Part II : Positive Emotional States

Learning outcomes:
• Define of subjective well- being.
• Provide some examples on how subjective well-being can be
measured.
• Differentiate between the Top-down and Bottom-up theories.
• List the variables that can predict subjective well-being.
• Explain the bottom up ; predictors of subjective well being

Chapter 3: Subjective Well-Being 2

Definition:

• Subjective well-being:

ØAn individual’s current evaluation of happiness.

ØAn individual’s current evaluation of satisfaction of
life.

Studies of subjective well-being includes the cause,

predictors and consequences of happiness and
satisfaction with life.

Chapter 3: Subjective Well-Being 3

Definition:

“subjective well-being refers to how people

experience the quality of their lives and includes
both emotional reactions and cognitive
judgments”

Chapter 3: Subjective Well-Being 4

• Happiness – emotional state.

• Satisfaction with life - global judgment about

the acceptability of life. (cognitive process)

• Neuroticism – low levels of neuroticism indicates higher

level of subjective well-being.

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Measurement
• Subjective self-report
• Report from other people who know the participants (is it
accurate?)

• Subjective Self report :

Criticism abound by stating the defense mechanisms. (protect one’s
conscious awareness from unacceptable impulses)

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Self-report measures

Based on 2 assumptions:

1.Assumes that the amount of happiness can be

translated into number scales.
• E.g., 6 = before marriage, 8 = after marriage

2. Assumes that if 2 individuals scores the same, they

have approximately the same level of happiness.
• E.g., Millionaire = 8
Average person = 8

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Example:
• I am satisfied with my life.

Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly disagree

• Compared to my peers, I consider myself to be…

Less happy More happy

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Example:

• Which face comes closest to you expressing how you feel

about your life as a whole?

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Stability

• Subjective well-being is:

• Relatively stable (Costa & McCrae, 1984, 1988; Diener,1994)
• Stable up to 6 years with correlations of 0.4 to 0.5 (Diener &
Lucas, 1999)

• But then again, environment does play a part in influencing

subjective well-being.
• Happiness and life satisfaction are not completely unchangeable;
it’s changeable)

• Solution: physiological indicators & multiple measures of

well-being.
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Top-Down & Bottom-Up Theories
Chapter 3: Subjective Well-Being 11
1. Bottom- up:

• Summation of positive experiences

• Frequency of pleasant moments dictate happiness

• Putting together external circumstances and making

judgments

• E.g.: traveling/ b’day parties/ dating the most

handsome bf/pretty gf = happiness & satisfaction

Chapter 3: Subjective Well-Being 12

 Malay Peribahasa:

“Sedikit-sedikit lama-lama jadi bukit”

Chapter 3: Subjective Well-Being 13

2. Top-Down:

• Tendency to evaluate and interpret experience in a positive way.

• This approach is measured by personality traits, attitudes or the

way the person interprets experiences in life.

• How do you interpret failure in life? E.g.: failure in exams/ failure

in driving test/ failure in love?

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What are the consequences if either
the top-down or bottom-up theories
are correct?

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 Top-Down & Bottom-Up Theories

• 52% Personality : 23% Situational

• It was notified that personality plays a more prominent role in defining
subjective well-being.

In your opinion, which plays more prominent role today?

Chapter 3: Subjective Well-Being 16

 Big Five Personality Traits
https://www.truity.com/test/big-five-personality-test

1) Openness
2) Conscientiousness
3) Extraversion
4) Agreeableness
5) Neuroticism

O.C.E.A.N.

Chapter 3: Subjective Well-Being 17

Top-Down predictors of
subjective well-being

Chapter 3: Subjective Well-Being 18

 Predictors of
subjective well-being
• 1. Positive self-esteem
• 2. Sense of perceived control
• 3. Extroversion
• 4. Optimism
• 5. Positive social relationships
• 6. A sense of meaning and purpose

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1. Positive Self-Esteem:
• Self-esteem and life satisfaction is positively correlated.

• Characteristics:
a. Feeling that one is accepted by others.
b. Being the recipient of positive evaluations from others.
c. Believing that one compares favorably to other people or to
one’s ideal self.
a. Believing that one can initiate effective action in the world.

• Pitfall:
• Over self-esteem results in fragility which in turn leads to
self-reproach and self-condemnation. (power)

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2. Sense of perceived control
• Belief that one has some measure of control over events in life that are
personally important.
• Increasing positive outcomes and decreasing negative ones.

• Internal (attribute to self) vs. external

• Locus of control (internal & external)

• Chance belief – no one is in charge / luck

• Secondary control – associating themselves with a person, philosophy or a

system that they view as more powerful. I.e., God.

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3. Extroversion
• Being interested in things that are outside oneself.

• Extroverts vs. introverts

• Extroverts are more socialable people. They have greater

opportunities for positive relations and positive feedbacks about
themselves and this would translate to greater well-being.

• Extroverts are found to be happier than introverts even when they

are alone.

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4. Optimism

• Positively correlated with happiness and life satisfaction.

• Optimistic people reports:

• Fewer health problems
• Enhances overall mood

• Dispositional optimism vs. hope

• Things will turn out fine vs action & perseverance entails success.
• Learned optimism
• Explanatory style – explaining causes of events for oneself

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Chapter 3: Subjective Well-Being 24
• Advantages:
• Enhances mood
• Improves coping strategies when under stress

• Disadvantages:
• Unrealistic optimism vs. realistic optimism

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5. Positive social relationship:
• Positive relationships are positively correlated with satisfaction
with family and friends.

• Social support and emotional intimacy are good indicators of

positive social support

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6. Sense of meaning and purpose

• Many researches attribute this to religiosity

• Positive correlation with greater religious faith, greater importance of

religion to lives and more frequent attendance at religious services.
• Results in greater well-being
• Eliminate existential anxiety.

• However, sense of meaning and purpose need not tied to religious

beliefs.
• Example: pursuing goals which are meaningful also increases well-being.
• The goals need not be religious to in order to be meaningful.

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Bottom-Up predictors of
subjective well-being

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 1. Money, income and wealth
• “If you ask people what they believe they need to be happy, one of the
most common answers is – more money” (Myers, 2000)
• This answer results from being a “consumer-based” society / capitalism

• What is money for?

• better status, materialism, security, etc.

• There is a strong relationship between income and satisfaction at lower

income levels but an insignificant relationship at higher income levels
(Diener, Diener, & Diener, 1995)

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2. Gender

• Are males or females happier?

• The impact of gender accounts for only about 1% of the

variability in subjective well-being among people
(Nolenhaeksema & Rusting, 1999)

• Thus, neither gender is inevitably doomed to be less happy

than the other!

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 3. Age
• Who is happier: the old or the young?

• Young people experience more intense emotions than older people.

• Older women tend to be less happy than men (Argyle, 1999).

• Calculation of subjective well-being is different.

(discrepancies of life achievement vs. health)

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4. Race and ethnicity:
• Racial or ethnic discrimination within a specific society
can negatively influence subjective well-being for all
minority groups.

• Subjective well-being in all cultures appears to be

related to how well people believe they are achieving
the things they value.

• Different culture value different things.

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5. Education:
• Higher levels of education = higher happiness?

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 6. Climate
• Does escaping to a tropical island brings happiness and satisfaction?

Chapter 3: Subjective Well-Being 34

 Conclusion
• People who report higher levels of happiness appear to
have found a way to balance demands to meet their
own needs with the needs of other people in their world

• As people perceive themselves in a more positive light,

they present themselves to others with a certain level of
confidence and optimism, which in turn fosters a more
positive reaction from other people and therefore
reinforces their initial self-esteem

• Subjective well-being produces a sense that life has

meaning and purpose, because it can lead to a belief
that life is predictable and makes sense.
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 The variables that are important to happiness
and life satisfaction are related to the quality of
relationships with significant others and to a
variety of attitudes concerning self-evaluation,
locus of control and optimism.

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