Browsing by Author "Kocimska-Bortnowska, Agata"
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- Happiness maximization is a WEIRD way of livingPublication . Krys, Kuba; Kostoula, Olga; Tilburg, Wijnand A. P. van; Mosca, Oriana; Lee, J. Hannah; Maricchiolo, Fridanna; Kosiarczyk, Aleksandra; Kocimska-Bortnowska, Agata; Torres, Claudio; Hitokoto, Hidefumi; Liew, Kongmeng; Bond, Michael H.; Lun, Vivian Miu Chi; Vignoles, Vivian L.; Zelenski, John M.; Haas, Brian W.; Park, Joonha; Vauclair, Christin Melanie; Kwiatkowska, Anna; Roczniewska, Marta; Witoszek, Nina; Işık, I. dil; Kosakowska-Berezecka, Natasza; Domínguez-Espinosa, Alejandra; Yeung, June Chun; Górski, Maciej; Adamovic, Mladen; Albert, Isabelle; Pavlopoulos, Vassilis; Fülöp, Márta; Sirlopu, David; Okvitawanli, Ayu; Boer, Diana; Teyssier, Julien; Malyonova, Arina; Gavreliuc, Alin; Serdarevich, Ursula; Akotia, Charity S.; Appoh, Lily; Mira, D. M. Arévalo; Baltin, Arno; Denoux, Patrick; Esteves, Carla Sofia; Gamsakhurdia, Vladimer; Garðarsdóttir, Ragna B.; Igbokwe, David O.; Igou, Eric R.; Kascakova, Natalia; Kračmárová, Lucie Klůzová; Kronberger, Nicole; Barrientos, Pablo Eduardo; Mohoricć, Tamara; Murdock, Elke; Mustaffa, Nur Fariza; Nader, Martin; Nadi, Azar; Osch, Yvette van; Pavlović, Zoran; Šolcová, Iva Poláčková; Rizwan, Muhammad; Romashov, Vladyslav; Røysamb, Espen; Sargautyte, Ruta; Schwarz, Beate; Selecká, Lenka; Selim, Heyla A.; Stogianni, Maria; Sun, Chien Ru; Wojtczuk-Turek, Agnieszka; Xing, Cai; Uchida, YukikoPsychological science tends to treat subjective well-being and happiness synonymously. We start from the assumption that subjective well-being is more than being happy to ask the fundamental question: What is the ideal level of happiness? From a cross-cultural perspective, we propose that the idealization of attaining maximum levels of happiness may be especially characteristic of Western, educated, industrial, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) societies but less so for others. Searching for an explanation for why “happiness maximization” might have emerged in these societies, we turn to studies linking cultures to their eco-environmental habitat. We discuss the premise that WEIRD cultures emerged in an exceptionally benign ecological habitat (i.e., faced relatively light existential pressures compared with other regions). We review the influence of the Gulf Stream on the Northwestern European climate as a source of these comparatively benign geographical conditions. We propose that the ecological conditions in which WEIRD societies emerged afforded them a basis to endorse happiness as a value and to idealize attaining its maximum level. To provide a nomological network for happiness maximization, we also studied some of its potential side effects, namely alcohol and drug consumption and abuse and the prevalence of mania. To evaluate our hypothesis, we reanalyze data from two large-scale studies on ideal levels of personal life satisfaction—the most common operationalization of happiness in psychology—involving respondents from 61 countries. We conclude that societies whose members seek to maximize happiness tend to be characterized as WEIRD, and generalizing this across societies can prove problematic if adopted at the ideological and policy level.
- Introduction to a culturally sensitive measure of well-being: combining life satisfaction and interdependent happiness across 49 different culturesPublication . Krys, Kuba; Haas, Brian W.; Igou, Eric Raymond; Kosiarczyk, Aleksandra; Kocimska-Bortnowska, Agata; Kwiatkowska, Anna; Lun, Vivian Miu Chi; Maricchiolo, Fridanna; Park, Joonha; Šolcová, Iva Poláčková; Sirlopú, David; Uchida, Yukiko; Vauclair, Christin Melanie; Vignoles, Vivian L.; Zelenski, John M.; Adamovic, Mladen; Akotia, Charity S.; Albert, Isabelle; Appoh, Lily; Mira, D. M.Arévalo; Baltin, Arno; Denoux, Patrick; Domínguez-Espinosa, Alejandra; Esteves, Carla Sofia; Gamsakhurdia, Vladimer; Fülöp, Márta; Garðarsdóttir, Ragna B.; Gavreliuc, Alin; Boer, Diana; Igbokwe, David O.; Işık, İdil; Kascakova, Natalia; Klůzová Kráčmarová, Lucie; Kosakowska-Berezecka, Natasza; Kostoula, Olga; Kronberger, Nicole; Lee, J. Hannah; Liu, Xinhui; Łużniak-Piecha, Magdalena; Malyonova, Arina; Barrientos, Pablo Eduardo; Mohorić, Tamara; Mosca, Oriana; Murdock, Elke; Mustaffa, Nur Fariza; Nader, Martin; Nadi, Azar; Okvitawanli, Ayu; van Osch, Yvette; Pavlopoulos, Vassilis; Pavlović, Zoran; Rizwan, Muhammad; Romashov, Vladyslav; Røysamb, Espen; Sargautyte, Ruta; Schwarz, Beate; Selim, Heyla A.; Serdarevich, Ursula; Stogianni, Maria; Sun, Chien Ru; Teyssier, Julien; van Tilburg, Wijnand A.P.; Torres, Claudio; Xing, Cai; Bond, Michael HarrisHow can one conclude that well-being is higher in country A than country B, when well-being is being measured according to the way people in country A think about well-being? We address this issue by proposing a new culturally sensitive method to comparing societal levels of well-being. We support our reasoning with data on life satisfaction and interdependent happiness focusing on individual and family, collected mostly from students, across forty-nine countries. We demonstrate that the relative idealization of the two types of well-being varies across cultural contexts and are associated with culturally different models of selfhood. Furthermore, we show that rankings of societal well-being based on life satisfaction tend to underestimate the contribution from interdependent happiness. We introduce a new culturally sensitive method for calculating societal well-being, and examine its construct validity by testing for associations with the experience of emotions and with individualism-collectivism. This new culturally sensitive approach represents a slight, yet important improvement in measuring well-being.