What do we

know about
happiness
Measuring Happiness
- Can questions appropriately
capture happiness
- Correlation but not
causation:
- selection effects
- reverse causality
Methodology of studies
Experience Sampling

Send reminders to peoples phones

throughout the day
Normally conducted on students and
smartphone users not representative
of general population
Asking about ones feelings affect
persons mood
Do not consider purpose
 Day Reconstruction
Method (DRM)
- Divide day into series of episodes:

- Rate how they feel during each episode (e.g. happy,

sad, nervous, anxious, content)
- Rate how purposeful each episode was (e.g. focused,
engaged, competent)
 Day Reconstruction
Method (DRM)
- Divide day into series of episodes:

- Rate how they feel during each episode (e.g. happy,

sad, nervous, anxious, content)
- Rate how purposeful each episode was (e.g. focused,
engaged, competent)
 DRM - Pleasure vs
Purpose
A day in the life of a 38 YO female German
participant
DRM Pleasure vs
Purpose

Diagonal line reflects

activities that contain the
same amount of pleasure
and purpose
Different rankings of
pleasure and purpose
Look at both pleasure and purpose
 Relative pleasure and
More purpose
More pleasure
purpose for
than purpose
work and
for both work
more
and TV
pleasure for
TV

More
purpose than
pleasure for
work and TV
Confounding variables

Being with others

Gender
Income group
Relationship status
American Time Use
Survey (ATUS)

Participants kept a diary on what they

did in a day
Interviewed the day after on pleasure
and purpose
ATUS results

Similar to the
German DRM
data
Happiness with others
Happiness
generally
increase
People may
choose to be
alone if they are
in a certain
Pleasure decreases
mood
when with another

Less purposeful as
less is done
Age groups and pleasure
and purpose

General
observations:
- Men experience more
pleasure from time with
children while women
experience more purpose
- When income rises,
purpose from housework
decreases
Whos happy?

The Wealthy
Young and Old
Healthy
Sociable
Married
Educated
Religious
Employed
Live near work
 Why is the Rich happy?

More Friends

Likelier to get married

Be in better health

We should not adjust the data for income. Income has a

huge role to play in happiness itself.
 Why is the Rich happy?

More Friends

Likelier to get married

Be in better health

We should not adjust the data for income. Income has a

huge role to play in happiness itself.
Are the Religious really
happy?

Not because of Religion

But because they are part of a group

UK Statistics

Whites are happier than Arabs, Indians,

Blacks and Pakistanis.

Married people are happier

Employed are happier.

UK Statistics

Whites are happier than Arabs, Indians,

Blacks and Pakistanis.

Married people are happier

Employed are happier.