This study set out to re-examine the predictors of self-reported trait happiness as measured by the Oxford Happiness Inventory (OHI) as well as the predictors of various happiness types proposed by Morris (2004). In all, 120 Cypriot participants completed the 4 questionnaires: OHI, Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue-SF), and Morris Multip...

Five hundred ethnically diverse undergraduates reported their happiness strategies – that is, activities undertaken to maintain or increase happiness. Factor analysis extracted eight general strategies: Affiliation, Partying, Mental Control, Goal Pursuit, Passive Leisure, Active Leisure, Religion, and Direct Attempts at happiness. According to multiple regression analyses, these strategies acco...

Everyone is interested in the pursuit of happiness, but the real problem for the researchers is how to measure it. Our aim was to deeply investigate happiness measurement through biomedical signals, using psychophysiological methods to objectify the happiness experiences measurements. The classic valence-arousal model of affective states to study happiness has been extensively used in psychophy...

By many objective measures the lives of women in the United States have improved over the past 35 years, yet we show that measures of subjective well-being indicate that women’s happiness has declined both absolutely and relative to men. The paradox of women’s declining relative well-being is found across various datasets, measures of subjective well-being, and is pervasive across demographic g...

The present paper proposes an integrative model on the motivational determinants and health consequences of two forms of well-being (i.e., happiness and self-realization). This model posits that pursuing autonomous goals enhances both happiness and self-realization, whereas pursuing controlled goals thwarts these two same forms of well-being. The model further posits that self-realization, but ...

BACKGROUND Life events-like illness, marriage, or unemployment-have important effects on people. But there is no accepted way to measure the different sizes of these events upon human happiness and psychological health. By using happiness regression equations, economists have recently developed a method. METHODS We estimate happiness regressions using large random samples of individuals. The ...

Children, Spousal Love, and Happiness: An Economic Analysis In this paper we examine how children affect happiness and relationships within a family by analyzing two unique questions in the National Longitudinal Study of Youth’s 1997 cohort. We find that (a) presence of children is associated with a loss of spousal love; (b) loss of spousal love is associated with loss of overall happiness; but...

In a review of recent cross-cultural evidence on happiness and well-being, the authors identified substantial cultural variations in (1) cultural meanings of happiness, (2) motivations underlying happiness, and (3) predictors of happiness. Specifically, in North American cultural contexts, happiness tends to be defined in terms of personal achievement. Individuals engaging in these cultures are...

If our sense of happiness is closely connected to brain functions, it might become possible to manipulate our brain in a much more refined and effective way than current methods allow. In this paper I will make some remarks on the manipulation of the sense of happiness and illuminate the relationship between human dignity and happiness. The President’s Council on Bioethics discusses this topic ...