Transcript Participants and Procedure

Attitudes Toward Happiness Around the World
Liudmila Titova & Acacia C. Parks, PhD
Hiram College, Hiram, OH
Results
Introduction
Pursuit of happiness
In Western cultures, achieving happiness seems to be a very popular goal. However, even
within a relatively happiness centric country like the United States, people express different
degrees of happiness valuation.
• Significant difference was found after t-test analysis on all the measures except for affect
balance (see Table 1).
• Correlational analysis (see Table 2) showed that paradoxical effect was partially replicated
in Western Sample, but was not found in Non-Western sample.
Happiness paradox
A recent study by Mauss, Tamir, Anderson, and Savino (2011) examined the relationship
between attitudes towards happiness, well-being, and depression.
• Participants who valued happiness very highly actually showed lower well-being and more
depressive symptoms (Paradoxical effect).
• The experimental manipulation supported this paradoxical effect, and showed that people
who were manipulated to value happiness highly were less likely to be able to achieve it in an
experimental mood induction task.
• Mauss and colleagues (2011) concluded that valuing happiness is generally problematic.
Different understanding of happiness around the World
• It has been noted in previous research that understanding of happiness can be different
across cultures.
• Internal vs. External process (Lu & Gilmour, 2004)
• High energy vs. Peaceful harmony (Lu & Gilmour, 2004)
• Personal Control vs. Accidental Nature (Oishi, Grahan, Kesebir, & Galinha, 2013)
• Importance of happiness varies across cultures (Lyubomirsly, 2000; Morris, 2012)
Hypothesis
The purpose of the current study is to explore whether this counterintuitive and interesting
phenomenon generalizes to non-Western cultures. Moreover, we would like to examine crosscultural differences in valuation of happiness, well-being, and depressive symptoms. Our
hypothesis is that their levels will vary for different cultures, and that paradoxical effect of
valuing happiness will not be present in non-Western countries.
Method
Measures
• Attitudes Towards Happiness Scales (Mauss et al., 2011)
-Scale measures for a valuation of happiness to an extreme
degree
• Center for Epidemiologic Studies - Depression Scale (Radloff, 1977)
• Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985)
-Subjective evaluations of one’s life (external)
• Subjective Happiness Scale (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999)
-Subjective view of one’s emotional well-being (internal)
• The Affect Balance Scale (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988)
-Balance between negative and positive affect
Scale
Western
Non-Western
M
SD
M
SD
t-test
Depression
21.78
12.00
25.19
11.10
-5.54**
Satisfaction with Life
20.70
7.89
24.09
6.19
-9.14**
Subjective Happiness
15.93
4.30
18.61
4.43
-11.58**
Affect Balance
1.84
1.05
1.84
1.00
.083
27.43
8.49
34.62
7.42
-17.12**
Happiness Valuation
* = p<.05, ** = p<.01
Table 2. Pearsons’s r correlation coefficients for Valuing Happiness Scale
Scale
Western Countries
Non-Western Countries
Depression
.284***
-.027
Satisfaction with Life
-.068
.353***
Subjective Happiness
.070
.414***
Affect Balance
-.156***
.188***
* = p<.05, ** = p<.01
Participants and Procedure
• 1,447 participants representing 64 countries (mostly India and the United
States) completed a cross-sectional survey via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk
(mTurk).
• Western sample (N=645), ages ranged from 18 to 75 (M=32.64, SD=12.14)
• Non-Western sample (N=802) from 18 to 74 (M=29.89, SD=9.20). Previous
research has found that cultural differences in emotion valuation between
individualistic and collectivistic cultures are present, to a lesser extent, in
individuals residing in the US who are culturally collectivistic (Tsai, Knutson, &
Fung, 2006). Therefore, in order to maximize the distinctiveness of the two
groups, Asian Americans were excluded from the sample.
• Participants were compensated in the amount of 50 cents, a rate that is
consistent with other survey research using mTurk. A variety of income levels,
education, and geographic location (rural/urban) was represented in the
sample.
Table 1. Differences between Western and Non-Western Samples on Study Variables
Conclusion
Summary:
• Found significantly higher levels of both depressive symptoms
and happiness in non-Westerners, but the balance between
negative and positive affect is the same as shown by Westerners.
• Partially replicated previous research – attitudes towards
happiness correlated with depression, but no negative
relationship was found with happiness scales for Westerners.
• Non-Westerners did not show paradoxical effect at all – no
relationship between attitudes towards happiness and
depression, and positive relationship with all the happiness
scales.
Strengths:
• Provided information on cross-cultural differences in level of
happiness valuation, depressive symptoms, well-being, and affect
balance
• Reveled important cultural differences about happiness
valuation and well-being.
Limitations:
• Only partially replicated previous findings.
Future Directions:
• Experimental approach to studying this topic
• Explore why this differences exist
• Explore what role these findings play when activities designed to
enhance happiness are used
References
Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The
satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49,
71-75.
Lu, L., & Gilmour, R. (2004). Culture and conceptions of happiness:
individual oriented and social oriented SWB. Journal of
Happiness Studies, 5(3), 269-291. doi:10.1007/s10902-0048789-5
Lyubomirsky, S., & Lepper, H. (1999). A measure of subjective
happiness: Preliminary reliability and construct validation. Social
Indicators Research, 46, 137-155.
Lyubomirsky, S. (2000). In the pursuit of happiness: Comparing the
U.S. and Russia. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the
Society of Experimental Social Psychology, Atlanta, Georgia.
Mauss, I. B., Tamir, M., Anderson, C. L., & Savino, N. S. (2011). Can
seeking happiness make people unhappy? Paradoxical effects of
valuing happiness. Emotion, 11, 807-815.
Morris, S. G. (2012). The science of happiness: A cross-cultural
perspective. In H. Selin, G. Davey (Eds.), Happiness across
cultures: Views of happiness and quality of life in non-Western
cultures (pp. 435-450). New York, NY US: Springer Science +
Business Media.
Oishi, S., Graham, J., Kesebir, S., & Galinha, I. (2013). Concepts of
happiness across time and cultures. Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin, 39(5), 559-577.
Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D scale: A self-report depression scale
for research in the general population. Applied Psychological
Measurement, 1, 385-401.
Tsai, J. L., Knutson, B., & Fung, H. H. (2006). Cultural variation in affect
valuation. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 90(2),
288-307. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.90.2.288
Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and
validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The
PANAS scale. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
54(6), 1063–1070.