Copy of Can Seeking Happiness Make People Unhappy?

Can Seeking Happiness Make People Unhappy?

The Paradoxical Effects of Valuing Happiness

The Pursuit of Happiness

Study 1 - Results

Study 2 - Background

Study 2 - Neutral Film Clip

Association of Stress Level:

-Lower hedonic balance

-Lower psychological well-being

-Less satisfaction with life

-Higher levels of depression symptoms (see Table 1, Row 4)

Association of Valuing Happiness:

-Lower hedonic balance

-Lower psychological well-being

-Less satisfaction in life

-Higher levels of depression (Table 1, Row 5).

Participants separated into two groups -- "Valuing Happiness" and controlled.

"Valuing Happiness" Group:

Participants were told: “People who report higher than normal levels of happiness experience benefits in their social relationships, professional success, and overall health and well-being. That is, happiness not only feels good, it also carries important benefits: the happier people can make themselves feel from moment to moment, the more likely they are to be successful, healthy, and popular. (…). In fact, recent research shows that people who are able to achieve the greatest amount of happiness (…) can experience long-term beneficial outcomes. (…).”

Control Group:

Participants were told the same thing except all references to "happiness" were changed to "making accurate judgments."

The Reasonable Expectancy

Value: Nice to Have VS. Sine Qua Non

Determination to Achieve Values

The Incompatibility of Goals and Values

The Counterintuitive Hypothesis

Examined the casual effects of valuing happiness by manipulating its extent.

Assessment/Manipulations:

-Subjects were told this was a test on "TV Programming"

-All watched emotion-neutral film clip

-Some watched sad film clip

-Some watched happy film clip

Predictions:

The participants who were manipulated to value happiness would feel less happy in the positive, not negative context.

This would be caused by their disappointment at their emotional reactions.

Methodology:

-70 women, average age of 21.1.

-Each received $20.

-The following ethic backgrounds were reported: European American, Asian American, Hispanic American, African American, Pacific- Islander, Mixed.(12.7% did not report it)

-One person had a strong suspicion of the experiment and was excluded, leaving 69 participants.

At lower stress, participants valued happiness; but, the lower their hedonic balance, psychological well-being, satisfaction with life, and the higher their depression symptoms are.

Study 2 - Happy & Sad Films

Study 1 - Background

Study 1 - Conclusion

After viewing the neutral film, the participants were then randomly split into two groups, one viewing a happy film, the other viewing a sad one:

Happy Film:

The happy film clip showed a popular female figure skater winning a gold medal, the audience's enthusiastic reaction, and her celebrating with her coach.

Sad Film: The sad film clip showed a happy couple in love spending a night out dancing, the wife's sudden death, and ends with the husband arriving to an empty home.

Suggests that valuing happiness not necessarily linked to greater happiness.

Under certain conditions, the opposite is true.

Under low life stress, the more people valued happiness, lower were their hedonic balance, psychological well-being, life satisfaction, and higher depression symptoms.

Paradoxical effects of valuing happiness should not be constrained to hedonic well-being.

Consistent with hypothesis that valuing happiness can lead to less happiness.

Open to alternative interpretations

Valuing happiness and well-being may be due to other variables or effects of well-being

Thus, study 2 was designed to experiment on the manipulation of happiness values.

Tested whether the amount to which individuals value happiness is associated with happiness and well-being.

Assessed Adult Female Participants:

-Range of indications of happiness and well-being by measuring

-Trait hedonic balance (ratio of positive to negative mood)

-Subjective well-being (person’s assessment of their happiness and satisfaction with life)

-Psychological well-being (how people evaluate their lives)

-Depression symptoms

-Levels of life stress from the past 18 months

Prediction:

Valuing happiness associated with lower trait hedonic balance, subjective well-being, and psychological well-being, and greater depression symptoms under conditions of low, not high stress

Methodology:

-59 Women from Denver Metro Area

-Recruited within six months of experiencing an SLE.

-What's an SLE? Why only women?

Study 2 - Conclusion

Study 2 - Discussion

Study 1 - Measurements

Randomization check: The four experimental groups did not differ from one another in terms attempts to feel more positively, and disappointment.

Manipulation check:

The film clips induced the intended emotions, as indicated by hedonic balance in the control group, which was greater for the happy than for the sad film clip.

Participants in the valuing happiness condition indicated that they tried harder than those in the control condition to feel positively.

There were no effects involving film-clip valence on participants' attempts to feel more positively in the control group.

The prediction was correct: That leading participants to value happiness (compared to the control group) would lead them to experience more negative hedonic balance in a happy, but not a sad, emotional context.

The participants who were led to value happiness more were in a less positive emotional state than participants in the control condition after the happy clip.

Study 2 demonstrates that valuing happiness can lead to less happiness, precisely in a situation that should give rise to it, namely a happy emotion induction.

The manipulation of happiness values led to differences in mood.

Comparing oneself to the happier-than-normal person described in the happiness values paragraph could induce negative mood.

Valuing Happiness:

-Measured Positive Hedonic State

-Pleasant and Unpleasant Sensations & States of Mind

-7-Point Scale Survey

Life Stress:

-Life Experiences Survey (LES)

-Only negative impacts

-Findings: No relation

Happiness and Well-Being:

-Trait Hedonic Balance: Positive/Negative Affect

-Subjective W-B: 5-Item Satisfaction w/ Life Scale

-Psychological W-B: 18-Item Scales for Psychological W-B

-Depression Symptoms: 22-Item Inventory to Diagnose Depression

CLP1006: Psychology of Personal Effectiveness, Prof. I. Delgado, Ref. #786265

Michaela Kelly, Marquise McGriff, Loren Pardo, John Angelo Raymundo