New Findings

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New Findings On Happiness Ed
Diener First World Congress on Positive
Psychology Philadelphia, USA June, 2009
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WELCOME!FirstWorld Congress of
PositivePsychology
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Subjective Well-BeingHappinessMythsNew
Directions
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Themes Today

• Adaptation is often partial
• Circumstances matter
• Happiness is not a single thing
• -- Wanting versus liking
• Outcomes of well-being are
• as important as the causes

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5. Cultural Differences530 Today --
Collected Works of Ed Diener3
VolumesSpringer Publishing
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• Adaptation is often
• partial, not complete

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The Brickman and Campbell Myths

• Lottery winners no happier
• Spinal cord injured no less happy

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Lottery Winners

• Brickman and Campbell
• Smith and Razzell
• Oswald and Winkelman

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Life Satisfaction and 100 Percent Disability
(Rich Lucas)
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Daily Moods of 20-year Old Harry
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Also There are LargeIndividual Differences in
Adaptation!
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Adaptation to Marriage (Lucas)
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Implications

• Huge individual differences
• e.g., Marriage
• Paraplegia
• etc.
• What people do and think matters
• Positive psychology is in business!

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An implication of incomplete adaptation2.
Circumstances are Important to Well-being
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We must have Positive Organizations
Institutions!
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The Power of the Situation

• Milgram Zimbardo
• Good Samaritan studies
• Societal differences

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3. Happiness is NOT a Single Thing
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Germs

• Viruses
• Parasites
• Molds
• Bacteria

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National Predictors of Well-Being

• Life Satisfaction Positive Engagement
• Income Social support
• Conveniences Learning flow
• Basic needs Public trust

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Does Money Make Us Happy?
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Declining Marginal Utility of Money
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Wanting Vs. Liking

• Money is across the world substantially
  associated with life satisfaction, r .44
• Is only weakly correlated with Positive Feelings,
  r .17

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Examples of Wanting Vs. Liking(Berridge)

• Drug addiction
• Jack

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Jack
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• Materialists
• Happiness is having what we want
• Positive Psychologists
• Happiness is liking what we have

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Wanting Versus Liking-- Two Types of
Happiness

• Having what one wants
• Life Satisfaction
• Liking what one has
• Positive feelings

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Ed Learning to Desire What He Will Like

• Enjoyment
• Hiking swimming, data analyses, family
  friends, reading, new research ideas, movies
• Should Ed?
• Be APA president, be a dean, be a department
  head

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Lesson for Positive Psychologists

• Learn to desire what
• you will like having
• Educate others about this!

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Why Do We Want Money?

• Basic needs
• Status and self-esteem
• Advertising

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4. Outcomes of Well-Being

• Is it functional to be happy?
• -- There are skeptics!

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Benefits of Well-being

• Social
• Relationships
• Health
• Work
• Spirituality

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Happinss and Social SuccessHeaded for Divorce?
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Ed Carol 40 years later
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Psychologists

• Happy live about 5 years longer
• (Sarah Pressman)

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Work

• Higher income
• Creativity
• Better organizational citizens

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SpiritualityGeorge Vaillant

• Positive feelings that connect people to things
  larger than themselves
• Love, affection
• Wonder, awe
• Gratitude
• Respect

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Professor Evelyn Satinoff

• I dont care if my kids are happy
• I want them to achieve a lot and help the world!

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Well-Being is Good for People Beyond Just Feeling
Good

• Relationships
• Health
• Work Success
• Citizenship
• Spirituality

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Too Happy?

• Are negative feelings ever beneficial?
• Can someone be too happy?

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1. Take-Home MessageBenefits of Well-Being

• Well-being aids effective functioning!
• Issue Can we be too happy?
• What is the optimal level?

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2. Take-Home MessagePartial Adaptation

• We do not completely adapt to everything!
• Societies and organizations matter to well-being
  and positive psychology!
• We need to examine individual differences, not
  just averages!

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3. Take-Home MessageDiverse Types of Well-Being

• Happiness is NOT one thing
• Differentiate the types!
• Getting rid of negative feelings is not the
  same as getting positive feelings
• Money more related to wanting than liking
• (Satisfaction versus positive feelings)
• Educating people to desire what they will like

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Thank You!!!

• Questions?
• Discussion?

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Promising Future Directions

• A. Optimal levels of well-being
• B. Speeding and slowing adaptation
• C. Moving beyond averages
• Does marriage increase well- being?
• When, who, why
• D. What creates wanting versus liking?

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Complete Wealth

• Social
• Support
• Trust
• Security/safety
• Trust
• Personal
• Mastery strengths
• Virtues
• Life satisfaction
• Positive feelings
• Positive spirituality
• No chronic negative

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Flauberts Error

• To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are
  three requirements for happiness, though if
  stupidity is lacking, all is lost.
• Gustave Flaubert

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Telomeres and Aging

• Long is good
• Dont come unravelled