Happiness Accounts
for Policy Use
Ed Diener
Ed
Diener
Smiley Distinguished Professor of
Psychology, University of Illinois
Senior Scientist
The Gallup Organization
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
Rome, Italy
April 2 -3, 2007
Overview
Subjective well-being can reveal the
progress of societies
And can be used as input to policy
Will show why, and answer objections
Show some examples of policy
implications
Subjective Well-Being (SWB)
People’s evaluations of their lives – in both
thoughts and feelings. For example:
Life satisfaction
Marital, work, & health satisfaction
Pleasant emotions, e.g. Joy, affection
Feelings of purpose and meaning
Feelings of self-efficacy
Etc.
A few predictors of SWB
•
•
•
•
•
Good social relationships
Progress toward long-term goals
Trust in neighbors
Stable and predictable society
Basic needs met
Example: Gallup World Poll 2006
• On the ladder below, where the bottom
rung, 0, is the worst life you can
imagine for yourself, and 10 is the best
life you can imagine for yourself, where
do you currently stand?
15 Highest on Ladder
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Denmark
Finland
Switzerland
Netherlands
Canada
Norway
Sweden
Australia
New Zealand
Belgium
United States
Israel
Venezuela
Spain
Ireland
8.0
7.7
7.5
7.5
7.4
7.4
7.4
7.4
7.3
7.3
7.2
7.2
7.2
7.2
7.1
Income Rank (97)
5
12
4
7
8
3
13
11
22
9
1
20
53
19
2
Lowest Life Ladder
Income Rank
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Benin
Cambodia
Sierra Leone
Tanzania
Georgia
Uganda
Niger
Ethiopia
Burkina Faso
Zimbabwe
Cameroon
Madagascar
Kenya
Mali
3.3
3.6
3.6
3.7
3.7
3.7
3.7
3.8
3.8
3.8
3.9
4.0
4.0
4.0
90
73
95
97
69
85
96
93
87
78
77
94
89
91
Feel Cannot Afford Medical Care
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Japan
UK
Sweden
Canada
France
Spain
Italy
Jordan
Israel
Iran
USA
Turkey
Romania
4%
7%
7%
8%
11 %
11 %
14 %
15 %
16 %
19 %
20 %
45 %
50 %
Cannot Afford Housing
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Finland
Ireland
United Kingdom
Switzerland
USA
Denmark
Germany
France
Spain
Belarus
Sierra Leone
3%
4%
6%
8%
8%
9%
10 %
11 %
13 %
40 %
62 %
Optimism (0 – 10) –
Future Ladder
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Zimbabwe
Haiti
Slovakia
Afghanistan
Portugal
Poland
Germany
Spain
France
USA
Ireland
Denmark
Venezuela
4.0
5.1
5.6
5.7
5.8
6.3
6.8
7.3
7.6
8.1
8.2
8.5
8.5
Correlates of National
Life Satisfaction
•
•
•
•
•
•
Income
Longevity
Political stability
Trust other people
Unemployment
Time with family/friends
.82
.73
.52
.48
-.44
.41
Money is Not Enough
• Rising incomes, but not life satisfaction
• Factors such as Longevity predict
Gallup’s life satisfaction ladder beyond
income
Why SWB ?
• People rate it as very important, even
the most important. They want it!
• Citizen’s evaluations, not those of elites
• Behavioral benefits of well-being
Objections
1. Happy people are ineffective and
unmotivated, or worse yet, silly
2. People adapt to bad and good
circumstances
2. Measures are baloney; must look at
people’s behavior, not what they say
3. Happiness an individual matter
4. Other values are more important
BUT
Is happiness good?
Is it functional?
The Error of Flaubert
To be stupid, selfish, and have good
health are three requirements for
happiness, though if stupidity is
lacking, all is lost.
Gustave Flaubert
Our Research Shows that
Happiness is Beneficial
Flaubert 180 degrees off
• Happy college students later
earn higher incomes
College Entry Cheerfulness,
and Income 19 years later
Diener, Nickerson, Lucas, & Sandvik (2002)
$70,000
$60,000
Not Cheerful
Most Cheerful
$50,000
$40,000
Mean
More Benefits of Being Happy
•
•
•
•
•
•
More friends
Better and longer marriages
Social capital: Trust and volunteering
Higher supervisor ratings at work
Organizational citizenship behaviors
Health
Longevity: The Nun Study
Danner, Snowden, & Friesen, U Kentucky
1. Nuns autobiographies at age 22
Expression of positive emotions
2. Happy and less happy nuns living in
same life circumstances through
lifespan
How long do they live?
Longevity in The Nun
Study
Survival Rate at Age:
85
94
Most Cheerful Quartile
90%
54%
Least Cheerful
34%
11%
Danner, Snowdon, & Friesen
My doctor asks me:
Smoking (1 pack/day)
Exercise
Light drinking
Smoking (1 pack/day)
Exercise
Light drinking
Heavy drinking
Smoking (1 pack/day)
Exercise
Light drinking
Heavy drinking
HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT BECOMING A
NUN??
Smoking (pack/day)
Exercise
Light drinking
Heavy drinking
Hey, Doc, what about:
How happy are you?
Very Happy vs. Less Happy
+ 10.7 years
Psychologists
Happy live about 6
years longer
Being happy is beneficial to success
BUT
• Being a happy person does NOT mean:
Acting like an American;
Being a “10”
Not experiencing unpleasant
emotions
Slow & Incomplete Adaptation to Unemployment
(Mostly Re-Employed, and Controlling for Income)
7.2
7
6.8
6.6
6.4
6.2
6
5.8
Past
Prior Yr.
Fired
1 Yr.
3 Yrs.
Life Satisfaction & Disability: The
Set-Point Seems to Change
7.2
7
6.8
6.6
6.4
6.2
6
5.8
-2 Yrs.
-1 Yr.
0
+1 Yr. +3 Yrs. +5 Yrs.
-2 Yrs.
-1 Yr.
0
OECD Nations Affect Balance (PA –NA)
Women Men
Ireland
New Zealand
Sweden
Netherlands
Canada
Denmark
Australia
Austria
Mexico
Norway
Switzerland
U.S.A.
U.K.
Finland
.69
.65
.65
.62
.62
.61
.61
.61
.60
.60
.58
.56
.56
.53
.66
.66
.61
.63
.61
.61
.61
.60
.62
.58
.57
.61
.54
.52
Women Men
Japan
Germany
Belgium
France
Poland
Spain
Czech Rep.
S. Korea
Italy
Hungary
Slovak Rep.
Greece
Portugal
Turkey
.53
.52
.51
.50
.50
.48
.48
.44
.42
.41
.41
.31
.30
.17
.43
.56
.57
.51
.50
.58
.50
.35
.42
.48
.39
.42
.44
.20
Adaptation to Marriage
Lucas, Clark, Georgellis, & Diener
7.5
7.45
7.4
7.35
7.3
7.25
7.2
7.15
7.1
7.05
2 Yr. Before
1 Before
Marriage
1 After
2 After
4 After
2 Yr.
Before
Marriage
2 After
SWB Measures Correlate With:
Suicide (individual and national)
Physiological (brain, hormones, immune)
Informant reports (family and friends)
Interview ratings
Reaction-time to stimuli tasks
Societal Policies?
Pleasant Emotions—Enjoyment etc.
Highest
New Zealand
Ireland
Netherlands
Costa Rica
UK
Lowest
88 %
88 %
87 %
87 %
86 %
Georgia
Pakistan
Armenia
Palestine
Sierra L.
43 %
48 %
49 %
50 %
51 %
Other Values More Important?
For example: survival, basic needs
For example: capabilities & functionings
Example: People happy for wrong
reasons
Response: Maybe, but so what?
Don’t want survival or functioning with
unhappiness, or neutrality!
SWB relevant to more focused
policy issues:
Example: Prostitution
Example: Commuting to work
Example: School well-being check-ups
Life Satisfaction of Sex Workers
• Calcutta
• Detroit
Low LS
Extremely low LS
Commuting: Gallup World Poll
Life Satisfaction Ladder
0 – 60 min/day
61 – 120 min/day
121 – 180 min/day
181 – 240 min/day
5.8
5.6
5.5
5.0
Conclusions
• SWB measures can
complement existing econ and
social measures for policy use
• You should be happy!
Predictors of National Life
Satisfaction (Economist Intelligence
Unit Study)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Per capita income
Life expectancy
Job security
Political stability
Low divorce rate
Political freedom and civil liberties
Gender equality
Multiple R = .92
SlowAdaptation to Widowhood
7.2
7
6.8
6.6
All is
Fine
Husband
failing
Widow
6.4
6.2
6
5.8
All is
Fine
Widow
4 Yrs.
2 Yrs.
4 Yrs.
6 Yrs.
Importance Ratings (1-9)
Happiness
Wealth
Health
OVERALL
(28 nations)
8.0
6.8
7.9
USA
Japan
Chile
Singapore
Egypt
Hong Kong
China
8.1
7.4
8.6
8.4
8.1
7.8
7.3
6.7
6.6
6.9
7.1
7.6
6.4
7.0
7.6
7.8
8.1
8.0
8.0
7.6
7.8
Unpleasant Emotions—
Sad, Angry, Depressed, etc.
Highest
Lowest
Armenia
Palestine
Bolivia
Sierra Leone
Denmark
Sweden
Austria
Japan
Percent feelings lots yesterday
~ 40 %
~ 13 %
Dissatisfied with Standard of Living
•
•
•
•
•
Ukraine
Georgia
Romania
Russia
Zimbabwe
• Most satisfied: Ireland
Diener Index of National Quality of
Life (1995)
Homicide rate
Purchasing power
Literacy
Human rights
Deforestation
Physicians per capita
Income equality
AND Subjective Well-being