Theoretical Perspectives of

Happiness Research (1)

How Can We Explain Happiness Difference?

Theories for Happiness Research

• No established, formal theory – There are several theoretical perspectives.

– Those theories are competing to each other.

– Their arguments, sometimes, are controversial to each other.

• Is it possible to set up a single, grand theory for happiness research?– Maybe not.

– The existing theoretical perspectives are complementary to each other.

Human Needs: The Needs Approach

• Question: What makes you happy?

– Many things …

• Main arguments

– There are basic human needs, and satisfying the needs is necessary to enhance happiness.

• Happiness difference between two persons � Differences of objective conditions that are essential to satisfy their fundamental needs

• What should we do?

– Examining (1) what kinds of needs exist for happiness, and (2) what conditions can satisfy the needs

The Needs Approach

• The needs approach seems self-evident?

• Human needs are not simply homeostatic in nature.

– Identifying “fundamental human needs for happiness” is very difficult.

• Beyond basic biological imperatives for the survival of a human being

– E.g., Diener and Diener (1995): Study on the relationship between self-esteem and SWB

– Can we make an exhaustive list of universal needs which are necessary for the enhancement of happiness?

The Needs Approach (cont.)

• Hierarchy of needs (by Maslow)

The Needs Approach (cont.)

• Someone may argue, “focusing on objective well-being, instead of SWB”

– Because the connection between objective conditions and needs fulfillment is ambiguous

• However, the needs approach is still very important for happiness research

– Why?

– Strong support for the needs approach comes from the cross-national comparison studies for happiness.

The Needs Approach (cont.)

• Cross-national happiness comparison• Veenhoven(1993): 77% of the variance in national-level

happiness gap could be explained by income, nutrition, equality, freedom and education factors.

• World Values Survey data: National-level happiness was strongly related to the level of economic development and democracy as well as other cultural factors.

– If the level of happiness is solely determined by individual’s relative standards, regardless of objective conditions…

• It is hard to explain systematic cross-national happiness differences.

The Relative Standards Approach

• According to the needs approach,– If you are in a good condition to satisfy your needs, you

will be happy. • Isn’t there any criterion of the “good” condition?

• Main arguments– Happiness is determined through the process of

comparisons between given conditions and reference standards.• If people use a higher reference standard than a given condition,

they may feel lower happiness (and, vice versa)

– Reference standards come from relevant others, their past standing, their aspirations and expectations, and etc.

The Relative Standards Approach (cont.)

• Psychology to support the approach– Prospect theory (Kahneman and Tversky 1979) � Value is

assigned to gains and losses rather than to the absolute level of final assets.• Thus, happiness is considered as an outcome of the relative change

in life conditions, not merely reflecting the absolute conditions.

• Sociology to support the approach– Veblen (1899) � Relative nature of the satisfaction

mechanism of humans• “A general increase of the community’s wealth could not satisfy

one’s desire for material goods because the basis of the desire is to exceed everyone else.”

The Relative Standards Approach (cont.)

• Empirical studies to support the approach• Firebaugh and Tach (2012): One’s happiness was

negatively affected by the increase of the average

income of one’s age group

• Luttmer (2005): Higher earnings of neighbors were

negatively related with one’s happiness

• Clark (2003): Life satisfaction of unemployed people

who lived in an area with a high unemployment rate was

higher than that of unemployed people who lived in an

area with a low unemployment rate.

The Relative Standards Approach (cont.)

• The idea of “Hedonic Treadmill”

– People have a tendency to adjust themselves to

present circumstances and the outcome of the

adjustment serves as a new reference for the

evaluation of their life.

• If an increase of income entails enhanced happiness at a

certain point, people should keep increasing their

income for positive hedonic experiences to maintain the

inflated level of happiness.

• E.g., Lottery winner study

The Relative Standards Approach (cont.)

• Limitations of the relative standards approach

– Not all conditions are appraised relatively.

• Positional goods (e.g., bigger house than others’)

• Non-positional goods (e.g., vacation as long as possible regardless of others’)

– Cross-national comparison studies don’t support the relative standard approach

• If all people are trapped in the hedonic treadmill, the national-level happiness difference should disappear.

– Under what conditions which reference standard is activated for comparison?

The Cultural Approach

• Main arguments

– People’s happiness is determined by collective

norms and traditions.

• Therefore, sizable differences of happiness between

groups are not assumed to be associated with the present

conditions of their lives or relative standards.

• Focusing on group-level happiness gap instead of

individual-level

The Cultural Approach (cont.)

• Empirical supports for the cultural approach

– Happiness gap within a nation

• German, French and Italian speaking regions in Switzerland

– Inglehart (1990): Historical hardship and pessimistic

outlook

• Happiness gap between Italy and France

– http://www.thelocal.it/20130909/italians-are-among-the-

unhappiest-in-europe

– A country of optimism (e.g., U.S.)

– Culture emphasizing “moderation”, “self-control”

The Cultural Approach (cont.)

• Rice and Steele (2004)

The Cultural Approach (cont.)

• Limitation of the cultural approach

– “Culture may matter but not all”

– Emphasizing the effect of culture may result in

ignoring the actual variation of quality of life

• The effect of culture on happiness gets stronger when

the effect of economy gets weaker.

– Difficulty in examining individual-level variation

of happiness