy people. American Psychologist, 55, 56–67.CrossRef

Myers, D. G., & Diener, E. (1996). The pursuit of happiness. Scientific American, 274, 70–73.CrossRef

Otake, K., Shimai, S., Tanaka-Matsumi, J., Otsui, K., & Fredrickson, B. (2006). Happy people become happier through kindness: a counting kindnesses intervention. Journal of Happiness Studies, 7, 361–375.CrossRef

Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: a handbook and classification. New York: Oxford University Press.

Peterson, C., Park, N., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2005). Orientations to happiness and life satisfaction: the full life versus the empty life. Journal of Happiness Studies, 6, 25–41.CrossRef

Polak, E. L., & McCullough, M. E. (2006). Is gratitude an alternative to materialism? Journal of Happiness Studies, 7, 343–360.CrossRef

Rogers, C. R. (1961). On becoming a person. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Russell, J. A., & Carrol, J. M. (1999). On the bipolarity of positive and negative affect. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 3–30.CrossRef

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68–78.CrossRef

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2001). On happiness and human potentials: a review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 141–166.CrossRef

Ryff, C. D., & Keyes, C. L. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 719–727.CrossRef

Schwartz, B., & Sharpe, K. E. (2006). Practical wisdom: Aristotle meets positive psychology. Journal of Happiness Studies, 7, 377–395.CrossRef

Seligman, M. E. P. (2002). Authentic happiness: using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment. New York: Free Press.

Seligman, M. E. P. (2003a). Does suffering trump happiness? Authentic Happiness Newsletters, Retrieved April 12, 2006: from http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/newsletters.aspx?id=44&coll_id=5.

Seligman, M. E. P. (2003b). Positive psychology: fundamental assumptions. The Psychologist, 16, 126–143.

Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: an introduction. American Psychologist, 55, 5–14.CrossRef

Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60, 410–421.CrossRef

Sheldon, K. M., & King, L. (2001). Why positive psychology is necessary. American Psychologist, 56, 216–217.CrossRef

Sheldon, K. M., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2006). Achieving sustainable gains in happiness: change your actions not your circumstances. Journal of Happiness Studies, 7, 55–86.CrossRef

Thoits, P. A., & Hewitt, L. N. (2001). Volunteer work and well-being. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 42, 115–131.CrossRef

Van Boven, L. (2005). Experientialism, materialism, and the pursuit of happiness. Review of General Psychology, 9, 132–142.CrossRef

Veenhoven, R. (1991). Is happiness relative? Social Indicators Research, 24, 1–34.CrossRef

Veenhoven, R. (1994). Is happiness a trait? Social Indicators Research, 32, 101–160.CrossRef

Veenhoven, R. (2003). Hedonism and happiness. Journal of Happiness Studies, 4, 437–457.CrossRef

Veenhoven, R., & Hagerty, M. (2006). Rising happiness in nations 1946–2004: a reply to Easterlin. Social Indicators Research, 79, 421–436.CrossRef

Waterman, A. S. (1993). Two conceptions of happiness: contrasts of personal expressiveness (eudaimonia) and hedonic enjoyment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 678–691.CrossRef

Watson, D., & Clark, L. A. (1997). The measurement and mismeasurement of mood: recurrent and emergent issues. Journal of Personality Assessment, 86, 267–296.CrossRef

Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D.T. (2005). Affective forecasting: knowing what to want. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 131–134.CrossRef

Title: Is the Study of Happiness a Worthy Scientific Pursuit?
Authors: Jacolyn M. Norrish
Dianne A. Vella-Brodrick
Publication date: 01-07-2008
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Published in: Social Indicators Research / Issue 3/2008
Print ISSN: 0303-8300
Electronic ISSN: 1573-0921
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-007-9147-x

Springer Professional

Abstract

Please log in to get access to your license.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Other articles of this Issue 3/2008

Policy Preceding Possibility? Examining Headline Composite Sustainability Indicators in the United Kingdom

India’s Social Development in a Decade of Reforms: 1990–91/1999–2000

Human Well Being: A Decile Group Analysis on Indian Household Data

Pet Dogs Benefit Owners’ Health: A ‘Natural Experiment’ in China

Understanding and Using Mediators and Moderators

Education, Happiness and Wellbeing