Subjective Well-Being The Science of Happiness and Life Satisfaction Ed Diener, Richard E. Lucas, & Shigehiro Oishi Definition of Subjective Well-Being Since ancient times humans have wondered about what makes a good life. Scientists who study subjective well-being assume that an es- sential ingredient of the good life ie that the person herself likes her life. Subjective well- being is defined as a person’s cognitive and af- {fective evaluations of his or her life. These eval- uations include emotional reactions to events a well as cognitive judgments of satisfaction and fulfilment. Thus, subjective well-being is a broad concept that includes experiencing plea: ant emotions, low levels of negative moods, and high life satisfaction. The positive experiences ‘embodied in high subjective well-being are a core concept of positive psychology because they make life rewarding History Throughout history, philosophers and religious leaders have suggested that diverse characteris- tics, such as love, wisdom, and nonattachment, are the cardinal elements of a fulfilled existence. Usilitarians such as Jeremy Bentham, however, argued that the presence of pleasure and the ab- sence of pain are the defining characteristics of 1 good life (1789/1948). Thus, the Usiltarians were the intellectual forerunners of subjective well-being researchers, focusing on the emo- tional, mental, and physical pleasures and pains that individuals experience. Although there are ‘other desirable personal characteristics beyond ‘whether a person is happy, the individual with abundant joy has one key ingredient of a good life, Early in the 20h century, empirical studies of subjective well-being began to take shape. As early as 1925, Flugel studied moods by having people record their emotional events and then summing emotional reactions across moments. Flugel’s work was the forerunner of modern ex- perience sampling approaches to measuring, subjective well-being on-line as people go about their everyday lives. After World War I, sur- vey researchers began polling people about their happiness and life satisfaction using. simple slobal survey questionnaires. The pollsters studied large numbers of people who were often selected to produce representative samples ofG4 PART III, EMOTION-FOCUSED APPROACHES nations. George Gallup, Gerald Gurin and his colleagues, and Hadley Cancril pioneered the tue of large-sale surveys as an assessment technique. They asked people questions such as “How happy are you?” with simple response options varying from “very happy” to “not very happy.” Recently, Diener (2000s) proposed that national index be created in which sub- jective well-being would be tracked over time, ‘Although early subjective well-being studies ‘were characterized by very short scales, many Important discoveries were made. In 1969, for example, Norman Bradburn showed that pleas- ant and unpleasant affect are somewhat inde- pendent and have diferent corelates—they are not simply opposites of one another. Thus, the two affects must be studied separately to gain 2 complete picture of individuals’ well-being. This finding had important implications forthe field of subjective well-being: I showed that clinical peychology’s attempts to eliminate negative states would not necessarily foster positive states, The elimination of pain may not result in a corresponding increase in pleasure; ridding the world of sadness and anxiety will not nec- cessarily make ita happy place. Wilson reviewed the meager amount of re- search on “avowed happiness” in 1967, and Diener (1984) provided review of the much larger database on subjective well-being that hhad accumulated by the mid-1980s, By that time, the field was becoming a science. Since Diener review was published, a number of books have appeared on the topic of subjective well-being (eg, Argyle, 1987; Myers, 1982; Strack, Argyle, & Schwarz, 1991), and in 1999, Diener, Suh, Lucas, and Smith authored a new review of the literature in Psychological Bulle- tin. A handbook volume of chapters related to hedonic psychology (Kahneman, Diener, & Schwarz, 1999) and a book dedicated to cross cultural differences in. subjective. well-being (Diener & Suh, 2000) also provide more thor- cough reviews ofthis area “The scientific discipline of subjective well- being grew rapidly. One reason for this i that people in the Western nations have achieved a level of material abundance and health that al- lows them to go beyond mere survival in seek- ing the good life. People around the globe are entering « “postmateralistic™ worl, in which they are concerned with issues of quality of life beyond economic prosperity. Subjective well- being alo is popular because it is particularly democratic—it grants respect to what people think and feel about their lives. People are not content to have experts evaluste their lives; they believe that their opinions matter. In ad- dition, the study of subjective wel-being flour- ished because of the growing trend toward in- dividualism around the globe, Individualists are concerned with their own feelings and beliefs, and thus the study of subjective well-being cor- responds well with the Western zeitgeist. Fi- nally, the field increased in popularity because researchers succeeded in developing. scientific methods for studying subjective well-being, For these reasons the scientific study of subjective well-being is now poised to grow into a major scholarly and applied discipline. question about people's happiness or lf satis faction. Psychometric evaluations of these sim- ple scales showed that they possess a degree of Yalidty, For example, Andrews and Withey {0976} found that global questions about peo- p's overall evaluation of their lives yielded scores that converged well wth one another. As the field matured, more mult-item scales ap- peared, with greater relabiliey and validity than the single-item instruments Lucas, Diener, and Suh (1996) demonstrated that multi-tem life satisfaction, pleasant affect, and unpleasant af- fect scales formed factors that were separable from each other, as well a5 from other con- structs such as self-esteem. A number of hap- Pines, affect, and lfe satisfaction measures are row available (see Andrews f Robinson, 1992, fora review), and we present the five-item Sat- isfacton With Life Seale (Diener, Emmons, Lar- sen, te Grifin, 1985; Pavot & Diener, 1993) in the appendix. ‘A major concern of researchers inthe Geld is whether selfrepor instruments are valid. After all, people might report tha chey are happy yet not truly experience high subjective well-being Sandvik, Diener, and Seidlitz (1993) found that the self-report measures converge with other types of assessment, including expert ratings brazed on interviews with respondents, experi- cence sampling messures in which felings are reported at random moments in everyday life, participants’ memory for positive versus nega five events in ther lives, the reports of family and friends, and smiling. Despite the positive psychometric qualities of global subjective well-being measures, however, we recommend 2 smulkimethod battery to assess subjective well- being when this is possible. Additional assess- iment devices besed on memory, informant re- ports, and experience sampling are likely to supplement the information obtained from ‘global measures and guard against response a ‘facts, and in some cases the alternative mea- sures may yield different answers about whois Iappiest (eg, Oishi, 2000), ‘The use of multiple methods also allows re- searchers to understand how people construct subjective well-being judgments. Schwarz, Strack, and their colleagues, for example, showed that situational variables can exert a substantial impact on life satisfaction and mood reports (Schwarz & Strack, 1958). Schwarz and Strack’s findings illustrate that fe satisfaction judgments are not immutable, stored values that are reported when requested. Instead, re- spondents seem to use curently salient infor- ration to construc life satisfaction judgments. Building on this finding, Diener and his col- leagues” (eg, Diener & Diener, 1995; Suh, Diener, Ossi, & Triandis, 1998) showed that certain information is chronically salient to some individvale but not to others (Suh & Diener, 1999). Thus, any single piece of infor- ration may or may not be used by an indvid- tual to construct her or is life satisfaction judg- iments. For instance, people in individualistic rations may are their life satisfaction judg- ments on the extent t0 which they feel high selfesteem, whereas people in collecvisticcul- tures may bate their judgments on the opinions of other people (Diener & Diener, 1995). Thus, a person may use both stuationally induced and chronically salient information to construct life satisfacion judgments, People alo may use different metateategies in seeking the information upon which to base their life satisfaction judgments. For example, some people may seach for information about the positive aspects oftheir ves, whereas oth- ‘ers might seck information about problematic ateas (Diener etal, in press). Likewise, people differ inthe degree to which they weigh their ‘moods and emotions when calculating life sat- isfaction judgments (Suh & Dienet, 1999). ‘Thus, life satisfaction rellecs diferent infor- ration for different people nd can change de- pending on what is salient at the moment. When poriipants report on any aspect of lobal subjective well-being, they must con- Struct a judgment about their well-being. This CHAPTERS. SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING 65 constructed judgment may not faithfully cor- respond to the average mood or level of satis- faction experienced across many different mo- ‘ments. Thomas and Diener (1990) found only @ ‘modest match between people's reports of mo- mentary moods and their recall of those moods. ‘Thus, estimates of happiness and reports of af- fect over time are likely to be influenced by a petson’s curent mood, his or her beliefs about happiness, and the eate of retrieving positive and negative information. "A fascinating pcwre of subjective well-being is emerging in which we can differentiate be- tween a person's momentary feelings and thoughts about well-being, and larger, more global constractions. At the momentary level, wwe can examine people's reports of moods, Pleasures, pins, and satisfactions recorded on- line through the experience sampling method For example, in our laboratory we use palm- sized computers to signal people randomly. ‘When signaled, respondents complete a survey of ther feelings at that moment. Kahneman (2998) suggested that these types of data offer the most accurate estimate of subjective well- being because they are less distorted by artifacts and bases. Global reports of subjective well-being also are valuable, however, because they offer an in- sight into the fascinating psychological proc- cesses by which people construct global judg- ments about their lives. In global reports of subjective well-being, we discover how a person summarizes her or hs ife asa whole, and this synopsis may only be moderately correlated with on-line reports. For example, we fnd that people in cultures where subjective well-being {s valued are more likely to weight their most positive domains in calculating a global life sat- ‘section judgment; people in cultures in which happiness is not an important value are more likely to weight their most negative domains in calelatng life satisfaction judgment (Diener, 20008). I people believe chat life satisfaction is desirable, they may be mor likely to search for postive information when reporting global life $tafacton judgments. Thus, the relation be- ‘tween satisfaction with specific domains such as work and satisfaction with life as a whole is ikely to be dependent on people's beliefs about ‘what types of information shouldbe considered when judging life in its entirery. In a sense, then, these are two varieties of happiness and sateaction—evaluations of specific aspects of life and on-line at-the-moment feelings of well-66 PART Il, EMOTION-FOCUSED APPROACHES. bbeing versus larger, global judgments about one’s happiness and satisfaction, Theoretical Approach ‘Many theories of happiness have been proposed since Aristotle's brillant insights. These theo- ries can be categorized into three groups: (1) need and goal satisfaction theories, (2) process ‘or activity theories, and (8) genetic and person- ality predisposition theories. The first conste- lation of theories centers around the idea that the reduction of tensions (¢., the elimination of pain and the satisfaction of biological and psychological needs) leads to happiness. Freud's (1933/1976) pleasure principle and Maslow’ (1970) hierarchical needs model represent this approach, In support ofthis view, Omodei and Wearing (1990) found thatthe degree to which individuals’ needs were met was positively as- sociated withthe degree of their life satisfaction. Goal theorists argue that individuals attain subjective wel-being when they move toward an ideal state or accomplish a valued aim (the standard), Other researchers have extended this idea to incorporate the degree of discrepancy from other potential comparison standards. For ‘example, Michalos (1985) postulated that hap- piness is inversely related to the degre of dis- crepancy from multiple standards, including ‘what one wants, what one has had in the past, and what relevant others have. Likewise, Hig gins (1987) posited that discrepancies from ‘one’s “deal self” and one’s “ought self” lead to the experiences of negative emotions. Need and goal satisfaction theorists argue thatthe reduc- thon of tension and satisfaction of biological and psychological needs and goals will cause happi- ‘One implication of tension-reduction theories is that happiness occurs after needs are met and goals are fulfilled, In other words, happiness is a desired end state toward which all activity is directed. These theories can be compared with models of happiness in which engagement in an activity itself provides happiness. Most notably, CCsikszentmihalyi (1975) suggested that people are happiest when they are engaged in interest- ing activites that match their level of skill. He aalled the state of mind that results from this matching of challenges and skill “flow,” and ar- _gued that people who often experience flow tend to be very happy. Similarly, Cantor and her col- leagues (Cantor & Blanton, 1996; Harlow & Cantor, 1996) emphasized the importance of ac- ‘ive paricipation in life tasks, For instance, Har- low and Cantor (1996) found that socal partc- {pation was a strong predictor of life satisfaction for retired elders. Sheldon, Ryan, and Reis (1996) found that people were happiest on days When they engeged in activities for intrinsic reasons (because of the fun and enjoyment) Goal researchers (eg, Emmons, 1986; Lire, 1989) agree that having important goals and pursuing them are reliable indicators of well- being, and therefore goal theories can combine the elements of tension reduction and pleasur- able activity in explaining subjective well-being. People who have important goals tend to be more energetic, experience more positive emo- tions, and feel that life is meaningful (eg, McGregor & Little, 1998) Both needs theorists and ectivity theorists ar- ‘gue that subjective well-being will change with ‘the conditions in people's lives. When individ- uals are approaching their goals or are engaged {in interesting activites, chey should experience positive well-being. However, other theorists argue that there is an element of stability in people's levels of well-being that cannat be ex- plained by che stability in the conditions of peo- ple's lives. These theorists argue that subjective well-being is strongly influenced by stable per- sonality dispositions. Subjective well-being judgments reflect cog- nitive and emotional reactions to life ircum- stances. Because circumstances can be short- lived and changeable or relatively stable, researchers study both momentary and long- term subjective well-being. Not surprisingly, momentary levels of affect lucruae quite a bit. For example, Diener and Larsen (1984) found that when people's emotions were sampled at random times throughout the day, a single re- port of momentary pleasant affect on average correlated only about .10 with pleasant affect in other random moments. People react 0 chang- ing circumstances, and these reactions are re- flected in momentary reports of subjective well- being ‘Although it i dificult to predict how happy an individual will be at any given moment, when affect is averaged across many occasions, stable pattems of individual differences emerge For example, Diener and Larsen (1984) reported that mean levels of pleasant affect experienced in work situations correlated 74 with average levels of pleasant affect experienced in recrea- tion situations. Similarly, average life satisfac-sion in social situations correlated 92 with av- cexage life satisfaction when alone. Based on these results, it appears that although emotions fluctuate, individuals do have characteristic ‘emotional responses to a variety of situations and life circumstances. These characteristic emotional responses are also moderately to strongly stable across long periods of time. Magnus and Diener (1991) found a correlation of -58 between life satisfaction measures a sessed over a 4-year interval. Costa and McCrae (1988) reported substantial stability coefficients for affective components of subjective wel- being over a period of 6 years. “These results have led some theorists to sug- gest that although life events can influence sub- jective well-being, people eventually adapt to these changes and return to biologically deter- mined “set points” or “adaptation levels” (eg. Headey & Wearing, 1992). For instance, Diener, Sandvik, Seidlte, and Diener (1993) found that stability in subjective well-being was compare- ble among people whose income went up, down, for stayed the same over 10 years. Similarly, Costa, McCrae, and Zonderman (1967) reported that people who lived in stable circumstances ‘were no more stable than people who experi- enced major life changes (e.g, divorce, widow- hood, or job loss). (One reason for the stability and consistency of subjective well-being is that there i a sub- stantial genetic component to it to some degree people are born prone to be happy or unhappy. Tellegen et al. (1988), for example, examined monozygotic twins who were reared apart and compared them with dizygotic twins who were reared apart, as well as with monozygotic and dizygotic twins who were raised together. After comparing the similarities of the various types of twins, Tellegen et al. estimated chat 40% of the variability in positive emotionality and 55% ofthe variability in negative emotionality could be predicted by genetic variation. These esti- rates allow for environmental influences, but sgenes do appear to influence characteristic emo- tional responses to life circumstances. When one examines personality influences in sore deal, the traits that are most consistently linked to subjective well-being are extraversion and neuroticism (Diener & Lucas, 1999). Lucas and Fujita (2000) used meta-analytic and con- firmatory factor analytic techniques to show that extraversion is consistently correlated moderately to strongly with pleasant affect; and Fujita (1991) found thar neuroricism and negs- CHAPTER §. SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING 67 tive affect are inditnguishable ater controling for measurement error. While other personality. traits from the Five Factor Model (e.g., agree ableness,consentioumess and openness 0 perience) do. correlate with subjective well Bring. these relations are smaller and less consistent (see, eg. Watson & Clark, 1992) Thus it can be sad that an extraverted none neurotic has ahead sarin achieving happiness, bc that other tats, as well ar Ife circum stances, mater as well Differences in subjecive well-being also re- sult from stable individual differences in how people think about the world. Difference inthe Accessibilty of pleasant versus unpleasant in- formation, aswell asthe accuracy and efciency with which people process pleasant versus une Pleasant information infuence subjective well being, Certain people attend to and rel the pleasant aspecs of ile more than others. Sim- tary, cersin cognitive dapontons such as hope (Snyder et a, 1991), dispositional op mis (eg, Scheer B Carver, 1983), and ex- pectancy for control (Grob, Stetsenko, Sabatier, Botcheva, & Macek, 1999) appear to influence subjective well-being. Iti not just who we are that matters to happiness, but how we think about out lives Current Findings Demographic Correlates of Subjective Well-Being ‘The strong association between temperament and subjective well-being does not mean that events and circumstances are irrelevant © peo- ple’s subjective well-being Inthe first major re- View of happiness, Wilson (2967) showed that both personality and demographic factors cor- relate with subjective well-being, He stated that the happy person is a “young, healthy, well educated, well-paid, extroverted, optimistic, ‘worry-free, religious, married person with high self-esteem, job morale, modest aspirations, of either sex and of a wide range of intelligence” (0.294), However. Campbell, Converse, and Rodgers (1976) studied the well-being of Amer- icans and found thar demographic variables such a5 age, income, and education did not account for much variance in reports of well-being, ‘echoing earlier findings by Bradburn (1969) and ‘others. In the past 30 years, researchers syste- matically cataloged the various demographicPART III, EMOTION-FOCUSED APPROACHES correlates of subjective well-being (Diener etal, 1998), with a number of replicable findings ‘emerging: (a) demographic factors such a5 age, sex, and income are related to subjective wel- being: (b) these effects are usually smal: and (c) ‘most people are moderately happy, and thus, demographic factors tend to distinguish berween people who are moderately happy and those ‘who are very happy (Diener & Diener, 1996) Income, for example, is consistently related to subjective well-being in both within-nation (eg, Diener et al, 1993; Haring, Stock, & Olen, 1984) and between-nation analyses (eg. Diener et al, 1993) but at both the individual ‘and the national level, income change overtime has litde net effect on subjective wel-being (Diener eta, 1993; Diener & Suh, 1998). Goals and expectations must be taken into account t0 understand the relation between income and subjective well-being the benefits of rising in- come are offset if one’s material desires increase even faster than wealth, ‘Age and sex are related to subjective well- being, but these effects are small, to, and de- pend on the component of subjective well-being being measured. For example, in an inter- national sample of 40 nations, Diener and Suh (21998) found that although pleasant affect de- clined across age cohorts, life satisfaction and unpleasant affect showed litde change. In two separate international samples consisting of ap- proximately 40 nations each, Lucas and Gohin (2000) found that sex differences in subjective ‘well-being were small (only about one fifth of ‘standard deviation difference), with women reporting greater unpleasant and pleasant affect (chough only significane differences in unpleas- ant affect were replicated across both interna- tional samples). Based on these results, one could not simply say chat men are happier than ‘women or that the young are happier than the ‘ld. The conclusion depends on the component fof subjective well-being that is-measured Diener et al (1999) argued shat if theory inthis area is to progress, researchers must study the separable components of subjective well-being — “happiness” i nota single thing, Similarly, researchers must be careful about the conceptuslization and measurement of in- dependent variables. For example, Wilson (1967) concluded that physical health is corre- lated with subjective well-being. However, re- cent findings qualify this conclusion: The rela- tion depends on whether self-report or objective ratings of health are assessed. Although self- reported health correlates positively with sub- jective well-being (eg Okun, Stock, & Haring 1984), the correlation is weak when objective health ratings are examined (Watten, Vassend, Myhrer, & Syversen, 1997). Subjective well boeing influences the subjective perception of Dealt, and this ints che corelaton between subjective well-being and subjective heath. It ‘appears that the way people perceive the world i& much more important happiness than ob- jective circumstances (Other demographic characteristics such as marital starus and religious activity are also positively correlated with subjective well-being: hue the effec of marrage can differ for men and women, and the effets of religious activity ray depend on the specific type of religiosity being assessed. Thus, the answer to whether particular demographic factors increase subjec- tive well-being is likely dependent on people's values and goals, personality, and cltore. Culture and Subjective Well-Being Im recent years, cultural differences in subjective ‘well-being (see Diener & Suh, 2000) have been explored, with a realization that there are pro- found differences in what makes people happy. Self-esteem, for example, is less strongly 2550 lated with life satisfaction (Diener & Diener, 10995), and extraversion is less strongly associ- ated with pleasant affece (Lucas, Diener, Grob, Suh, & Shao, 2000) in colletivist cultures than. in individualist cultures. Similarly, Suh (1999) found that there are cultural differences in the importance of personality congruence. Person- ality congruence reflects the extent to which a person's behaviors are consistent across situa- ‘ons and with the person’s inner feelings. Al- though the importance of personality con- gruence is often emphasized in Western psychology, it is not universally important. Suh found that collectivists are less congruent than individualists, and that congruence is. less strongly related to subjective well-being among collecvists. Suh et al. (1998) also found that among, collectvists, the extent to which one’s life accords with the wishes of significant others is more important than the emotions that the person feels in predicting his or her life satis- faction By examining between-nation differences in ‘wealth and subjective well-being, researchers have arrived at a more complete understanding ‘of the relation between income and happinessSome argue that wealth leads to higher subjec- tive well-being only within the poorest nations ‘According to this idea, wealth influences sub- jective well-being when basic needs are in dan- ger of not being met. However, Diener, Diener, and Diener (1995) found that even when levels of basic needs were controlled, income had a significant and moderate effect on national sub- jective well-being, Thus, people in the wealthi- test nations tend to be the happiest. This might be because they possess more material goods, bbut it also could be because the wealthiest nations experience higher levels of human rights, greater longevity, and more equality. ‘Because demographic variables have different consequences in different cultures, these corre- lates can vary in importance. For example, mar- riage is an important demographic correlate of subjective well-being (Diener, Gohm, Suh, & (Oishi, 2000). However, itis unclear whether the benefits of marriage result from the love and ‘companionship that accompany long-term rela- ‘tionships or from the socal approval that mar- ried couples receive. Diener, Gohm, Suh, and Cishi (2000) found that unmarried individuals who lived together were happier than married or single individuals in individualist culeures (sug- gesting that in these cultures companionship is ‘more important than social approval), but un- married parmers who lived together were less happy than married or single individuals in col Tectivist cultures (suggesting that in these cul- tures social approval is an important benefit of ‘marviage). Thus, cultural norms can change the correlates of subjective well-being, Interventions. Interventions to increase subjective well-being are important not only because it feels good to bbe happy but also because happy people tend to volunteer more, have more postive work be- havior, and exhibit other desvablecharacers- ties, Because of the roots ofthe field of subjec- tive wellbeing in survey research, few direct ingervention efforts have been implemented However, Fordyce (1977, 1983) published sev- eral studies in which he evaluated a program designed 10 boost people's happiness. The pro gram is based on the idea that people's subjec- tive well-being can be increased if they learn 0 nitate the tats of happy people, characteristics such as being organized, keeping busy, spending ‘more time socializing, developing positive CHAPTER 5. SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING 69 ‘outlook, and working on a healthy personality. Fordyce found that the program produced in- creases in happiness compared with a placebo control as well as compared with participants in conditions receiving only partial information. In a follow-up 9 to 28 months after the study, For- dee found that there were lasting effects of his ‘Seligman, Reivich, Jaycox, and Gillham (0995) performed an experimental study with children in which the treatment groups were ‘exposed to optimism training, Through cogni- tive training and socal-problem solving, ele- mentary school children who were at risk for depression were taught to see the bright side of events. After the intervention, the treatment groups were significantly less depressed than the control group, and this effect grew over the period of the study’s 2-year follow-up. Clearly, more effort to enhance subjective well-being are needed, along with rigorous ‘methods to evaluate these interventions. For ex- ample, more diverse dependent variables and measuring instruments would be salutary, a8 ‘well as explorations of which interventions are most beneficial, and why. The positive benefits of the few existing experiments, however, sug- gest that programs designed to enhance subjec- tive well-being can be quite effective Future Research In terms of measurement and research methods, ‘many researchers have relied solely on global retrospective self-reports. A series of construct validation studies by Diener and colleagues (egy Lucas et al, 1996; Sandvik et al, 1993) illustrated that global self-reports have a degree of validity. However, itis still unclear to what ‘extent individual and cultural differences found in global reports are accurate reflections of dif- ferences in on-line experiences or are manifes~ tations of processes related to global ways peo- ple see themselves. What is needed is a bartery of subjective well-being measures based on on~ line experiences, informant reports, biological measures, and cognitive measures that assess the accessibility of postive events in memory. In addition to better measures, we need many more longitudinal studies in order to assess ‘variables in a temporal order. ‘In terms of substantive areas, more attention should be paid to developmental processes in- volving subjective well-being, In particular,7) PART Ill. EMOTION-FOCUSED APPROACHES given recent advances in infanv/child tempera ment research (¢, Goldsmith, 1996; Rothbert & Ahadi, 1995), the link berween positive a fecsvity in infancy and childhood and subjective well-being in adulthood should be explored, not ‘only in terms of stability but also with respect to the mechanisms that operate in maintaining for changing one's suscepubility to positive stimuli throughout life, Similarly, a longitudi- nal approach should be taken in an investigation of society and culture. Specifically, the way in which changes in macro systems (eg. politcal, economic, and cultural) have an impact on peo- ple’s well-being should be examined more care- fully to create the happy societies Bentham and others envisioned. In 1949, Henry Murray and Clyde Kluck- ‘hohn claimed that “Aristotle's assertion that the ‘only rational goal of goals is happiness has never been successfully refuted as far as we Jnow, but, as yet no scientist has ventured to break ground for a psychology of happiness” (P.13). As demonstrated in this chapter, sien- tists have now begun the scientific study of hap- piness. Although the happy person is more likely to be from a wealthy nation and have enough resources to pursue his or her particular ‘goals, characteristics such as a positive outlook, ‘meaningful goals, close socal relationships, and a temperament characterized by low worry are very important to high subjective wel-being We look to the day when effective interventions based on scientific findings will provide a readily available way to increase happiness. ‘APPENDIX: Satisfaction with Life Scale Below are five statements that you may agree or disagree with. Using the 1-7 scale below in- dicate your agreement with each item by plac- ing the appropriate number on the line preced ing that item, Please be open and honest in your responding, 7 Strongly agree Agree Slightly agree Neither agree nor disagree Slightly disagree Disagree ‘Strongly disagree —— In most ways my life is dose to my ideal —— The conditions of my life are excellent — Lam satisfied with my life — So far Ihave gotten the important things I want in life — IF could live my life over, 1 would change almost nothing Scoring and Interpretation of the Scale ‘Add up your answers to the five items and use the following normative information to help in “interpretation.” 5-9 Extremely dissatisfied with your life 10-14 Very dissatisfied with your life 15-19 Slightly dissatisfied with your life 20. About neutral 21-25 Somewhat satisfied with your life 26-30 Very satisfied with your life 31-35. Extremely satisfied with your life ‘Most Americans score in the 21-25 range. 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