Silent transformation of well-being

Timo Hämäläinen, Ph.D., Dos.Glasgow Centre for Population Health Seminar Series, 13th April 2011, Glasgow

© Sitra 2009

Agenda

1. Our old definition of well-being is outdated (”silent transformation”)

2. ”Problem of choice” in everyday life3. Pressures on Sense of coherence and mental well-being4. Accumulating impacts of short-term and selfish

decisions5. Law of requisite variety & well-being6. Policy implications7. Well-being and economic competitiveness are not

contradictory8. Vision of a sustainable well-being society

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© Sitra 2009

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Big picture: historical transformation

GLOBALIZATION OF MARKETS AND BUSINESS ACTIVITIES

SPECIALIZATION OF MARKETS & VALUE-ADDING ACTIVITIES

ICT REVOLUTION

INCREASING KNOWLEDGE INTEN-SITY & NETWORK COOPERATION

HERE WE ARE!

SOCIO-INSTITUTIONAL ADJUSTMENT

- Everyday life - Shared cognitive frames- values and norms- laws, regulations- policy regime- public sector organization

Source: Freeman & Perez (1988)

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Instrumental discourse dominates

Economy(crisis, globalization,

com-petitiveness, efficiency, productivity,

growth)

Welfare state(public finances,

reorganizing services, social security, equality)

Lähde: Habermas (1987, Vol. 2)

Everyday well-being??(welfare?, subjective well-being?, happiness?,

good life?)

Adapted from: Habermas (1987, Vol. 2)

© Sitra 2009

Key drivers of well-being have changed

RESOURCES AND CAPABILITIES - Income & wealth - Knowledge & skills - Physical & mental health - Social capital - Information - Time - Political power - Natural resources

MASLOWIAN NEEDS- Self-actualization- Self- and social- esteem- Love and belonging- Security- Physiological needs (thirst, hunger,…)

MEANINGFULNESS- Exceeding self-

interest- Serving others- Higher purpose

EVERYDAY ACTIVITIES AND ROLES- Worker- Consumer- Family

member- Relative- Friend- Hobbyist- Citizen

SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING

ENVIRONMENT- Natural

environment- Infrastructure- Technologies- Organizations- Demographics- Culture (values

&

norms, activities)

- Institutions (laws

& regulations)

- Politics- Economy- Labor markets- Media

MENTAL COHERENCE- Comprehensibility of life- Manageability of life

© Sitra 2009

From deprivation to ”Problem of choice”Increased:

• resources & capabilities (income, wealth, health, info, knowledge)• satisfaction of basic (material) needs• freedoms (deregulation & normlessness)• personal & resource mobility• market supply & marketing pressure• hurry (time remains fixed: 24/7)• uncertainty due to transformation and complexity

Growing:• problems in decision making (due to uncertainty, information overload,

spillovers, normlessness)•individualism•selfishness (due to normlessness)•conformomity to market and peer pressures•short-termism and procrastination•lack of loyalty in social relationships

© Sitra 2009

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© Sitra 2009

Hectic life in affluent society

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EMPLOYEE- Task 1- Task 2- Task 3- etc.

FAMILYMEMBER

FRIEND

CONSUMER

CITIZEN

RELATIVE

HOBBY 1

HOBBY 2

Synergies andconflicts

Different:- Purposes- Practices- Contexts- Cognitive frames- Languages- Norms

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EMPLOYEE- Task 1- Task 2- Task 3- etc.

FAMILYMEMBER

FRIEND

CONSUMER

CITIZEN

RELATIVE

HOBBY 1

HOBBY 2

Synergies andconflicts

Different:- Purposes- Practices- Contexts- Cognitive frames- Languages- Norms

© Sitra 2009

”Problem of choice” and higher needs Social relationships and social needs

• Love and belonging • Social esteem vs. individualism, selfishness, short-termism• Self-actualization (hurry), lack

of loyalty

Purpose and meaning in life vs. individualism, selfishness, market pressures, specialization &

complexity

Mental coherence • Comprehensibility vs. uncertainty, complexity, decision• Manageability making problems, short-termism (hurry),

competing loyalties

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© Sitra 2009

Antonovsky’s sense of coherence (SOC)

Increasing uncertainty& complexity

Problemof choice

Individualism,normlessness,selfishness,consumerism,materialism &instrumentalism

Comprehensibility

Manageability

Meaningfulness

Sense ofcoherence

Subjectivewell-being,QoL, mentalhealth

Sources: Aaron Antonovsky (1987); Lindström & Erickson (2005)

Source: Aaron Antonovsky;Monica Eriksson & Bengt Lindström

© Sitra 2009

Sense of coherence, mental health and well-being“The [empirical] evidence shows that SOC is strongly and negatively related to anxiety, burnout, demoralization, depression and hopelessness, and positively with hardiness, mastery, optimism, self-esteem, good perceived health, quality of life and well-being.”

Source: Bengt Lindstrom & Monica Eriksson (2005): “The Salutogenic Perspective and Mental Health”, in Promoting Mental Health, WHO)

© Sitra 2009

Growing mental pressures and demands of working life

Health Illness

grey area

Pressures on sense ofcoherence

Demands ofworking life

© Sitra 2009

Sickness pensions due to depression in Finland, 1983–2006 (private sector)

Source: Finnish centre for pensions

83 85 87 89 91 93 95 97 99 01 03 05

3 500

3 000

2 500

2 000

1 500

1 000

500

0

Number

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Key problems in decision making

1. Short-termism2. Selfishness

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1. Short-termism• People tend to be myopic in their decision making.

Instant gratification and procrastination win over long-term interests (Ainslie 1992; Steel 2011).

• People have particular problems in assessing the well-being impacts of their decisions if: - their impacts extend long into the future, and/or - if their living environments are undergoing major changes (Kahneman & Thaler 2006).

• People have more alternatives and choice than ever:- resources, capabilities, freedoms and mobility have grown- behavioral norms and regulation has become less stringent - market supply (for instant gratifications) has increased

• But time is still a fixed resource (24/7).

Crowding of life’s activities; growing hurry, short-termism and procrastination; decreasing commitment and loyalty (”grass greener on the other side…?”).

© Sitra 200913.04.2023

Weight of new army servicemen in Finland (kg)

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Wei

ght (

kg)

Source: Santtila et al., Finnish armed forces

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Cooper test results of new army servicemen, 1975 - 2006

2200

2300

2400

2500

2600

2700

2800

Run

ning

dis

tanc

e in

12

min

(met

ers)

Source: Santtila et al., Finnish armed forces

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2. Selfishness

• Stregthening of individualism as a value. Emergence of post-modern splintered culture and the decay of common cultural norms.

• Growing difficulties in understanding the full consequences of one’s actions due to increasing specialization and complexity.

• Market ideology that legitimizes short-term and selfish choices. The ”invisible hand” is assumed to take care of the common good.

© Sitra 2009

Selfishness in Finnish traffic

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ITSEKKÄÄT AJOTAVAT

PIITTAAMATT. SÄÄNNÖISTÄSELFISH DRIVING HABITSNEGLECT OF TRAFFIC RULES

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© Sitra 2009

Why do short-termism and selfishness decrease well-being?

Individual decisions often involve small negative externalities (or spillovers), which are not noticed, but which accumulate into big problems:•over time, when the individual repeats the same decisions and behaviors• in large groups, when numerous people make similar decisions

© Sitra 2009 22

Short-term and selfish behavior has accumulating effects on well-being• Unhealthy eating habits and inadequate physical

excercise obesity and related illnesses (e.g. diabetes 2)

• Alcohol, tobacco and drugs abuse dependencies, illnesses and death

• Overconsumption over-indebtedness• High investments in career building or favorite

hobbies social relationships and child raising suffer, work related mental illnesses increase

• Postponement of having children childlessness, greying of population

• Increasing tourism to far-off countries, more driving with cars growing environmental problems

© Sitra 2009

Accumulating impacts of individual decisions in the long-term and in large groups

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One’s own well-being

Others’well-being

Short-term

Long-term

Environmental,child development, social relationship problems

Life management

problems(Kahneman, Giddens)

Traffic jams, litter-ing, status compe-tition, etc. (Hirsch, Schelling)

Hedonistic instant gratificationdominates

© Sitra 2009

How could we improve well-being?

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EMPLOYEE- Task 1- Task 2- Task 3- etc.

FAMILYMEMBER

FRIEND

CONSUMER

CITIZEN

RELATIVE

HOBBY 1

HOBBY 2

Synergies andconflicts

Different:- Purposes- Practices- Contexts- Cognitive frames- Languages- Norms

+-

+-

+-

+-

EMPLOYEE- Task 1- Task 2- Task 3- etc.

FAMILYMEMBER

FRIEND

CONSUMER

CITIZEN

RELATIVE

HOBBY 1

HOBBY 2

Synergies andconflicts

Different:- Purposes- Practices- Contexts- Cognitive frames- Languages- Norms

© Sitra 2009

Stafford Beer: Viable System Model

• Organizational environments are increasingly dynamic and complex. Hierarchical organizations are too slow and inflexible to cope with this.

• Need to decentralize power, but then achieving cohesion and synergy becomes a problem.

• The Viable System Model offers a way of gaining both functional decentralization and cohesion of the whole.

• Recursive structure: All living systems are composed of a series of sub-systems, each having self-organizing and self-regulatory characteristics.

• Each viable system requires five elements: operations, coordination, control, intelligence and policy (direction, values, purpose).

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Individual’s life as a Viable System• The everyday life of a human being is a system of

subsystems in which different activities take place. Each activity adds value (well-being) and has its own goals, values, rules, languages, etc.

• The interdependencies and interfaces of each activity must be coordinated to operate synergistically. How well are our everyday activities coordinated?

• Is the whole system under our control? How does it affect our well-being as a whole? Can we manage our lives? (coordination & control= manageability!)

• Intelligence: Do we understand what’s going on in the world around us? Or, who we are? (= comprehensibility!)

• Policy: What’s the direction and purpose of our life? (= meaningfulness!)

© Sitra 2009

Ashby (1958): Law of requisite variety

• The variety of the controller must be equal to that of the controlled.

• If the variety of disturbances (Vd) grows, old institutional responses/mechanisms (Vr) become inadequate in controlling them, and the variety (uncertainty) of outcomes (Vo) grows.

• Minimal value of Vo is Vd – Vr• Given the variety of disturbances, the “goodness” or value

of the outcome depends on the “capacity” (variety of responses) of the regulator (decision maker).

• Due to “limitation on ‘the capacity of Man’”, there is a limit to the variety (choice) that people can deal with.

• “Problem of choice” means an overwhelming variety of life options. Due to limited time and cognitive capacity, we cannot deal with this variety anymore. Life management problems!

© Sitra 2009

Policy implications?• The variety of living environments must be reduced to manageable

proportions by (a) reducing variety or (b) increasing individual capacity (viability).

• Reducing variety and choice: - Being more selective in one’s commitments based on their compatibility

and personal strengths (downshifting, flow activities, purpose, work & life bal.)

- Outsourcing activities unimportant to well-being (“support economy”)- Coherent living environments (cocooning, retro fashion & brands, nature,

human-centric technology, cultural norms & regulation, customized services, working life, media)

- Mindfulness training, fundamentalism, traditional values• Improving capacity (viability):- coordination & control (manageability): calendars, PDAs, peer support,

close social relationships, health & rest- intelligence (comprehensibility): learning, new skills, meditation- policy (direction & purpose = meaningfulness): spiritualism, volunteering,

serving others (or society) Transformational human being (O’Hara)?

© Sitra 2009

Well-being and competitiveness are not contradictory• Economic competitiveness and welfare (state) are often seen

as contradictory: well-being = welfare state = high taxes & burdensome regulation poor competitiveness

• However, the value-added of products and services depends on their contribution to everyday well-being.

• Superior well-being knowledge supports the development of products and services with more value-added – and hence competitiveness.

• In addition, it helps: (a) people to live better lives; (b) public sector to produce services with more value-added, (c) policy makers to provide better public goods and institutions (e.g. living environments)

• An updated and sophisticated understanding of well-being provides and overall vision for the development of a new and sustainable socio-economic model.

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Europe could lead in the road to a sustainable well-being society

Economy(value-added, compe-titiveness, efficiency, productivity, growth)

Public sector(public value, efficiency, renewal capacity, social

security, equality)

Lähde: Habermas (1987, Vol. 2)

Everyday well-being(subjective well-being, happiness, good life)

Adapted from: Habermas (1987, Vol. 2)Environment

Environment

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