Studying Happiness: WellBeing Interventions And Individual Differences

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Studying Happiness Well-Being Interventions And
Individual Differences
Annabel Naftali Dianne Vella-Brodrick School
of Psychology, Psychiatry and Psychological
Medicine, Monash University
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Background - SWB

• Subjective well-being
• Positive affect (PA)
• Negative affect (NA)
• Satisfaction with life (SWL)
• The benefits of being happy
• Health physical and psychological
• Success social, work, education
• Broaden-and-Build Theory of PA (Fredrickson)

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IS IT POSSIBLE TO CHANGE SWB?

• Hedonic adaptation
• (Set-point theory, dynamic equilibrium)
• Sustained change is unlikely
• Model of longitudinal well-being (Chronic
  Happiness)
• (Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, Schkade, 2005)
• 50 hereditary. Personality is the strongest
  predictor
• 10 circumstances
• 40 - intentional activity
• What people choose to do, to think and to aspire
  for in daily life
• Flexible, changeable, can be manipulated to
  affect SWB

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InterventionsCounting Blessings

• Counting blessings means that you make an
  effort to think about the many things in your
  life, both large and small, that you have to be
  grateful about. These might include particular
  supportive relationships, sacrifices or
  contributions that others have made for you,
  facts about your life such as your advantages and
  opportunities, or even gratitude for life itself,
  and the world that we live in. In all of these
  cases you are identifying previously
  unappreciated aspects of your life, for which you
  can be thankful.
• Why is gratitude a good thing?
• Focus on positive rather than negative emotions
  past, present, future
• Linked to other positive conditions like optimism
  and self-esteem
• Increases engagement with the present, which is
  linked to SWB

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InterventionsBest Possible Self

• Best Possible Self means that you imagine
  yourself in the future, after everything has gone
  as well as it possibly could. You have worked
  hard and succeeded at accomplishing all of your
  life goals. Think of this as the realization of
  your life dreams, and of your own best
  potentials. In all of these cases you are
  identifying the best possible way that things
  might turn out in your life, in order to help
  guide your decisions now.
• Why is it good to write about life goals?
• - Triggers healthy self regulation processes
  increases awareness into emotional reactions,
  values, and priorities
• - Insightful thinking is linked to positive
  outcomes
• - Visualizing goals promotes progress towards
  the goals
• - Both goal striving and goal progress are
  important for well-being

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PlaceboLife Details

• Life details means that you take notice of the
  ordinary details of your life that you wouldnt
  typically think about. These might include
  particular classes or meetings you attend,
  typical interactions with acquaintances, typical
  thoughts that you have during the day, or your
  typical schedule as you move through the day. In
  all of these cases, you may be helped to better
  identify problem areas in your life, and to take
  action to change them.

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Do all people benefit from all interventions the
same way
What determines the effectiveness of those
techniques?
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Character Strengths

• Classification system of humans strengths
• Values In Action (VIA)
• (Peterson Seligman, 2004)
• 24 Character Strengths and Virtues
• Acting upon strengths is fulfilling and
  satisfying
• Finding new ways to express strengths enhances
  positive affect and reduced negative symptoms.
• Some strengths were found to be most strongly
  associated with satisfaction with life
• Gratitude
• Love
• Hope
• Zest
• Curiosity

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Aim

• Investigate the effect of counting blessings (CB)
  and best-possible self (BPS) on SWB
• Explore the involvement of gratitude and hope in
  the effect of CB and BPS

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Hypotheses

• CB and BPS will increase PA, NA, SWL (from
  pre-intervention to post-intervention measures)
• Gratitude will be positively correlated with
  change in SWB (from pre- to post-intervention
  measures)
• in the counting blessings group
• 3. Hope will be positively correlated with
  change in SWB (from pre- to post-intervention
  measures)
• in the best possible self group

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The sample

• 305 adults from the general community
• Age range 18-85
• 76 females (M26.8, SD14.02)
• 21 males (M25.91, SD12.26)
• Randomly allocated to one of three groups

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Measures

• Subjective Well-Being
• Positive and Negative Affect Scales (PANAS)
• (Watson, Clark, Tellegen, 1988)
• Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS)
• (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, Griffin, 1985)
• Hope
• The Adult Trait Hope Scale (THS)
• (Snyder, Harris, Anderson, et. Al, 1991)
• Gratitude
• The Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6)
• (McCollough Emmons, Tsang, 2002)
• Social desirability
• Short version of Marlowe-Crownes MC-(20)
• (Strahan Gerbasi, 1972)

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Procedure

• SWB
• Hope
• Gratitude
• Intervention
• SWB
• Social Desirability
• Online / pen and paper
• Participants to complete in their own time

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Statistical Analysis

• Hypothesis 1
• CB and BPS will increase PA, NA, SWL
• Three (2X3) mixed model Two-way ANOVAs
• Within factor Time of measurement pre, post
• Between factor Intervention type CB, BPS,
  Control
• Depenent Variable 1.Post PA
• 2.Post NA
• 3.Post SWL

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Statistical Analysis

• Hypothesis2 Gratitude is related to SWBchange
  in CB
• Hypothesis3 Hope is related to SWBchange in BPS
• Pearsons Correlations
• Separate correlations were calculated for the
  three intervention groups (CB, BPS, Control)
  between the scales
• Gratitude, Hope, PAchange, NAchange, SWLchange
• Change variables are (Post SWB scores) (Pre
  SWB scores)

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Results
Three (2X3) mixed model Two-way ANOVAs Main
effects of time of measurement, main effects of
intervention type, and interaction effects (time
X intervention)

• 1. PA Time F(1,302)67.67, plt.001, ?².18
• Intervention F(2,302)1.26, pgt.05, ?².01
• Interaction F(2,302)8.89, plt.001, ?².06
• 2. NA Time F(1,302)28.02, plt.001, ?².09
• Intervention F(2,302)2.76, pgt.05, ?².02
• Interaction F(2,302)0.34, pgt.05, ?².00.
• 3. SWL Time F(1,302)65.20, plt.001, ?².18
• Intervention F(2,302).07, pgt.05, ?².00
• Interaction F(2,302)7.37, plt.01, ?².05

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Results in English
Are the counting blessings (CB) and best possible
self (BPS) interventions effective?

• Positive Affect (PA)
• CB, BPS (and life details) increased PA
• CB and BPS - greater increase than life details
• Negative Affect (NA)
• CB, BPS (and life details) decreased NA
• Satisfaction With Life (SWL)
• CB, BPS (and life details) increased SWL
• CB - greater increase than BPS and life details

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Results
Correlation Coefficients Between the Strengths
Hope and Gratitude and the SWB Change Scores for
CB, BPS and control Groups.
Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level
(2-tailed).
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Results in English
Are the strengths of gratitude and hope involved
in the effect of the interventions?

• The only significant correlation between
  character strengths and subjective well-being
  change was between
• Gratitude and Positive Affect for the counting
  blessings group (4.3)

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What do the results mean?

• The counting blessings and the best possible self
  interventions can effectively enhance SWB
  (immediately after completing the intervention
  task)
• The life-details placebo group, can also enhance
  SWB
• The counting blessings intervention is more
  effective than best possible self at increasing
  SWL

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What do the results mean?

• People with higher gratitude gain a greater
  increase in PA than people with lower gratitude
  by practicing counting blessing
• Hope does not seem to have a direct immediate
  effect on SWB enhancement when practicing best
  possible self

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What do the results mean in theREAL WORLD?

• Happiness seekers can be taught simple writing
  tasks like counting blessings, best possible
  self, and life details
• These methods are simple and can be varied and
  adjusted according to individuals life style and
  needs
• Positive interventions can be incorporated into
  traditional psychological treatments
• People with greater initial gratitude should be
  recommended to engage in the counting blessings
  method if they wish to increase their well-being

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• THANK YOU!
• Any questions?