Robert A. Cummins Australian Centre on Quality of Life Deakin University

1. Is happiness good for you? Robert A. Cummins Australian Centre on Quality of Life Deakin University http://www.deakin.edu.au/research/acqol

2. The science of happiness Science has captured the study of happiness from philosophy There is now 30 years of systematic research into the theoretical basis and empirical performance of the human sense of wellbeing

3. Quality of Life[wellbeing] Objective Conditions e.g. Physical health Subjective Perceptions e.g. Satisfaction with health ? Objective Wellbeing Subjective Wellbeing [happiness]

4. www.vermontdairy.com/ice_cream Feelings of ‘happiness’ come in two varieties Short-term ‘emotional’ happiness An emotional response to something nice Long-term ‘mood’ happiness A mood with a genetic basis Subjective wellbeing [Contentment]

5. How can we describe the sense of subjective wellbeing? A normally positive state of mind that involves the whole life experience

6. Personal Wellbeing Index How satisfied are you with your-----? • Standard of living • Health • Achieving in life • Relationships • Safety • Community connectedness • Future security • Spirituality/Religion ∑ = Subjective Wellbeing

7. We code all data to lie on a range from Complete dissatisfaction Complete satisfaction 0 100

8. Why all the fuss about mood happiness?Positive emotions build a range of personal resources as: Physical resources (health, longevity) Social resources (friendliness, social capital) Intellectual resources (intellectual curiosity, expert knowledge,) Psychological resources (resilience, optimism, creativity)

9. In 2000 Deakin University and Australian Unity formed a partnership Purpose:to create a quarterly index of subjective wellbeing for the Australian population. As an alternative to the traditional economic indicators such as GDP

10. The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index Surveys Geographically representative sample N = 2,000 Telephone interview #1: April 2001 ------------ #26: Sept 2011

11. Personal Wellbeing Index2001 - 2011

12. Personal Wellbeing Index2001 - 2011 This represents a 3.0 percentage point variation

13. 100 90 80 76.4 73.4 70 Subjective Wellbeing Mean = 74.9 60 50 SD = 0.8 40 30 20 10 0 Normative rangeusing survey mean scores as data (N=26) Very satisfied Very dissatisfied

14. Why is subjective wellbeing held so steady? Homeostasis Just like we hold body temperature steady Subjective wellbeing homeostasis

15. 90 60 Each person has a set-point for their subjective wellbeing. These set-points lie between 60 and 90 Range for individual set-points Set-points are always POSITIVE ie above 50

16. The average set-point is 75. 90 Range For individual set-points 75 [The set-point for the average person ] 60

17. When nothing much is happening to them, people rate how they feel about their life in terms of their set-point for SWB 90 The average set-point 75 60 Time

18. Overwhelming negative challenges Subjective wellbeing Homeostasis can fail The result of subjective wellbeing loss is depression

19. Subjective Wellbeing [normal] X Challenges External resources (eg. relationships, money) Subjective wellbeing constantly under challenge, but is well protected

20. The most protective External ResourcesA close relationship http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/12651/small_-_old_couple.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Asia/China/photo114529.htm &h=267&w=400&sz=97&hl=en&start=13&sig2=g6PUgVjsMT8vqd1hp3DFsQ&um=1&tbnid=2jGBr7dyST6m0M:&tbnh=95&tbnw=143&ei=3rOhRt6XEJ2mggOIhqXlDQ&prev=/images%3 Fq%3Dold%2Bcouple%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG

21. Money How does money link to happiness? Money is a flexible resource that allows people to defend themselves against life’s challenges

22. Income is an external resource that enhances resilience 81 Total N ≈ 30,000 80 79.2 * 79 78.3 78.0 * 78 76.5 77 Subjective wellbeing * 76.3 76 * 74.9 75 Normal Range 73.9 74 73.0 73 71.7 72 71 <$15 $15-30 $31-60 $61-90 $91-120 $121-150 $150+ Median Household Income ($'000)

23. Income and Mood Happiness

24. Partner only 81 80 79.1 79.1 79 77.4 78 77.3 77.4 76.5 77 763 75.4 76 Normative Range 75 74 Subjective Wellbeing 73.0 73 72 71 70 69 68 67 66 65 64 63 62 <$15 $15-$30 $31-$60 $61-$90 $91-$120 $121-$150 $150+ Household Income ($'000) Australian Unity Wellbeing Index[cumulative data] median

25. Partner only 81 Partner & children 80.7 80 79.1 78.9 79.1 79 77.4 78 77.3 78.2 77.4 76.5 77 77.3 76.3 75.4 76 75.9 Normative Range 75 74 72.6 73.0 73 Subjective Wellbeing 72 71 70.3 70 69 68 67 66 65 64 63 62 <$15 $15-$30 $31-$60 $61-$90 $91-$120 $121-$150 $150+ Household Income ($'000) Australian Unity Wellbeing Index[cumulative data]

26. Partner only Partner & children 81 Sole parent 80.7 80 79.1 78.9 79.1 79 77.4 78 77.3 78.2 77.4 76.5 77 77.3 76.3 76.5 75.4 76 76.3 75.9 Normative Range 75 74 72.6 73.0 Subjective Wellbeing 73 72 71 70.1 70.3 70 69 69.6 68 67 66 65 64.1 64 63 62 <$15 $15-$30 $31-$60 $61-$90 $91-$120 $121-$150 $150+ Household Income ($'000) Australian Unity Wellbeing Index[cumulative data]

27. Internal resources X Subjective wellbeing Challenges External resources (eg. relationships, money) Internal resources (eg. Finding meaning)

28. The use of internal resources When we fail to control the world around us we use Cognitive Restructuring to protect SWB “I can’t be good at everything,” reasons Todd BALLARD STREET

29. Using internal resources to protect wellbeing Drops coffee I can’t be good at everything 75 Subjective wellbeing Time

30. Using external resources to protect wellbeing Subjective wellbeing Hire a butler 75 Time

31. In summaryHomeostasis can fail MOOD Happiness <50/100 Challenges to homeostasis The loss of positive wellbeing is depression

32. Maintaining homeostasis MOOD Happiness 75/100 Buffering resources Challenges to homeostasis

33. Is more better?Are high levels of happiness good for you? The answer lies in homeostasis therefore Sometimes Yes and sometimes No Happiness can be associated with pathology

34. Name a boss you can think of who--- 1 Takes advantage of others to achieve for them self 2 Lacks empathy 3 Requires excessive admiration 4 Preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love 5 Believes they can only be understood by other high-status people 6 Exaggerates own achievements and talents to the point of lying 7 Is envious of others or believes that others are envious of them. 8 Is arrogant and haughty

35. At least five criteria = Narcissistic Personality Disorder They tend to have high levels of happiness (at the expense of everyone else!)

36. What about non-pathological happiness? People have different set-points for happiness So, do people with high set-points do better in life than people with low set-points? School of Psychology

37. ‘The Nun Study’ (Danner et al., 2001, Journal of Personality & Social Psychology) 180 Catholic nuns in USA Age: 75 – 95y (42% had died) At age 22y produced a brief autobiography Analysis: rated for positive & negative content http://www.rootsweb.com/~flstjohn/shannon/nun.jpg LOWEST positive 25% – HIGHEST positive 25% = 10 Years

38. SWB is a positive emotional state that Buffers the adverse effects of negative emotion.

39. Genetic high Mood Happiness (High set-point) STRONG BUFFERS (High Resilience) SUBJECTIVE WELLBEING (above average) POSITIVE NEGATIVE ENVIRONMENT High set-points buffer daily experience

40. It is generally beneficial to • pro-social behaviours Is a chronic high level of happiness good for you? 1.It is good for nuns longevity morbidity

41. Principle of homeostasis It is defending each person’s set-point for happiness, which is an adaptive level for that person Movement of happiness either below or above the set-point range should be less adaptive

42. High levels of happiness can sometimes be BAD for you risk-taking over-confidence Happiness in not risk-free However, no one commits suicide while feeling happy By far the largest risk-factor in low happiness [depression]

43. Broaden and Build ModelBarbara Fredrickson (2001) Fredrickson, B.L., & Branigan, C. (2001) Positive emotions. In T.J. Mayne., & G.A. Bonanno (Eds.).Emotions: Current issues and future directions, 123-152, Guilford Press, New York. • Happiness • Look outward • Seek new information / experiment and play • High motivation to engage the world • Happiness • Look inwards • Ruminate and try to find the reason for the • unhappiness • -Low motivation to engage the world

44. Summary We have a gold standard for happiness and a theoretical model for understanding how it is maintained by a homeostatic system. Happiness does not necessarily = mental health [eg. Narcissistic Personality Disorder] Happiness is generally good for us [but we cannot increase it beyond the set-point ceiling] Acute periods of low happiness are adaptive and normal [Broaden and Build] Chronically low happiness is caused by homeostatic defeat [Depression]