The Language of Happiness Research

A hat-tip to Will Wilkison of Happiness Policy for the publication of two happiness papers in the Journal of Economic Perspectives [behind a pay-wall]. Both look interesting but it is Developments in the Measurement of Subjective Well-Being by Kahnemann and Krueger that is of particular comfort to me. It seems as if I am not the only person whose writing style goes badly awry when writing about happiness-related issues.

A duration-weighted measurement of affect will uncover that conditions such as paraplegia or marriage are not full-time states; they are experienced part-time.

Outstanding stuff! Tortured prose aside, given our need to sleep - do we experience anything full-time? Sadly, exactitude seems to be the enemy of readable material. And then, nothing is ever exact enough.

When I can afford it, I will purchase the papers because I am uneasy about relying on self-reports of subjective well-being when it comes to measuring the outcome of happiness or resilience projects. It would be good to read about advances in measuring neurological or hormonal correlates although I believe that there are controversies about their reliability and clinical significance.

The prose is collapsing again. Time to sign off.

Copyright 2006, Tony Plant Happystance Project

Is Freedom Linked To Happiness?

Professor Rummel offers an exploration of the utilitarian argument for freedom. Essentially, social and political freedoms promote subjective well-being (particularly happiness and satisfaction) in the general population: policies promoting freedom are therefore desirable. In many ways, these freedoms are qualitatively different freedoms than the ones discussed in Schwartz's recent account of the freedom to choose and falling behind the Joneses.

Rummel discusses several well-reported findings in the cross-cultural analyses of subjective well-being (SWB). He reports that SWB is "critical to the stability of a nation's political institutions and particularly the stability of democracy". However, Rummel goes on to detail further analyses that may emphasise the role of other factors. He quotes Inglehart and Klingemman's conclusion:

These findings in no way refute the evidence that genetic factors play an important role in subjective well-being; we find that evidence compelling. But these findings do indicate that genetic factors are only part of the story. Happiness levels vary cross-culturally. Since cultures are constructed by human beings, this suggests that the pursuit of happiness is not completely futile. Genes may play a crucial role, but beliefs and values also are important. Our findings also indicate that varying levels of well-being are closely linked with a society's political institutions: sharp declines in a society's level of well-being can lead to the collapse of the social and political system; while high levels of well-being contribute to the survival and flourishing of democratic institutions.

Rummel's final analysis leads him to conclude that freedom does display the highest correlation with well-being. However, in line with Schwartz's work, it does seem as if the nature of the freedom is relevant: there are significant individual differences that govern how well we can cope with some freedoms and choice.