Happiness and arousal: framing happiness as arousing results in lower happiness ratings for older adults

Happiness and arousal: framing happiness as arousing results in lower happiness ratings for older adults

Older adults have been shown to describe their happiness as lower in arousal when compared to younger adults. In addition, older adults prefer low arousal positive emotions over high arousal positive emotions in their daily lives. We experimentally investigated whether or not changing a few words in the description of happiness could influence a person's rating of their happiness. We randomly a...

Measuring Happiness: From Fluctuating Happiness to Authentic–Durable Happiness

On the basis of the theoretical distinction between self-centeredness and selflessness (Dambrun and Ricard, 2011), the main goal of this research was to develop two new scales assessing distinct dimensions of happiness. By trying to maximize pleasures and to avoid displeasures, we propose that a self-centered functioning induces a fluctuating happiness in which phases of pleasure and displeasur...

Happiness and Age in European Adults

Studies of happiness levels across the life span have found support for two rival hypotheses. The positivity effect states that as people get older, they increasingly attend to positive information, which implies that happiness remains stable or increases with age, whereas the U-shaped hypothesis posits a curvilinear shape resulting from a dip during midlife. Both have been presented as potenti...

Fear of Happiness - Exploring Happiness in Collectivistic and Individualistic Cultures

Contextual correlates of happiness in European adults

OBJECTIVES We aimed to examine the associations of both objectively assessed and perceived physical and social neighborhood characteristics with happiness in European adults. In addition, we aimed to study how these associations differed among subgroups. METHODS Participants (N = 6037) of the cross-sectional SPOTLIGHT survey reported on their level of happiness using a 5-point Likert scale, a...