Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Happiness'

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Cincinnati, 2008.
Advisor: Don Bogen PhD (Committee Chair). Title from electronic thesis title page (viewed Sep.4, 2008). Keywords: poetry; Paula Gunn Allen; Adrienne Rich; trauma theory; cartographic theory; Native American. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references.

Happiness research is advancing as an academic discipline as well as on the political agenda. An aspect, largely ignored in the field, is what impact an individual’s construction of the good life has on his or her subjective well-being. The purpose of this paper was to investigate how people in different situations in life and with different backgrounds construct the idea of a good life and the importance these constructions may have in explaining subjective well-being. Despite the differences between themselves, the respondents’ constructions of the good life were shown to have a lot in common. Some factors in the good life were shared by the respondents, such as relations to other people, access to food, water and housing, whereas in other aspects, such as money and time, the constructions of the good life differed quite a lot from one another. When evaluating their own lives the respondents used quite different criteria mostly corresponding to their idea of the good life. If this is a general pattern, possible to replicate in other studies, one may in the future be able to draw the conclusion that the construction of the good life has an effect on our subjective well-being.

Issues of ‘wellbeing’ and ‘happiness’ are becoming more and more prevalent in discussions of social policy and in the provision of healthcare services. In recent years, the maximisation of a nation’s ‘happiness’ has emerged as both a key policy objective and as a central focus within social, political and economic research, with public policy makers around the world having demonstrated a growing interest in national accounts of ‘wellbeing’. In the UK context, this growing interest is comprised of a perceived need to ‘know’ ‘happiness’ and ‘wellbeing’ better, so that they might be maximised. Such attitudes and beliefs made possible the introduction of four new questions to the Annual Population Survey that were specifically designed to measure the UK’s “subjective wellbeing” (now referred to as “individual life satisfaction” following revisions in subsequent years). In addition to this, in 2010 a non-profit organisation named Action for Happiness (AfH) was founded which sought to maximise the ‘happiness’ of society by offering individual members help and training towards living a ‘happier’ life - an endeavour which is understood to be necessitated by the stagnation of ‘happiness’ in modern Western societies. This thesis seeks to critically account for the emergence of such social and political practices – or ‘happiness agenda’ - and does so from a poststructuralist, post-Marxist standpoint. This is achieved by utilising the specific methodological strategy developed by Glynos & Howarth (2007) which constitutes a retroductive, deconstructive, approach to accounting for socio-political phenomena. In doing so, three types of logics underpinning these practices are identified, presenting an explanation as to what, how and why these practices are. Accounting for the emergence of such a ‘happiness agenda’ enables it (and its emergence) to be critiqued – specifically, the notion contained within it that maximised individual ‘happiness’ constitutes social progression. Indeed, central to the critique of the ‘happiness agenda’ that this thesis presents is an acknowledgement of the need of a socio-political equality agenda, where ‘social progression’ is instead conceptualised as maximised social equality.

In this thesis I am going to explore the relationship between happiness and imprisonment. I will discuss three theories of happiness - hedonism, life satisfaction theories and emotional states theories. I will argue that the main problem of these theories is that they take happiness to consist only of psychological states. Because of this, I will turn my attention towards those theories that evaluate happiness in terms of how well life is going for the person who is living it. I will argue that my Aristotelian account is the most plausible way to understand the relationship between happiness and imprisonment. This is because it takes into account both the external circumstances and the psychological and emotional life of pnsoners. Through this thesis, I will show that my account of happiness in prison accomplishes three tasks: i) it solves the problems encountered by the other theories of happiness in the evaluation of prisoners' happiness, ii) it does not suffer from two of the main objections to the other objectivist theories of happiness, and iii) it can help us to investigate the happiness of prisoners empirically more accurately.

This thesis about the economics of happiness and the Gross National Happiness of Bhutan offers a new extended model of happiness that better explains Bhutanese happiness. The thesis extends the standarf model by incorporating seven of the nine GNH Domains: Health; Education; Good Governance; Culture; Community Vitality; Ecological Resilience, and; Psychological Wellbeing. As a third contribution, the thesis looks at the effects, of state ownership vs privatisation of large public companies, on employee well-being.

This thesis examines the doctrine of happiness within the Jonathan Edwards corpus and seeks to understand its function and significance as it relates to Edwards's broader theological project. A close examination of both the internal development and the Early Modern intellectual context of Edwards's thought reveals that spiritual happiness is of central importance to Edwards's 'end of creation' project. Scholars commonly assume that the burden of Edwards's teleological writings is a theocentric defense and promotion of the glory of God in the face of an increasingly anthropocentric Enlightenment. However, this study demonstrates that, notwithstanding Edwards's adherence to the Reformed tradition's high view of God's glory, the early and enduring concern of Edwards's teleological project is the proof and defense of spiritual happiness as ultimate telos from a Reformed perspective. Edwards's purpose to defend the teleological status of happiness is primarily exposed by the development of Edwards's teleology in his Miscellanies notebook and related theological treatises such as Discourse on the Trinity and End of Creation, especially as Edwards engages rival teleological visions that tend to subordinate happiness. While Edwards's teleological conviction regarding happiness is inspired by his own Puritan and Reformed heritage and his early profound religious experience, he subsequently pursues the proof and defense of his Reformed teleology of happiness in response to the increasing tendency of Reformed and non-Calvinist Enlightenment thinkers to subordinate the teleological status of happiness. During the Early Modern period, Reformed theologians frequently subordinate happiness relative to godliness, and especially the glory of God, and Enlightenment thinkers increasingly make practical virtue and usefulness toward the common good the ultimate telos of human existence at the expense of spiritual happiness, which intellectual trends Edwards engages for the sake of defending his Reformed teleology of happiness. The first stage of the development of Edwards's teleology of happiness is marked by his conversion and subsequent profound experiences of spiritual happiness, and by his efforts that follow during the early 1720s to prove happiness as ultimate telos, primarily on the basis of Edwards's doctrine of divine goodness. During the second stage of development, Edwards works to defend happiness as ultimate telos from a comprehensively biblical and Reformed perspective. Edwards spends the rest of his career developing his doctrines of God and the Trinity, the work of redemption, and the glory of God primarily for the sake of defending his Reformed teleology of happiness, which I suggest, significantly influences and shapes Edwards's theology.

Today desires are often confused with needs. As a result, we in the so-called highly developed countries cause ourselves unnecessary unhappiness by holding ourselves up to increasingly higher standards. These standards often seem inescapable, yet a thoughtful and deeper look would immediately identify them as mostly virtual. In what brand , reconnoitering happiness, I explore personal happiness in today???s consumer society and our emotional relationship with objects, through an experimental documentary. This hybrid documentary uses classic elements of the interview driven genre such as contrasting vox pop with professional interviews to produce the story. At the same time it incorporates an aesthetic that crosses broadcast journalism and MTV music videos. By using this fast paced digital aesthetic based in motion-graphics, coupled with split as well as multiple screens, I reference the hyper-reality created by advertising and bestowed upon brands. In my video I raise, and sometimes provoke, questions such as: What is our 'brand' as people? Are we too, objects that can and should be branded? How do we feel about that? Why do we attach ourselves so strongly to certain things or brands? Do we believe it will make us happy? Where does happiness exist for us? What does happiness mean today on a personal level and in broader terms? what brand is a moving portrait of today, whose value lies in the questions raised???prompting the viewer to reflect their significance on a personal level???and the meaning that can arise from the contemplation of their answers.

Some modern happiness economists, such as Layard and Frank, propose a policy of collectively reducing hours at work, based on the assumption that concern about status is a fundamental property of human nature. However, psychologists who subscribe to the self-determination theory (SDT) and personality studies find that the attitude of social comparison is inherently incompatible with the psychological process of happiness, and suggest that people should change their competitive attitudes. In line with these psychologists, the political philosopher Rawls and the political economist Frey argue that fair and just institutions could cultivate non-envious attitudes, which can then enhance happiness. Their policies are compatible with psychological theories, since these policies provide people psychological needs proposed by the SDT- autonomy, competence and relatedness. I therefore conclude in my psychological analysis of happiness policies in Chapter 2 that Rawls's and Frey's policy can increase happiness while Layard's policy cannot help extreme status lovers, but can help those caring about status moderately. I then test my argument empirically in Chapter 3. The results support my argument developed in Chapter 2. Moreover, there is evidence suggesting the mechanism through which Layard's policy improves happiness is not attainable for extreme status seekers: status lovers have lower quality of family life. To the contrary, the results suggest that the mechanism through which Rawls's and Frey's policy promotes happiness is plausible. Assuming that status seekers have negative marginal utility of family hours, I establish theoretical models to show the possible inefficacy of Layard's policy in Chapter 4. The model can also demonstrate that Rawls's and Frey's policy of cultivating non-envious attitude can promote happiness effectively.

The goal of this dissertation is to contribute to the new field of happiness economics which over the past several decades has substantially enhanced our understanding of cognitive judgment, human behavior, and the nature of happiness. Chapter 1 starts with a discussion of the subjective approach to measuring well-being and lays the foundation for the empirical work that follows in chapters 2 and 3. This approach has a strong appeal because ancient and modern cultures, and a long tradition in philosophy, view achieving happiness as the ultimate goal of human existence. It also recognizes that humans are the best judges of their own condition. In this first chapter, I discuss some common ambiguities related to the term happiness and outline some of the most common ways in which subjective well-being (SWB)data is measured. Next, I discuss how reliable subjective well-being data is and what are some of its strengths and weaknesses in the context of economic research. Some major insights from the growing literature on happiness economics are also provided and alternative approaches to measuring quality of life (and well-being) are suggested in the last section. One puzzle in the happiness economics literature has been that although real incomes have substantially improved over the past 40 years, happiness levels in the United States have stagnated. In chapter 2, I show that the rising level of income inequality in the United States since the 1970s can explain the stagnating happiness levels of Americans. First, using subjective well-being data from the General Social Survey, I estimate the concavity of the utility function within a neo-utilitarian framework of welfare analysis and calculate the Atkinson index of inequality. Although the estimates suggests that Americans have become increasingly more inequality-averse over time, the results suggest that the concavity of the utility function alone cannot explain the happiness patterns observed in the past several decades. Once I account for the negative external cost from economic inequality, however, the empirical analysis implies that economic growth has not been sufficient to compensate for the loss of subjective well-being associated with the rising level of inequality. This is consistent with the findings of several different surveys on subjective well-being. Finally, I evaluate the equality-efficiency trade-off in the US, and discover a small and positive trade-off. Chapter 3 considers another important policy topic in recent years -- the increasing cost of college tuition and the scrutinized value of higher education. Using subjective well-being data, I show that higher education has a large non-monetary (happiness) return that goes beyond the benefit of finding a better paid and more satisfying job. A person with a high school degree, for instance, would have to earn \$41,683 more per year to be equally as happy as somebody with a college degree that has a similar socio-economic background. This large non-monetary return is associated with better marriage, health, and parenting choices, and stronger social networks that translate into higher levels of interpersonal trust. The lion's share of this non-monetary return is earned in college while the majority of the returns from graduate school are associated with higher salary. This return varies among the different subgroups of the population. Women, for example, benefit twice as much from a college education as men, and this non-monetary return has slightly increased over time. This may explain, at least partially, the increase in demand for college education over the past 30 years, and the unprecedented rise in the price of college tuition. It is hypothesized that one way in which education works is to change the attitudes, values, and behavior of students. Higher education, for example, makes students more open-minded, tolerant, and risk-averse. Evidence in support of this hypothesis is found by estimating the coefficient of risk (and inequality) aversion. Finally, using subjective well-being data from the European Value Study, the average non-monetary return from higher education is also calculated for Europeans and compared to that in the United States. Although higher education is also found to have a positive effect on happiness in Europe, the non-monetary returns are much larger in the United States. Furthermore, contrary to the United States, the direct effect of education on happiness in Europe is substantial, while the indirect effect is negligible.

PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO
Com o advento da modernidade e da cultura de consumo, as concepções de tempo e espaço são alteradas. O espaço passa a incluir a esfera virtual e o tempo passa a ser instantâneo, de acordo com as novas tecnologias. O Estado também descentraliza seu poder, instituindo a exacerbação do individualismo. Inserido nesse contexto, o sujeito contemporâneo, desprovido de apoio político ou social, passa a se responsabilizar por sua existência e almeja realizações imediatas. Dessa forma, vem se construindo um cenário que recrimina a dor, não permite o tempo ocioso ou improdutivo, insere a lógica do imediato e exige condutas performáticas, livres e bem-sucedidas. Esse é o cenário perfeito para o desenvolvimento do imperativo da felicidade, a partir do qual slogans, clichês e fórmulas são difundidos pelos diferentes veículos midiáticos. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo investigar as concepções específicas de felicidade para um grupo de entrevistados, bem como verificar em que medida os padrões sociais contemporâneos de felicidade influenciam estas percepções. Para tanto, foi realizada uma pesquisa qualitativa, na qual foram entrevistados dez jovens residentes na cidade do Rio de Janeiro e pertencentes às camadas médias da população. A análise dos seus depoimentos revela que todos os entrevistados consideram importantes os mesmos elementos vendidos pelas fórmulas da felicidade: relacionamentos, dinheiro, trabalho, família ou um estado interior psicológico propício. Nesta pesquisa destacaram-se os seguintes depoimentos: a vontade dos sujeitos de estarem em um relacionamento amoroso e a preocupação em ganhar dinheiro. Assim, verificamos que os sujeitos não estão descolados de uma imagem socialmente propagada de felicidade pela cultura do consumo e da informação.
The advent of modernity and the consumption culture have altered the conceptions of time and space. Space ends up including the virtual environment and time becomes instantaneous in accordance with the new technologies. The State also losses its power, establishing the intensification of the individualism. Within this context, the modern person, totally lacking political or social support, starts to hold himself responsible for his existence and strives for immediate fulfillments. Thus, a scenario is being built where pain is reprimanded, where unproductive or downtime are not allowed, introducing the logic of the immediate and demanding theatrical conducts, free and successful. The perfect scenery is set for the development of the happiness imperative, through which slogans, clichés and formulas are spread by the media. This paper aims to investigate the specific conceptions of happiness for a group of interviewees, as well as to verify how the contemporary social standards of happiness influence these perceptions. In order to do so, a qualitative survey was carried out, in which ten young residents of Rio de Janeiro from the medium layers of the population. The analysis of their testimony reveals that al of the interviewees consider the same elements sold by the happiness formulas important: relationship, money, family or a favorable interior psychological state. The following testimonies stood out in this survey: the will of the subjects to be in a loving relationship and the concern with making money. Hence, it was possible to confirm that the subjects are not detached from an image of happiness socially spread by the consumption and information culture.

Subjective wellbeing — happiness — is of increasing interest to economists, including environmental economists. There are several reasons for thinking that environmental quality (EQ), defined as high levels of environmental goods and low levels of environmental ‘bads’, will be positively related to happiness. Quantitative evidence on this remains limited, however. Some papers use cross-sectional data aggregated at country level, but it is open to doubt whether these aggregated measures reflect individuals’ real EQ exposures. Other papers use individual-level data, but in general have spatial data at very coarse resolution, and consider a limited range of EQ variables, exclusively around individuals’ homes. This thesis reports two related strands of work. The first designs, implements and analyses data from two new cross-sectional surveys. It builds on earlier work by using spatial data at very high resolution, and advanced Geographical Information Systems (GIS) techniques; by simultaneously considering multiple EQ characteristics, around both homes and workplaces; and by investigating the sensitivity of results to the choice of happiness indicator. The second strand develops and implements a new methodology focused on individuals’ momentary experiences of the environment. It extends a protocol known by psychologists as the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) to incorporate satellite (GPS) location data. Using an app for participants’ own smartphones, called Mappiness, it collects a panel data set comprising millions of geo-located responses from thousands of volunteers. EQ indicators are again joined to this data set using GIS. Results of the first strand of work are mixed, but support some links between happiness and the accessibility of natural environments, providing quantitative (including monetary) estimates of their strength. The second strand demonstrates that individuals are significantly and substantially happier outdoors in natural environments than continuous urban ones. It introduces a valuable new line of evidence on this question, which has great potential for future development.

This thesis is not intended for those who regard practical problems as something to be talked about. It is not for those who believe that every question has an objective, absolute, or interpretable answer. It is not intended for the individual who knows what happiness is, in that the very definition of happiness is not to be found; at best only suggested. It is not intended solely for Eastern thought. It is not intended solely for Western thought - it is intended for both. Most importantly, this thesis attempts to exclude the esoteric language common in the philosophical discipline. Arthur Schopenhauer once said that one should use common words to say uncommon things. This thesis is intended for both the common and the uncommon reader, as is the subject - Happiness. Simply stated, this thesis is an exploration into why the contemporary notion of how one should best pursue happiness is flawed. This exploration shall encompass a vast array of subjects, many now far departed from the philosophical tradition. In by neglecting these deeper, sometimes more intimate forms of inquiry, is to waste a central resource for the study of philosophy; let alone a study on happiness. From this, I take a particular interest in culture. And, regarding America's contemporary culture, I hold, that we make a distinction between behaviors that bring true happiness and behaviors that only make you feel happy. For this reason, my thesis is as followed: The 21st century’s primary conflict is not the poverty in plenty but the unhappiness brought in the pursuit of pleasure by most. I hold that the current American model of what brings happiness is in direct contradiction to what it takes for actually being happy. In short, there is ongoing contradiction between restraint and freedom, between adversity and fulfillment, and between the individual and the whole. We pursued freedom but we now live in a world that is more monitored, and more subjected to a network of small complicated rules that strangle freedom. We pursued happiness and it leads to resentment, it leads to pathological disease, and it leads to even more unhappiness. We pursed happiness within, and forget that happiness is only real when shared. In sum, my attempt is to elucidate the themes, problems, and contradictions within today’s pursuit disclosed on the - Horizon of Happiness.

This collection of loosely interlinked short stories is a “book of imaginary beings”. It draws its influence from amaXhosa history, religion and mythology. Written in a fluid blend of isiXhosa and English, the stories make use of innovative forms and an inventive, pared-down language to create new and strange perspectives on our past, present and future. Ranging in length from brief mini-sagas to longer vignettes, the collection touches on such diverse subjects as the lore and superstitions surrounding the mythical being of tokoloshe, sorcery in the black community, and other fantastical elements of amaXhosa folklore. Literary influences include the Syrian writer Osama Olamar, whose writing about inanimate and everyday objects is both interesting and rare; Amos Tutuola, whose appropriation of Yoruba mythology I have learned much from; the Argentinian writer Julio Cortazar who has the facility to articulate the fantastical in a straightforward narrative; and Taban Lo Liyong, the Ugandan writer, whose fabulist work has served as stimulus for many of these stories.

The idea of microfinance has burst into the area of global poverty reduction. Many comments have been made about its benefits such as; it is an alternative tool for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Many studies have attempted to assess different facets of the impact of microfinance, especially trying to show its potential for greater financial inclusion and economic benefits using advanced rigorous quantitative approaches. Although some studies have evaluated this topic in the past there remains some significant gaps in the literature, including the impact of microfinance on other dimensions such as the social impact, education or environmental impact, the impact on happiness and subjective wellbeing of its clients has been hardly examined. This study aims to fill this gap by using rigorous quantitative methods with a rich qualitative dataset to assess the impact of microfinance on both economic and non-economic aspects, especially the happiness and psychological dimension. I Use primary data from a household survey and an ethnographic approach combining quantitative methods such as matching estimators, propensity score matching with nonparametric regression. The mixed methods were employed in order to evaluate the impact of the microfinance schemes on the improvement of borrowers’ wellbeing, household condition and local economic and environmental development. The most notable findings were that the borrowers from the savings group using group lending schemes utilised the loan for mainly entrepreneurial purposes and household spending, performed better than other groups of borrowers. This could be seen from the increase in household income and a high repayment rate. In addition, by observing the social impacts, it indicated that the group lending together with the ecotourism project generated and strengthened the social ties in the community. The group members also produced high positive psychological indicators compared to the non-member households. Easterlin’s paradox was revisited and found that not only was it income that affected happiness and wellbeing, but other factors seemed to have an influence on self-reported happiness. Those factors included health or health condition of family members which significantly influenced self-reported happiness in all models. Considering the impact of microfinance on happiness and wellbeing, it was found that clients of the group lending scheme can repay better and led to a higher level of self-reported happiness and subjective wellbeing. The ability to repay also affected a low level of stress or negative moods.

Happiness here is investigated by means of 12 young people from Serbia and Norway. The main instrument was interview with a short questionnaire. Happiness is in line with other studies found to be a complex human quality with a variety of meanings and numerous influences. These meanings can be divided into actual happiness (predominant positive feelings and satisfaction of life), ideal happiness (complete and lasting one), good fortune or luck, the pursuit of happiness, creation of happiness and meanings of happiness within the terms of Aristotle‟s Eudaimonia (leading a virtuous life). The influences on happiness can be broadly divided into three groups. Important external influences are state policy and living conditions, work, money, free time and mass media influences and standards of physical beauty. Interpersonal influences are relationships, whereas important intrapersonal influences on happiness seem to be personality factors, cognitive factors and personal goals. Differences between two countries are emphasized regarding the satisfaction with state policy and living conditions. Cultural effects are taken into consideration when making comparisons between the two countries. Regarding the stability in happiness, we found that happiness rather goes up and down depending on what happens in one‟s life. Regarding the effects of happiness, it seems that being happy brings numerous positive effects. We concluded that happiness can be changed (despite our relative control and responsibility) and that it is a desirable goal. When our results are confronted to the major theories of happiness, we argue that none of them (set-point theory, cognitive and affective) can by themselves explain all the variance in happiness. Critical questions were addressed to every theory of happiness. The important challenge for further research is to uncover how internal factors and events and circumstances interact (Diener, 1984). Very important is also to identify universal and cultural specific factors of happiness and to uncover how universal causes might be channelled by culture (Diener, Oishi & Lucas, 2003). One general future perspective is the methodological and theoretical sophistication. In this area there seems to be many self-help books and as the scientific studies of happiness are pretty new (they started in 1960), there is a great need for explicit scientific research. Even more so, as happiness is the bottom line of all desire, (Csikszentmihalyi, 1999) the supreme good where all the rest is means to attain it (Aristotle in Myers, 1992).

This study aims to investigate the important indicators that contribute to happiness among Beijing residence. The residents of Beijing were taken as the target population for the survey. A questionnaire was used as the main statistical instrument to collect the data from the residents in Beijing. In so doing the investigation employs Factor analyses and chi-square analyses as the main statistical tools used for the analyses in this research. The study found that Beijing residents gained greater happiness in the family, interpersonal relationships, and health status. The analysis also shows that generally, the residence of Beijing feels happier and also in terms of gender basis, females in Beijing feel happier as compare to their male counterpart. It will find that gender, age and education are statistically significant when dealing with happiness.

Happiness is essentially the degree to which you find and judge your existence as favourable, in addition to an enduring, psychological feeling of contentment. In the hedonic view, happiness is pleasant feelings and favourable judgements, while the contrasting eudaimonic view describes it as doing what is morally right, what is righteous, that will enhance growth and that is meaningful to an individual. Both these views contribute to the overall happiness of an individual. People that are pleased with their lives usually experience greater satisfaction in their jobs. This is in line with the literature as happiness is positively correlated with job satisfaction, which suggests that a happy employee will most likely result in one that is satisfied with his/her job. In addition, happiness is correlated with evidence of success in the workplace and can increase an employee’s effectiveness at work. It is, therefore, essential that organisations identify the factors which influence employee happiness in order to enhance its cultural value-offering for employees and, in turn, increase their levels of job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is essentially the degree to which a person enjoys his/her job. It is the positive emotional state resulting from the evaluation of one’s work experience. This has profitable outcomes such as improved work performance. Furthermore, people who experience satisfaction in their jobs are better ambassadors for their organisation, demonstrate greater commitment, are more engaged and perform better within the organisation than their unhappy peers. Job satisfaction can be deemed an attitude. It is therefore important to understand the dimensions of the job, which are complex and interrelated in nature, in order to understand job attitudes. Organisational culture has been shown to influence the attitude and behaviour of employees through shared values and beliefs in the organisation. It is for this reason that there is a significant need to determine the factors in organisational culture that influence employee happiness and, in turn, job satisfaction. An organisation’s employees, through their participation and commitment, can be regarded as the most important source of success for the organisation. Organisational culture can therefore, greatly influence the efficiency and effectiveness of an organisation through its employees. Moreover, the culture of an organisation has a significant influence on the commitment and satisfaction of its employees. It inspires employees not only to feel committed to the organisation but also to perform well. The correlation between organisational culture and job satisfaction have been examined by various authors in the literature. All of these authors found a positive relationship between the two concepts. These conclusions show that the culture of an organisation can actually influence an employee’s job satisfaction and therefore his/her happiness. This research investigates the cultural value-offering of General Motors South Africa (GMSA) and its alignment to the needs of its employees. Until the end of 2012, an employee needs-analysis regarding employee happiness and his/her job satisfaction, was non-existent in the organisation. Towards the end of 2012 the organisation introduced a “Workplace of Choice” survey to perform an employee needs-analysis in order to investigate if there was a difference between employee needs and the organisation’s cultural value-offering. Another “Workplace of Choice” survey followed in 2014. This, however, was performed with the staff employees only and not with the hourly employees. Many organisations neglect to analyse the workplace needs of their employees to ensure that the organisation fully understands and is able to satisfy or accommodate these needs. Understanding employee needs is crucial to an organisation’s success. It is therefore important that the organisation investigates the employee needs to be able to align them with the cultural value-offering of the organisation. The purpose of this study is to advance the current understanding of Employee Happiness in the workplace by conducting a systematic analysis of the factors in Organisational Culture that influence Employee Happiness and, in turn, their Job Satisfaction in GMSA.

This dissertation presents three papers organized around a central theme: understanding happiness from the bottom up, in the context of everyday life. The first paper asks whether, in the course of daily activities, people need to choose between two different facets of happiness: momentary happiness and life satisfaction. Results reveal a high degree of convergence: activities associated with momentary happiness are to a large extent also associated with life satisfaction (and related constructs such as feeling that one’s life is meaningful, worthwhile, and fulfilling). Activities that one might expect to be associated mainly with a satisfying life are also associated with greater momentary happiness, and activities that one might expect to be associated mainly with greater momentary happiness are also associated with greater life satisfaction. The second paper quantifies happiness in absolute terms, revealing the percentage of life that is actually “worth living.” Existing research on happiness relies on measures of happiness that have only relative meanings. In this paper, we measure happiness by leveraging a dimension of experience that does have absolute meaning: time. We collect data on the details of people’s everyday experiences, and employ a novel method to categorize episodes of time as absolutely positive or negative. We find that roughly 40% of people’s time is experienced as negative. When we offset the positive and negative utility of these episodes we find that life is a net positive, but only moderately so. The third paper examines the relationship between happiness and a particular domain of everyday experience: mind-wandering. Participants report mind wandering (i.e., engaging in task-unrelated thought) nearly half the time, but are less happy when doing so. Moreover, timelag analyses find that unhappiness tends to follow rather than precede mind-wandering, suggesting that mind-wandering causes unhappiness rather than the other way around. Interestingly, the variance in happiness explained by mind-wandering is largely non-overlapping with variance explained by people’s activities. This suggests that what people do (their activities) and think (whether and where their minds wander) may be two independent determinants of happiness.
Psychology

Thesis advisor: Richard Kearney
The pursuit of living a good and moral life has been a longstanding ideal of philosophy, an ideal that dates back to the writings of Plato, and more specifically, Aristotle. This ideal establishes that a good life as a happy and flourishing life is pursued by developing the right motives and the right character. And in order to live this life, one must, then, develop a virtuous character, i.e., be a virtuous person, who desires the good. Finally, in the pursuit of the good, one must not do so alone; rather, one should pursue the virtuous life with others, i.e., friends, because they enhance our ability to think and to act. This specific position which is taken up by Aristotelian virtue ethics, however, has recently come under scrutiny by certain studies in social psychology. Particularly, the concept of character has been discredited by empirical studies. Furthermore, the classic model of the virtuous person has assumed only persons with able-bodies. As a result of these two criticisms, Aristotelian virtue ethics has been discredited as a fantasy ethics available for only a few to achieve. The principle aim of this dissertation is to develop and defend an account of Aristotelian virtue ethics which is grounded in empirical psychology and enables people with disabilities to flourish as moral exemplars within a society. The value of virtue and character for ethical debate is imperative for human happiness within moral life. Instead of happiness being something an individual strives to acquire or feel, Aristotelian virtue ethicists have argued that true happiness is human flourishing. In other words, in order to be happy, humans should focus not just on what it is good to do, but also, and more importantly, focus on who it is good to be. To live a good life, then, it is necessary that one is a good person, or has a good character. Thus, to acquire virtues such as charity, benevolence, honesty, and generosity and to shun vices such as dishonesty, cruelty, or stinginess, is the task, Aristotelian virtue ethicists have argued, that leads to eudaimonia, i.e., human flourishing. The person who has acquired virtuous character traits, then, is the person who is most happy in life. However, the attempt to understand human happiness as a result of a virtuous character has become vulnerable to criticism from philosophical positions grounded in empirical psychology and disability theory. In light of the charge that virtue ethics is a fantasy ethics, many philosophers argue that Aristotelian virtue ethics should be abandoned because it is an ethics with little or no scientific basis. In my defense of Aristotelian virtue ethics, I first address the objection that Aristotelian virtue ethics is a "fantasy ethics" which has no grounding in empirical psychology, and thus, as a result, should not be used for moral theory. This objection has been put forth by certain "Situationist" philosophers, who cite psychological studies which demonstrate that the idea of a virtue as a "global character trait" is something that humans do not actually, or very rarely, possess. This objection to Aristotelian virtue ethics has dealt a devastating blow. In response to this objection, philosopher Nancy Snow has mounted a defense of Aristotelian virtue ethics which is grounded in empirical psychology. Snow's defense, though superficially appealing, has two intractable problems. I address the failure of her proposal in Chapter One: The Problem of Virtue as Social Intelligence. The first problem Snow faces concerns her use of CAPS as a method for virtue ethics to be used throughout life. I call this problem the longitudinality problem, which argues that Snow's proposal for the constancy of virtue for longer than a period of six weeks is overreaching. The second problem Snow faces concerns her reliance on virtue as social intelligence for the actual achievement of being virtuous in daily living. This problem turns on the empirical criteria for what makes a person capable of virtuous action and I call this problem the exclusivity problem, which excludes people with "Autism" form being virtuous. As an alternative to Snow's account, I begin my defense of Aristotelian virtue ethics by developing the following account of empirical virtue based on a narrative identity which desires and actively pursues the good in life-long striving. This moral desire is encouraged through the shared dialogue of virtuous caregiving, which enables a moral novice to flourish and grow into a moral expert. This pursuit of the good enables everyone to flourish and incorporates insights from disability, embodied cognition and social psychology. To accomplish this task, I begin with an examination of the first of two foundational components of character, i.e., the four processing levels of CAPS theory in Chapter Two: Moral Perception. Although CAPS theory provides a solid beginning for an account of virtue, it is not a sustainable theory throughout life. This theory of social-cognitive moral psychology needs to be supplemented by developmental moral psychology. CAPS theory also assumes the individual's perspective in the dynamic interaction between situation and character. It assumes a person's intentions, and this assumption of intentionality - desires, intentions, and beliefs - assumes a person's embodiment in that situation. In other words, CAPS theory assumes lived embodiment. In this chapter, I turn to the method of phenomenology used by both psychologists and philosophers of embodied cognition to account for the moral "interpretation of the situation" experienced by people with illness or impairment. As a complimentary to CAPS and the second foundational component for character, certain moral psychologists have argued for the narrative development of Event Representations for virtuous character. This development begins with the shared dialogue of the caregiver and dependent asking the dependent to recall events which have just occurred. In this practice, the caregiver's aim is to help the dependent form memories and incorporate those memories into the creation of a narrative identity. In Chapter Three: Representations of Moral Events, I extend the caring relation to this practice of shared dialogue to incorporate certain forms of intellectual disability, such as "Autism" and Alzheimer's disease. To accomplish this, I incorporate the roles of narrative and trust in order to construct the relation of dependency and interdependency as trusting co-authorship rather than reciprocal capability. After establishing the importance of the caregiver in the development of one's narrative identity, I employ the life narrative longitudinal psychological approach to moral development as a structure for the moral event representations and schemas guided by the caregiver. Finally, I argue that the co-authorship of one's life story animates one's moral desire for the good and as a result, leads to the development of interdependent virtues. In Chapter Four: Moral Self-Coherence through Personal Strivings, I examine the importance of personal strivings for a sense of lived self-coherence for character over time. My argument is that our personal strivings are unified by the life story which animates and directs those strivings throughout our lives. Although our personal strivings may be altered or deterred due to life transitions including accident, illness, and "disabling injury," they still retain a sense of unity through our overarching life story. It is this narrative which gives unity to both our psychological intentions and bodily intentions, even when they are experienced as a phenomenally lived dualism due to illness, stroke, or impairment. In order to make my argument, I examine ten case studies from medical patients. I argue that our personal strivings toward the good guide our growth of character from a moral novice to become a moral expert. In Chapter Five: Flourishing Bodies, I develop an empirically grounded model of a virtuous character which begins with interdependent virtues and eventually grows into independent virtues. To do this, I draw on the two foundational components of character: CAPS theory and event representations. From the caring relation and shared dialogue of the caregiver, an individual begins to develop basic moral schemas, tasks, and scripts. This is when the individual is a moral novice. As the novice pursues excellences in these practices, the novice grows into a moral expert according to those virtues and becomes virtuously independent. The moral expert, unlike the moral novice, executes virtuous action with ease. Having acquired skills of virtue and knowledge, the moral expert knows the right thing to do at the right time and does so with the right reasons. MacIntyre, however, acknowledged the limit of ethics and turned to politics to address specific needs for people with disabilities such as care, financial support, educational support, and political proxy. The purpose of the final chapter, The Virtue-Oriented Politics of Interdependence, is to follow MacIntyre's endeavor and to propose a virtue-oriented politics of interdependence as an initial solution. First, I examine the various forms of oppression facing people with disabilities in society. In order to address these forms of oppression for people with disabilities, I argue that a shift in the central component of a political framework is needed. Instead of focusing on distribution or recognition, one should focus on education in the broad sense. In conclusion of my dissertation, The Fragility of Virtue, I provide a perspective of our human condition that is a vulnerable one. In this final section, I discuss the role of our collective vulnerability and the fragility of human goodness with regard to illness and impairment. And that our interdependence is strengthened through the virtue of friendship. I finish with a proposal of the role of sacrifice as a way to reconcile the pursuit of a flourishing life in the face of our own fragility
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Philosophy

In recent decades, a series of studies have demonstrated that lawyers present   high suicide, alcoholism and divorce rates, even higher than those corresponding  to other professionals. Law students and lawyers are now ranking highest in all of this statistics.It’s on that basis, and considering that the search for wellness is fundamental for every person’s health, the rapporteurs expose the relation between happiness and legal education nowadays, concluding that it is necessary to reconsider the way in which Lawis taught in today’s world.
En las últimas décadas, diversos estudios han demostrado que entre los abogados se presentan tasas de suicidio, alcoholismo y divorcio más altas que entre los profesionales deotras carreras. Así, abogados y estudiantes de Derecho han pasado a ocupar los primeros lugares en mediciones que relacionan el nivel de felicidad con el ejercicio de la profesión.Partiendo de ello, y de la premisa que la búsqueda del bienestar es fundamental para la salud de toda persona, los ponentes exponen la relación entre la felicidad y la educación legal hoy en día, concluyéndose que es necesario replantear la forma en la que se enseña Derecho en el mundo de hoy.

publisher version
From Introduction: Are the people in Africa really among the least happy in the world? And if African countries do have a ‘happiness deficit’, what are the prospects of Africa achieving happiness in the near future? These are questions we shall try to address in this chapter. The World Happiness Report (WHR), published since 2012, has found that happiness is less evident in Africa than in other regions of the world. It reports Gallup World Poll (GWP) ratings of happiness, measured on the ‘ladder of life’, a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 indicating greatest happiness. On the map of the Geography of Happiness, published in an earlier World Happiness Report Update 2015, the happiest countries in the world are shaded green, the unhappiest red. Africa stands out as the unhappiest continent, being coloured almost entirely in shades of glaring red (See Fig. 4.1). In 2017, the WHR reports that average ladder scores for over four in five African countries are below the mid-point of the scale (see Fig. 4.2). And only two African countries have made significant gains in happiness over the past decade . There are also considerable inequalities in life evaluations in African countries, and this inequality in happiness has increased over the past years . In this chapter, we shall tentatively seek a number of explanations for the unhappiness on the African continent, which is home to about 16% of the world’s population. It will be no easy task to identify factors that may have shaped perceptions of well-being among the 1.2 billion African people who live in 54 nation states with different historical, cultural, and socio-economic backgrounds. Nonetheless, we shall attempt to describe some of the positive and negative experiences in the lives of people in African countries that likely impact on personal well-being. We shall also try to identify the prospects for change and development that could spell hope for increasing the happiness of African people in future.

Il Capitolo 1 focalizza l’attenzione sulla relazione tra tempo libero relazionale e soddisfazione di vita dichiarata. Nella letteratura empirica sul benessere soggettivo, è generalmente riconosciuto che il tempo libero dedicato ad interazioni sociali è correlato positivamente con la soddisfazione di vita riportata per mezzo di interviste. L’analisi tenta di definire se l’associazione tra le due variabili sia di tipo causale. A questo scopo viene condotta un’analisi empirica sul German Socio Economic Panel (GSOEP) 1984 - 2007. La disponibilità di osservazioni individuali ripetute nel tempo consente l’uso di un modello lineare ad effetti fissi che corregge per le variabili omesse persistenti nel tempo, come i tratti della personalità di un individuo. Il modello non corregge però per variabili omesse mutabili nel tempo. Si ricorre quindi ad una stima strumentata del tempo dedicato alle attività sociali. La tecnica di strumentazione si basa sulla variazione del tempo relazionale a seguito del pensionamento. Dato che lo status di pensionamento individuale ha un’influenza diretta sul livello di benessere soggettivo, la variabile strumentale adottata è la proporzione di persone in pensione per anno e per macro regione tedesca (Germania Est/Ovest). Nella regressione del primo stadio si evidenzia come l'impatto della proporzione di pensionati sul tempo devoluto alle attività sociali sia significativamente differente tra donne e uomini. Sfruttando tale eterogeneità, siamo in grado di strumentare con successo la variabile di interesse. L’analisi riesce dunque a dimostrare che il tempo libero dedicato alle interazioni sociali ha un effetto causale positivo sulla soddisfazione di vita. L’evidenza empirica di tale nesso di causalità può avere importanti implicazioni sulle politiche sociali. Il Capitolo 2 affronta il tema della soddisfazione di vita riportata dagli immigrati e dell’impatto delle relazioni diplomatiche tra il paese d’origine e d’approdo. L’analisi tenta quindi di stimare il valore di buone relazioni bilaterali. L’analisi utilizza un indice che misura il grado di cooperazione e conflitto nei rapporti tra Stati. L’indice è stato ideato da studiosi di Relazioni Internazionali per l’analisi quantitativa degli eventi internazionali. Esso è costruito come somma di eventi occorsi tra Stati, pesati in base al grado di cooperazione/conflitto attribuito da un panel di esperti. Nella nostra analisi, l’indice d’intensità delle relazioni bilaterali è associato agli immigrati intervistati nel GSOEP. L’indice ha una variabilità sia temporale che tra individui. Ciò permette di condurre un’analisi econometrica che sfrutta i vantaggi di un dataset longitudinale controllando per gli effetti fissi individuali. L’analisi empirica porta ad affermare che buone relazioni bilaterali sono significativamente correlate con la soddisfazione di vita degli immigrati, specialmente nel caso di eventi frequenti. Tale correlazione è maggiormente rilevante per gli immigrati che si trovando da più tempo in Germania e che hanno intenzione di rimanervi. Questo risultato conferma quanto già affermato in letteratura, ossia, che le relazioni tra Stati influenzano direttamente la qualità di vita degli immigrati nel paese di destinazione, ma non depongono a favore del processo d’integrazione. Usando, infine, il calcolo della variazione compensativa applicata all’indice delle relazioni tra Stati se ne monetarizza l’effetto. In conclusione, l’analisi giunge ad attribuire un valore significativo alla diplomazia: buone relazioni tra il paese d’origine e di destinazione hanno importanti esternalità positive per coloro che abitano all’estero. Il Capitolo 3 si incentra, invece, sulla relazione, fin qui poco esplorata, tra soddisfazione di vita e figli. Nella fiorente letteratura empirica sulle determinanti della soddisfazione di vita si tiene conto del numero di bambini presenti nell’unità famigliare tra le variabile esplicative standard assieme al reddito familiare disponibile (spesso non corretto per la dimensione familiare). L’impatto sulla soddisfazione di vita di tale variabile risulta associare sia il beneficio di un effetto relazionale sia il costo in termini monetari e di tempo dei figli. Nella letteratura sulla soddisfazione di vita si trova, infatti, che il coefficiente per i figli non è significativo, o è addirittura negativo. Nel lavoro qui presentato si cerca di discriminare l’effetto monetario dei figli da quello non monetario, attraverso l’utilizzo delle comuni scale di equivalenza per il reddito familiare. L’analisi empirica da noi condotta è basata su cittadini tedeschi intervistati dal GSOEP negli anni 1984 - 2007. Si dimostra, dunque, che, adottando delle elasticità di scale sempre maggiori, ossia assumendo minime, se non nulle, economie di scala nella formazione del nucleo familiare, l’impatto del numero di bambini sulla soddisfazione di vita divenga positivo. Viene anche rifiutata l’ipotesi di omogeneità dei coefficienti date le notevoli differenze nell’impatto dei figli conviventi sull’individuo a seconda del genere e della località geografica d’origine (Germania Est/Ovest). Si conclude che l’effetto non pecuniario dei figli sia maggiore per gli uomini, gli individui con un reddito familiare inferiore o uguale alla mediana, e soprattutto per i cittadini dell’Est. I risultati ottenuti nei sottogruppi possono essere imputati, secondo la nostra interpretazione a differenti costi opportunità e norme socio-culturali.
Chapter 1 focuses on the relation between social leisure and subjective well-being. In the empirical literature it is generally found that social leisure is positively correlated with life satisfaction. We ask if this association captures a genuine causal effect of the consumption of a social leisure time index on subjective well-being by using panel data from the German Socio Economic Panel (GSOEP) 1984 - 2007. The availability of multiple observations per individual allows us to use the fixed effect estimation technique which takes care of time invariant personal traits and omitted variables. This strategy of estimation solves only a part of the endogeneity issues which bias our coefficient for social leisure. We then adopt an Instrumental-Variables estimation. Our identification strategy exploits the change in social leisure brought about by retirement. However, individual retirement directly influences subjective well-being. Therefore, we instrument social leisure with the ratio of retired people in the sample by year and geographic location. Our results show a gendered difference in the impact of this ratio on social life. Exploiting the gender heterogeneity brings us to a successful instrumentation of social leisure. We can therefore conclude that social leisure has a positive causal effect on life satisfaction. Chapter 2 addresses the issue of subjective well-being of migrants and diplomatic relation. In particular, the paper represents an attempt to establish the value of good relationships between countries by considering their effects on a group of individuals who are arguably intimately affected by them: immigrants. We appeal to an index of conflict/cooperation constructed by experts in International Relations Sciences and currently used to carry out quantitative analysis on events data. Such index is an annual weighted sum of news items occurring between countries according to their content of conflict and cooperation, as established by a panel of experts in the field. This index is matched to a sample of immigrants in Germany who belong to the GSOEP data. The index of bilateral relations thus exhibits both time-series and cross-section variation and allows us to use a linear fixed effect estimation method. We find that good relations are positively and significantly correlated with immigrant life satisfaction, especially when we downplay low-value news events. This significant effect is much stronger for immigrants who have been in Germany longer, and who expect to stay there forever. This is consistent with good relations directly affecting the quality of immigrants’ lives in the host country, but is not consistent with assimilation. In order to evaluate the economic significance of our finding we finally compute the compensating surplus of the index of international relations. There is thus a significant value to diplomacy: good relationships between home and host countries generate significant well-being externalities for those who live abroad. Chapter 3 addresses the issue not enough explored by the happiness literature of the relation between children and life satisfaction. Indeed, the empirical analyses on the determinants of life satisfaction often include the number of children living in the household in the standard set of socio demographic explanatory variables together with household disposable income (often not corrected for household size). In this way, the estimation of the children’s coefficient does not fully discriminate between the monetary and non-monetary impact of children in the household. In our paper, we compare results obtained by correcting income for different equivalence scales. Indeed, equivalence scales are intended to measure the variation in income needed to bring households of different compositions to the same welfare level. The main arguments revolve around economies of scale in household formation. Our empirical analysis is based on the West and East subsamples of the GSOEP 1984 – 2007. We find that when economies of scale are assumed to be perfects (i.e. the household size and composition does not reduce the fruition of available income) children living in the household affect negatively the life satisfaction of adults. Adopting less perfect economies of scale in the household brings the children’s coefficient to shift from negative to positive and significant. We further reject slope homogeneity as we find strong differences between gender and regions of the impact of children living in the household. We show that the positive “non pecuniary” effect of children is stronger for men, below or equal to median income households and, most of all, for East Germans. We interpret these subsample split results as driven by heterogeneous opportunity costs and cultural traits.

In this thesis it was intended to deepen the literature of the Economics of Happiness, in three different directions. As a conductive line, it was attempted to better explore the multidisciplinary character of the happiness concept, while remaining grounded on economic methodologies. The first chapter presents the insertion of the Economics of Happiness in the broad history of economic thought, emphasizing the original contaminations and the reasons of the early detachment between economics and psychology, while highlighting the happiness’ multidisciplinary essence, and its methodological specificities. In the sequence, some findings and theories from different disciplines were then introduced in the following chapters, either as part of their starting hypothesis or to help interpret their findings. Chapter 2 investigates the causes of a possible happiness differential between men and women, worldwide. Based on the fact that women have passed through historically landmark changes, shaping new original gender roles, it was intended to approach this question with an encompassing view, also borrowing concepts from the Capabilities Approach of Martha Nussbaum and Amartya Sen. The empirical strategy was performed using data from the World Values Survey (WVS), European Values Studies (EVS), CIRI Human Rights and the World Development Indicators (WDI), which combined together contemplate 20 years spanning from 1981 to 2009 and across 85 countries. The first finding is that there exist a happiness gender gap, and it favours women. The main message from this study, in a nutshell, is that important female rights and achievements are not automatically guarantees of happiness, but only when accompanied by conducive internal and external conditions, such as female’s feeling of control over own life and pro-women social beliefs guiding the social norm. These complementary conditions are really important to be considered for public policies, since if they do not materialize, true and meaningfully perceived gender equality will not be attained, regardless the proclaimed formal rights and achievements. Chapter 3 in its turn revisits the field “established” finding regarding the impact of unemployment compared to that of inflation in terms of subjective well-being. The universal character of this question is analysed for the case of developing countries. The main hypothesis conducting this study is that the impact of inflation is stronger than that of unemployment, differently from what has been found in the previous literature, focused on developed nations. The reasoning for this idea comes from the fact that developed and developing countries experience very different socio-economic and development paths that can influence the perception of these two relevant macroeconomic conditions and the corresponding coping strategies (also with respect to experiences and social remedies for inflationary and jobless periods). Using the WVS, EVS, WDI, Schneider’s (2005) and Dreher’s (2006) data, across 55 developing countries and 15 years (from 1990 to 2008), it is performed an empirical two-step methodology, which takes into account either individual characteristics (including individual personality traits – affirmed findings in Psychology) and country level characteristics (including two macroeconomic indicators intrinsic of developing countries, i.e. the presence and size of the informal market as well as the existence of foreign debt with the IMF). Three are the main results of practical importance for public policies. The most stable result is the strongly and significant negative effect of inflation and the non significant negative effect of aggregate unemployment on well-being. This inverted trade-off was strengthened and confirmed by robustness tests. An adaptation effect of inflation in high-inflationary periods emerges from a non-linearity investigation of inflation (which can be said to exemplify the framing and set point effects postulated by the Prospect Theory). This work also provides evidence, for the first time on the happiness literature, of an austerity negative effect of the IMF intervention. All in all, this thesis contributes to the economics of happiness research agenda calling the attention to the country-divergent nature of the happiness’ appreciation, especially for what regards the developing and developed worlds, as well as to the importance of taking into account the multidisciplinary essence of happiness. Both elements can evidence collective and individual subjective dynamics usually hidden but present in the economic and social process.

Happiness has recently gained interest as an influential variable in managing the employment relationship, as studies have suggested benefits for productivity and performance. Knowledge on workplace happiness is, however, still relatively limited and more understanding is needed on employee perceptions and benefits of and expectations for happiness, as well as happiness responsibility. Qualitative approaches can provide new information on such a highly subjective and complex phenomenon as happiness, which has mainly been addressed with quantitative methods. 24 young professionals from various fields, based in Edinburgh, took part in this study. They were requested to take photos when experiencing work-­‐ related happiness during a two-­‐week period. Afterwards they were asked to talk through their photos. Narratives were supported by semi-­‐structured interviews. Data was analysed using thematic inductive coding, leaning on the framework from Fisher (2010), psychological contract (Rousseau, 1989) and interactionist perspective (Ahuvia et al., 2015). Collected data revealed insights into workplace happiness expectations, enablers, responsibility and happiness concepts. Participants emphasised the importance of workplace happiness and expectations to be happy at work. Happiness was seen to improve performance and social behaviour, but there was also a pressure to be happy at work. The five main happiness enablers were: having sense of control, work going well, doing something that matters, physical environment and working with friends. Participants highlighted their responsibility for their own happiness at work, however, shared responsibility was also proposed. The results suggest that young professionals want to be happy at work. If they are not, they are likely to leave. The happiness requirement is mainly based on expectations on authenticity, work-­‐life integration and being a good employee. The findings suggest that listening to the employees and enhancing conversations is the key in creating happier workplaces. This study also shows how happiness is better elucidated through empirical narratives than through intellectual abstractions and definitions. Theoretical contributions include four pathways into happiness responsibility, clarifying and reasoning the importance of the five main happiness enablers and providing suggestions to existing happiness models. On the practical side, this study contributes to the gaps of knowledge from the employees' point of view based on lived-­‐experiences. It deepens understanding of employee happiness, providing vital information for the HR/management personnel, policy makers and academics about the values and expectations of young professionals. Furthermore, it supplies new insights into elucidating employee happiness, by explaining the advantages and challenges of using narrative methods and visual data.

The aim of this study was to investigate man's attunement when happy. Having established a question which would elicit actual experiences of this phenomenon, the researcher collected sixty-four written accounts of the experience. Of these he chose the twelve psychologically richest accounts and, having interviewed each of these twelve subjects to push their written descriptions to their limits, he analysed the resulting protocols using an empirical phenomenological method. The general structure of the experience of happiness suggested that happiness emerged as a special openness against a background where individuals were less than happy. During happiness there is a breaking through the bonds of the individual's mundane, everyday disclosure of the world. It transports the individual to an existence in which the ruptures which form part of man's lived relationships to himself, to his fellowman, to the world and to life itself are healed, and in which life is lived in increased harmony with all. There is a coming home to the self, a move toward wholeness which is enlivened bodily by a radiating vibrancy (often a tingling lightness and brightness), as the individual expands with energy, power, self-confidence and mastery, and rises above the troubles of life. This structure of happiness was dialogued with the writing of existential philosophers and psychologists, psychoanalysts and humanists

Depression is one of the most prevalent disorders and one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. Regarding economic implications, depressive disorders have also a large impact on health budgets through both direct and indirect costs. Studies on their clinical course have shown that they often become chronic, a phenomenon related to their high recurrence rates. In addition, it is usual to find other disorders co-occurring with depression. Such comorbidities not only increase its severity, but also decrease response to treatment, and produce further impairment in individuals’ life. A physical disease highly prevalent among people with depressive disorders is fibromyalgia syndrome, a comorbidity that has already been shown to produce a significant impact in daily functioning and wellbeing, and to decrease response to treatment. The main objective of this thesis was to advance the knowledge on the relationship between depression and self-reported happiness, analysing how several clinical conditions, and the cognitive system involved in the construction of self and others, influenced such relationship. Furthermore, we also tested whether psychotherapy was capable of increasing happiness in individuals with depression. To pursue these objectives, two interrelated studies were conducted. The first study (cross-sectional) gauged the relationship between depression and happiness by comparing a non-clinical sample with 81 participants, a sample of 91 patients with depression, and a sample of 61 with depression plus fibromyalgia syndrome. In the second study (a randomised controlled trial), we analysed how happiness evolved with psychotherapy, comparing two different therapeutic approaches (cognitive-behavioural therapy, and dilemma- focused therapy) delivered to 97 participants. Results showed that participants with depression were significantly less happy than those in the non-clinical sample, whereas suffering fibromyalgia syndrome comorbid to depression did not have a further detrimental effect. After psychotherapy, large increases in happiness were found among people with depression, regardless their gender, age, civil status, education, labour status, current use of psychotropic medication, and the treatment modality they received. Experiencing cognitive conflicts had a slightly detrimental influence on happiness which, in addition, was negatively correlated with depression severity and psychological distress, and positively with global functioning. Negative self-evaluation and perceived self-isolation showed also a significant association with happiness among participants with depression, whereas having a negative view of others was relevant only for individuals suffering both depression and fibromyalgia syndrome. In turn, only among participants in the non- clinical group, higher levels of happiness were associated with more polarised and unidimensional thinking, and a weak relationship was also observed between the level of happiness attributed to their parents and their own. In general, participants construed being happy as similar to being cheerful, good, and hard-working, and at the same time very different to being sad, bad, and embittered. We also observed a tendency in all participants to construe disliked persons as not happy, while individuals with depression construed themselves similarly as not happy. Finally, increases in happiness with therapy were associated with higher resolution of cognitive conflicts, with more unidimensional thinking, and with improvements in depression severity, psychological distress, global functioning, negative self-evaluation, and perceived self-isolation. To our knowledge, this thesis constitutes the first study analysing happiness in depressive disorders from a constructivist perspective, which pays especial attention to individuals’ identity and personal meanings. In addition, our results contribute to estimate the effect of psychotherapy for depression in happiness, for which previous data was scarce. Overall, with this thesis we provide evidence for the role of several clinical and cognitive indicators in the experience of happiness, such as psychological distress or interpersonal construct differentiation, and highlight happiness as a relevant focus of work that may be incorporated to the treatment of depression.
La depressió és un dels trastorns més prevalents i una de les principals causes de discapacitat a nivell mundial. Pel que fa a les seves implicacions econòmiques, els trastorns depressius també tenen un important impacte en els pressupostos sanitaris a través tant de costos directes com indirectes. Estudis previs sobre el seu curs clínic han mostrat que sovint aquests trastorns es cronifiquen, fenomen relacionat amb la seva elevada recurrència. A més a més, és comú trobar altres trastorns que es presenten de forma conjunta amb la depressió. Una malaltia física altament prevalent entre les persones amb depressió és la fibromiàlgia, comorbiditat que ja ha demostrat tenir un impacte significatiu en el funcionament i el benestar. L’objectiu principal d’aquesta tesi era el d’avançar el coneixement sobre la relació entre la depressió i la felicitat autoinformada, així com comprovar si la psicoteràpia era capaç d’augmentar la felicitat de les persones amb depressió. Per assolir aquests objectius, vam dur a terme dos estudis interrelacionats. El primer (transversal) va mesurar la relació entre depressió i felicitat a través de comparar una mostra no clínica, una mostra de pacients amb depressió, i una altra de pacients amb depressió i fibromiàlgia. El segon estudi (assaig controlat aleatoritzat) va analitzar com la felicitat evolucionava amb la psicoteràpia, comparant dues modalitats. Els resultats van mostrar que els participants amb depressió eren significativament menys feliços que els de la mostra no clínica, mentre que patir fibromiàlgia comòrbida a la depressió no produïa un efecte perjudicial addicional. Després de la psicoteràpia, es van trobar grans augments en la felicitat de les persones amb depressió, independentment del seu gènere, edat, estat civil, nivell educatiu, situació laboral, ús actual de medicació psicotròpica, i modalitat de tractament rebuda. Aquesta tesi constitueix, pel que sabem, el primer estudi que analitza la felicitat en trastorns depressius des d’una perspectiva constructivista, la qual para especial atenció a la identitat i els significats personals de les persones. En general, els resultats presenten la felicitat com un focus de teràpia important i útil que pot ser incorporat al tractament de la depressió.

Esta tesis estudia los determinantes del bienestar subjetivo (SWB) infantil y el efecto de las políticas educativas sobre SWB. La tesis se compone de tres capítulos que investigan el impacto de la violencia escolar, la tutoría privada (PT) y las reformas de los derechos de los estudiantes a SWB. El primer capítulo investiga el efecto de la violencia escolar, en términos de victimización directa e indirecta entre pares, en el SWB de los estudiantes de primaria. Utilizando la estimación de efectos fijos (FE) y variables instrumentales (IV) en datos longitudinales de estudiantes de primaria, identifico el impacto causal directo de la violencia escolar en los indicadores de SWB. También exploto la política escolar de Corea para identificar la relación causal entre la violencia escolar indirecta y SWB. Resultados sugieren que el estado de víctima tiene un efecto perjudicial en SWB sobre vida, SWB emocional, agresión y satisfacción de los compañeros. La violencia indirecta tiene un efecto negativo sobre la satisfacción con la vida, la ideación suicida, la agresión, la satisfacción de los compañeros y la confianza interpersonal para SWB después de 5 años. Resultados sugieren la necesidad de más inversiones para prevenir la violencia relacional; medidas de protección oportunas y efectivas para proteger a las víctimas; permitir a los espectadores contrarrestar la violencia; programas para mejorar la calidad de la relación interpersonal; y, más datos sobre la relación entre pares y SWB de adultos. El segundo capítulo se centra en la tutoría privada (PT) que causa una carga financiera y psicológica considerable en los estudiantes. Uso estimación de FE para controlar la endogeneidad de PT. Resultados sugieren que PT tiene un efecto negativo en el WB emocional. PT entre pares tiene un efecto negativo en la satisfacción escolar. Resultados también sugieren que PT no conduce a un aumento en el rendimiento académico, pero se asocia positivamente con la diferencia entre el consumo individual de PT y el de los pares. Esa diferencia en PT también tiene un impacto negativo y significativo en el WB emocional. Resultados sugieren que las políticas deberían considerar los beneficios adicionales de reducir la carga de PT, así como la necesidad de una reforma más fundamental en el sistema educativo que cambie los beneficios de la competencia académica, datos que capturen el aspecto de pares en más profundidad y SWB de los adultos. El tercer capítulo investiga el impacto de las reformas que prohíben el castigo corporal (CP) en las escuelas que se promulgaron en algunas partes de las regiones de Corea entre 2009 y 2016. Utilizando el método de estimación de diferencias en diferencias con datos administrativos a nivel escolar y datos longitudinales a nivel individual, calculo el efecto de prohibir el CP en resultados de los estudiantes, tales como el rendimiento académico, la salud mental, la violencia escolar, SWB con respecto a la escuela, los compañeros y maestros y uso del tiempo. Se encuentra que el efecto de las reformas tiene un efecto más fuerte en las cohortes más jóvenes. También encuentro que el efecto positivo tarda varios años en surtir efecto. Las reformas tienen un efecto positivo menor en las niñas y un efecto positivo pero menor en las escuelas privadas que en las públicas. Resultados sugieren que se debe tener en cuenta el lapso de tiempo cuando evaluamos estas reformas. La información como el cumplimiento de las reformas a nivel escolar, el SWB medido en la edad adulta o los datos comparables a nivel regional sobre estudiantes de grupos vulnerables contribuirán a una estimación precisa del efecto de las reformas.
This thesis studies determinants of children’s subjective well-being (SWB) and effect of education policies on SWB. The thesis is composed of three chapters which investigate impact of school violence, private tutoring (PT) and student rights reforms on SWB of students. The first chapter investigated the effect of school violence, in terms of direct and indirect victimization among peers, on elementary students' SWB. I analyze. Using fixed effects (FE) and instrumental variables (IV) estimation on individual-level longitudinal data of elementary 4th grade students, I identify direct causal impact of school violence on indicators of SWB. I also exploit Korea’s school equalization policy to identify causal relationship between indirect school violence and SWB. Results suggest that victim status has detrimental effect on life satisfaction with life, emotional SWB, aggression, and peer satisfaction. Indirect violence has negative effect on life satisfaction, suicidal ideation, aggression, peer satisfaction and interpersonal trust for SWB after 5 years. The results suggest the need for more investment on preventing relational violence; timely and effective protective measures to protect victims; enabling bystanders to counteract violence ; programs to improve quality of interpersonal relationship; and, more data on peer relationship and adult SWB outcomes. Second chapter focuses on private tutoring (PT) which causes considerable financial and psychological burden on students. FE estimation is used to control for potential endogeneity of PT. I also estimate consumption of PT of peer and difference between peer’s and own PT on WB. Results suggest that PT has negative effect on individual's emotional WB. Increase of PT among peers has negative effect on satisfaction with school. Results also suggest that increasing PT does not lead to rise in ranking of exam scores among school mates but it is positively associated with difference between individual's consumption of PT and peer’s consumption of PT. Such difference in PT also has negative and significant impact on emotional WB. Results suggest that policies should consider additional benefits of reducing burden of PT, as well as the need for more fundamental reform in education system that changes payoffs from academic competition, better data that capture peer effect aspect of PT in more depth and link adult outcomes. Third chapter investigates the impact of reforms which prohibit corporal punishment in schools that were enacted in some parts of regions in Korea from 2009-2016. Using difference-in-differences estimation method with school-level administrative data and individual level longitudinal data, I estimate effect of banning corporal punishment on students' outcomes such as academic performance, mental health, school violence, SWB with regard to school, peer and teachers, and time usage. The effect of the reforms are found to have stronger effect on younger cohorts. I also find that positive effect takes several years to take effect. Reforms have smaller positive effect on girls, and has positive but smaller effect on private schools than public schools. The results suggest that time lag should be taken into consideration when we evaluate these reforms. Information such as school level compliance to reforms, SWB measured in adulthood, or regionally comparable data on student from vulnerable groups will contribute to more accurate estimation of the effect of reforms.

In this thesis, I argue for the position that happiness is a communal concept in Plato's Republic. By a communal concept, I mean that one must act for the sake of one's community in order to be happy. I make this argument by contending that justice, a notion which involves the consideration of others, is the key to making an individual happy. I argue that Plato has both an altruistic and egoistic concept of justice, and that the interplay between these two concepts of justice constitutes Plato's concept of happiness in the Republic. What results is a kind of happiness which is associated with internal goods, such as having a well-balanced soul, as opposed to the idea of happiness being related to the acquisition of external goods like wealth.

The central question of my thesis is how different positive emotions affect inhibition. Katzir, Eyal, Meiran, and Kessler (2010) addressed this question using an antisaccade task and found that happiness decreased inhibition compared to pride, which they attribute to the links between pride and long-term goals and happiness and short-term goals. I attempted to generalize their results to a color-naming Stroop task and predicted that their results would not generalize because their study had little supporting research and their method had several limitations. I tested 45 students of the Claremont Colleges and found partial support for Katzir et al. Participants in the pride condition showed better inhibitory function than participants in the neutral condition, but I was unable to find differences in inhibitory function between participants in the pride and happiness or happiness and neutral conditions. The results suggest that pride improved inhibitory function compared to neutral emotion, but happiness had no effect. I conclude that further research is needed to confirm the supposed distinction between pride and happiness, the strength of the links between happiness, pride, and different goals, and the motivational role of emotion in inhibition.

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Economics from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics
Nowadays many social scientists defend the advantages to define a measure of well being able to complement the GDP per capita. This work project proposes a new index of human development: the happiness index. Many studies have been undertaken in order to determine the best measurement of happiness. Happiness is much more than just feeling good, it is also living and doing well. Thus, in order to create a measure of happiness, it is required to evaluate all factors that intervene and, on the other hand, to consider the best practices, combining growth, environmental sustainability and efficiency. The estimation was made based on data for 83 countries, and then applied to 130 countries in the period 1997-2005. Countries with the highest GDP per capita or Human Development Index are not the ones with the higher happiness index.

This study investigated the knowledge, motivation, and organizational elements necessary for understanding the implications of happiness on performance in the workplace. Using the Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis, a set of knowledge, motivation, and organizational assumed influences were documented based on the support of literature and generated hypotheses. Subsequently, data was collected through interviews and surveys and triangulated via observations. A subset of the assumed influences were validated based on collected data, indicating that while happiness is not a clear indicator of performance, it does have a direct correlation with an individual’s desire to go above and beyond expected responsibilities, particularly as it relates to embedding creativity in assignments.

Happiness, or the concept of well-being can be traced back to the era of Aristotle (384 to 322 BC), Epicuruss (341 to 270 BC), John Locke (1632 to 1704) and more recently Ed Diener (DOB 1946), who played an integral part in the well-being revolution. People have very different ways in seeking happiness, whether it is closely associated to their personal life, the work environment or in society, they are constantly striving towards a goal of experiencing happiness at its purist form. Bursts of absolute joy and the purist form of immediate gratification cannot provide a path to finding happiness and well-being. The process is intricate and requires a variety of variables integrated into a combination of events and lifestyle experiences to culminate into an existence which produces a feeling of inner peace and fulfillment. Current research suggests that this is not an attainable state of existence, but human nature drives every individual to seek out a path to finding true happiness. The advent of the modern day economic crisis has changed the global environment to the extent where society is attempting to find a new norm to operate in. As a consequence, individuals are presented with new challenges which have forced them to re-evaluate their path to finding a balance in their lives. These changes have added new challenges to deal with and adapt to as new forces in the global environment start to shape a new tomorrow. People spend a large portion of their existence working to earn an income and to provide a means of supporting themselves and their dependents. The challenges they face are enhanced by the strains of working in stressful and pressurised working environments as their employers are also adapting to the changing global environment. Economic pressure is passed on to employees, as they are pushed to achieve the financial results demanded by shareholders. The last ten years has seen a wealth of research being conducted in the space of well-being and how it relates to business has gained popularity. The study of epidemiology refers to the study of components of human behaviour, which have a negative impact on individual functioning, like stress and anxiety disorders. Well-being in the workplace can counter these ailments and create a working environment absent of these negative afflictions which damage the productivity of a workforce. Employers who understand the positive aspects associated with well-being are in a position to effectively deploy their employees to produce improved financial results. The starting point for many organisations is to determine the current level of happiness in their businesses and to establish what variables are responsible for the current state of well-being. The main objective of the empirical study was to determine the level of happiness at a financial institution. The target population (354 potential respondents) is the regional office the financial institution based in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Potential respondents received electronic requests by email, requesting their participation in the study. A total of 164 completed questionnaires were returned (46.33%) and analysed. Literature was reviewed to develop a conceptual model. Seven variables were identified as having an influence on employee happiness and have the potential to change employee well-being levels to aid organisations in their quest to adapt to the prevailing economic conditions and stress people have to deal with on a daily basis. The results from the study show that Work-life, Safety and Security, Growth and Development, Health, Recognition and Reward, Autonomy and Social Connectedness are all closely associate with employee well-being. Safety and security, Autonomy and Recognition and Reward have direct positive associations with the concept of well-being and have a significant relationship and potential to enhance well-being. The end result is that with the correct interventions by an employer, well-being can be measured and applied in the working environment. The correct combination of variables can have a positive impact in the work environment. A happy workforce can be an advantage to an organisation, their interventions can add great value to employees by increasing their commitment to the organisation and ultimately the business can benefit from their Interventions by seeing their efforts being realised in their financial results.

Several studies indicate that married persons have higher levels of happiness that persons in other marital categories. In recent years, there has been some debate over whether marriage still involves significant advantages. In 1988, a study by Glenn and Weaver using U.S. national survey data, indicated that there had been a steady decline in the positive relationship between marriage and reported happiness from 1972 through 1986: married females were reporting lower levels of happiness and never-married males were reporting higher levels of happiness. More recent data presented in this thesis indicate that the trends in happiness observed by Glenn and Weaver (1988) have not continued. New data from 1987 through 1996 show an increase in the happiness of both married males and females, and a slight decrease in the happiness of never-married males. Data also indicate that neither life satisfaction, or socioeconomic factors, or cohabitation can explain the relative increase in the happiness of the never-married, compared to the married, observed by Glenn and Weaver (1988) from 1972 through 1986. Contrary to Glenn and Weaver (1988), evidence presented in this thesis suggests that marriage continues to be an important institution: married persons continue to have significantly higher levels of happiness than persons in other marital categories. Further, marriage provides persons with benefits that cannot be obtained from other living arrangements such as cohabitation.
Master of Science

This thesis investigates attitudes to happiness in the early modern period and literary representations of positive emotion. It is situated methodologically at the nexus of a number of interconnected approaches. Against a background of body studies and Freudian psychology, it engages with current research in the history of the emotions and work being done in the field of positive psychology. The insights provided by positive psychology into the power of positive emotions, such as optimism, resilience and emotional intelligence, open up a way to access the originality of Shakespeare’s understanding of the emotions and their power in people’s lives. An interdisciplinary approach provides a methodology that can incorporate analysis of imaginative and non-fiction texts with research into the historical, cultural, religious and political influences that shaped how people might have thought and felt about happiness. It considers the extent to which people could be happy in the context of religious beliefs that emphasised the fallen nature of man. As a result of increasing political absolutism and the failure of political theory to provide for societal or personal happiness, people engaged in a process of myth making. They imagined utopian societies, and they imposed their beliefs in the possibility of discovering a lost paradise on the new worlds they discovered in the Americas. More realistically, they accommodated themselves to the conditions of their lives by searching for happiness through forming meaningful personal relationships. Ethical theories about happiness formulated by Aristotle in The Nicomachean Ethics were influential, but came into conflict with theology, especially Augustine’s emphasis on original sin. Aquinas attempted to reconcile philosophy with theology, offering hope that a limited form of happiness might be found in this life. Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas were formative influences on the ways in which Shakespeare dramatizes the search for happiness in his comedies, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It and Twelfth Night. He reflects the influence of Aristotle in his representation and evaluation of different types of happiness in the comedies. He also creates fallen political and religious worlds in which his characters must grapple with adversity. Aristotle believed that happiness was dependent on living in a benign political state. Living in fallen worlds, some of Shakespeare’s characters demonstrate an aspect of happiness that Aristotle did not address, that it is a condition that can be achieved through adversity.

This thesis empirically examines the relationship between housing and happiness, and in particular, how this relationship is affected by adaptation and social status. Standard economic theory assumes housing preferences are constructed independently of past experience and social context. Using fixed effect regressions on the British Household Panel Study (BHPS) and the German Socio Economic Panel Study (GSOEP), this thesis challenges this assumption. Chapter 2 outlines why happiness is important. Chapter 3 traces the role of happiness in economics over time, showing the limitations of choice behaviour as a measure of happiness. Chapter 4 advances an alternative way of measuring happiness adopted in this thesis; subjective judgements. Chapter 5 reviews the literature on housing and happiness, adaptation and social status. The next three empirical chapters represent the main contribution of this thesis. In terms of adaptation, Chapter 6 shows that moving to “larger accommodation” increases housing satisfaction, but this uplift diminishes post-move. Chapter 7 demonstrates that current space preferences are affected by the level of living space experienced in the previous year. In terms of social comparisons, Chapter 7 also demonstrates that space preferences are affected by regional and national levels of living space, implying house size is a positional good. Chapter 8 conceptualises home-ownership (in the UK) as a social norm and positional good, and demonstrates that, consistent with this hypothesis, a strengthening of relevant others’ home-ownership values is associated with increases (decreases) in the happiness of home-owners (renters), while an increase in relevant others’ home-ownership rates decreases the life satisfaction of owners. Chapter 9 discusses the main empirical findings and concludes by operationalising Sen’s capabilities approach as a means to translating the empirical finding into some housing policy recommendations.

The research reported here estimates the frequency of twenty-five husband and wife family types and examines the differences between six of the most prevalent and important family types in the American population in the 1980's. The variables used for comparisons are age at first marriage, income, fertility rates and marital happiness. To further clarify the relationship between marital happiness and family types, analyses were performed controlling for fertility, and income. The data used were part of the General Social Survey of 1980, 1981, 1983, and 1984 conducted by the National Opinion Research Center. The results show that the traditional family types (wife not working) are the most frequent family types and the husband career-wife job family type (HC-WJ) report the highest percentage of marital happiness.

The relation between temperament and happiness in children aged 8-12 was examined. Participants included 311 students in Grades 4-6 and their parents, recruited from public and private schools in the Central Okanagan. Parents rated their children’s temperament using the Emotionality, Activity, and Sociability (EAS) Temperament Survey (Buss & Plomin, 1984) and rated their children’s happiness using a single-item measure. Children rated their own temperament using the EAS Temperament Survey and the Piers- Harris Self Concept Scale for Children, Second Edition (Piers-Harris 2) (Piers & Herzberg, 2002). Children also rated their own happiness using a single-item measure, the Oxford Happiness Scale, Short Form (Hills & Arygle, 2002), and the Subjective Happiness Scale (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999). Confirmatory factor analyses established that parent and child ratings on the EAS Temperament Survey conformed to the four-factor structure proposed by Buss and Plomin (1984). Multiple regression analyses revealed that temperament accounted for between 9-29% of the variance in children’s happiness depending on the rater (i.e., parents vs. children) and the measure of happiness. Individual temperament variables that predicted a unique amount of the variance of children’s happiness over and above the combined effect of all temperament variables varied with the rater of children’s temperament (i.e., parents vs. children) and with the measure of happiness. Children who were more social, less shy, less emotional, and more free from anxiety rated themselves, and were rated by others, as happier. Children who scored higher on the activity temperament rated themselves, and were rated by others, as happier. The results of the current study parallel results of research investigating the relation between happiness and personality in adults. It establishes a strong relation between temperament and happiness, and iii supports the use of self-reports with children. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Thesis advisor: Christopher Kelly
This dissertation is a discussion of the many ambiguities surrounding Rousseau’s conception of happiness. In the first chapter, I expose Rousseau’s various conceptions of happiness in Émile. His main conception is offered at the beginning of Book II. Rousseau defines happiness as the equilibrium between desires and faculties. I show how this definition fits with his conception of human nature as it is developed in the Second Discours. Then I turn to a brief exposition of the alternative ideas of happiness that are exposed in the remaining of Émile. I also discuss various recent interpretations of Rousseau’s understanding of happiness. I turn to Rousseau’s autobiographical writings for the remaining chapters. The second chapter discusses Rousseau’s self-understanding of what made him miserable during his life. I focus on two episodes of his life: his break with the Parisian life and his crisis during the publication of Émile. I show how Rousseau often blames the circumstances or others for his unhappiness rather than his opinions or his heart. The last two chapters attempt to define what the happiness was that Rousseau experienced. The third chapter tries to understand what sort of solitude makes Rousseau happy, and if indeed he is happy in this situation. I explore why society is unsatisfying for him and whether his desire to be alone is coherent. The final chapter discusses the nature of Rousseau’s blissful rêveries. I show how melancholia appears to be at the center of his ecstasies in the second letter to Malesherbes. In the Fifth Walk of the Rêveries, however, Rousseau seems to settle for a quasi-lethargic experience. The minimal sentiment of his own existence he defines as happiness is compared to other blissful experiences described in the book. Finally, I discuss whether Rousseau needed to know the truth or to philosophize in order to be happy. In particular, I discuss his claim in the Third Walk to be in need of the doctrine of the Profession de foi du Vicaire savoyard to be happy. Rousseau’s sincerity is ambiguous. Its analysis unveils a few problems about his claims to be selfless and to have dedicated his life to the truth
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2008
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Political Science