In the 1960's, the comprehensive scientific
study of Subjective Well-Being (SWB), colloquially known as
happiness, began. Since then, a number of theories have
intended to explain how SWB comes about, and what factors
account for individual differences in the level of this
experience. These theories fall into major categories that have
been labeled telic theories, activity theories, top-down versus
bottom up theories, associationistic theories, and judgment
theories (Diener, 1984). In their review Diener, Suh, Lucas and
Smith (1999), analyzed correlative predictions of these theories
in relation to Wilson's (1967) conclusions regarding SWB.
Diener and Lucas (2000), then presented a detailed critical
analysis of four major theories; needs theory, goals theory,
relative standards theory, and cultural approaches, finding them
compatible, however incomplete. They presented a more unified,
fundamental model, which they labeled Evaluation Theory, that
regards SWB as resulting from individuals' "evaluations of
incoming information that have relevance for well-being,"
(p.69).
Diener and Lucas' general explanation of SWB
is accurate, however, Evaluation Theory and previous theories
leave more specific, basic process that underlie SWB
unconsidered. Especially important are the roles that stimuli
appraised at the level of discrete emotion, and classical
learning, play in explaining the causes of, and individual
differences in, SWB. This paper proposes a model of SWB, called
Happiness Skills Theory, that outlines the development of SWB
from the basic emotion, to the mood, and finally, to the state,
called happiness. It also describes happiness, fundamentally,
as a learned skill, and explains how individuals' varying
success in implementing specific components of this skill, like
positive-cognition creation, positive appraisal, and overall
happiness-skill habit formation, account for individual
differences in SWB.
SWB has been defined as having four
independent, yet correlated, components; positive (pleasant)
affect, negative (unpleasant) affect (affect including both
emotions and moods), domain satisfaction (e.g.. work, family), and
life satisfaction (e.g.. the past, the present), (Diener et al.,
1999). The correlation between these components led Stones and
Korza, (1985) to suggest the need for a more common factor.
Happiness Skills Theory considers stimuli appraised at the level
of discrete emotion to be this unifying factor. The appraisal
of internal and external stimuli, as described by cognitive
appraisal emotions theory, (source), underlies not only the
affect, but the domain and life satisfaction components of SWB.
In their study of well-being, Bradburn and
Caplovits (1965), found only two components; positive affect and
negative affect. Andrews and Withey (1976), found that these
two components could not fully account for the results of their
factor analysis of global well-being measures, and added a third
component which they labeled cognitive evaluation (later labeled
satisfaction, and divided into domain and life components by
Diener et al., 1999). The questions they asked in order to
determine cognitive evaluation, however, were limited to
discovering reported levels, or degrees, of satisfaction. No
attempt was made to discern why, and according to what criteria,
these evaluations were made.
Domain and life satisfaction judgments derive
directly from discrete emotion rather than logic or reason
because these judgments are hedonic rather than eudonic. A
eudonic evaluation might judge a marriage as "good," basing this
judgment perhaps on the held belief that marriages are good,
however, only an emotional reaction to the marriage will yield a
hedonic judgment of the marriage being satisfying.
In domain, and life, satisfactions, the
stimulus being appraised is always a condition or circumstance
rather than a single event. The appraisal process, however,
takes place at the level of emotion. Andrews and Withey asked
respondents "How do you feel about your marriage?" (p.363).
While the answer to this question yields an accurate evaluation,
or judgment, of one's level of satisfaction, a more complete
inquiry would reveal the stimulus appraisal that precedes all
(check) discrete emotions to be the process determining this
satisfaction judgment. Had respondents reporting a high level
of satisfaction with their marriage been asked why this was so,
it may have become evident that their marriage was a source of
numerous events, or stimuli, that frequently elicited positive
emotions such as happiness, pleasure, pride, contentment, and
few events and conditions that elicited negative emotions such
as anger, sadness, and fear. The process of weighing the
quality and quantity of positive and negative emotions against
each other yields a hedonic evaluation that can be referred to
as the hedonic quotient. In our example, marriage
satisfaction was based on an evaluated positive hedonic
quotient.
The association between satisfaction and
appraised stimuli at the level of emotion, however, is not
always clear and direct. When satisfied respondents report that
marriage actually brings them more pain than pleasure (a
negative hedonic quotient), the salient basis, or stimulus, for
their satisfaction is the emotion evoked from the meaning
attributed to being married and/or a positive hedonic quotient
deriving from ancillary benefits of the marriage.
For example, if respondents' belief system
regards marriage as a highly desirable, perhaps sacrosanct
institution, this attribution may become the salient stimulus to
be appraised and evoke a discrete emotional reaction. The
resulting positive emotion then becomes the criteria for
evaluating the marriage, despite its many displeasures, as
satisfying. Alternately, while a marriage, as an isolated
condition, may bring more pain than pleasure, it may also
provide ancillary benefits such as children, a double income,
and respect from the community. These benefits, singularly, or
together, may be considered a salient factor in the marriage's
hedonic quotient resulting in an evaluation of the marriage as
satisfactory. Specifically, the discrete emotion of
pleasure evoked from a consideration of these ancillary benefits
is the salient criteria by which satisfaction is determined.
When evaluating life satisfaction components
such as one's past, the level of satisfaction is based on the
hedonic quotient of, or meaning attributed to, recalled stimuli,
again appraised at the level of discrete emotion. This
evaluation relies on memories of past events and conditions,
however, it is the discrete emotional reaction to these recalled
stimuli that will ultimately determine the satisfaction
judgment. (section on the future, real emotions, imagined
emotions)
Thus, while SWB can be usefully and
accurately divided into the four components of positive and
negative affect, and domain and life satisfaction, the salient
evaluative criteria for each of these components is always the
discrete emotion evoked from the appraisal of stimuli. Also,
there is reason to believe that the hedonic quotient alone, and
not the emotional consideration of this quotient or of the
meaning attributed to certain stimuli, is the sole criteria by
which SWB need be based. (source) found that newborn infants
clearly experience happiness, yet they seem to achieve this
state without using domain and life satisfaction judgments. It
seems highly unlikely that infants have yet developed the
intellectual ability to form these judgment, (source) so their
happiness must be based exclusively on their experience of
frequent positive, and infrequent negative, affect.
Happiness Skills Theory holds that the state
of happiness is fundamentally innate, however as we mature it
becomes a learned state, and that its component skills are
hierarchical. The fundamental happiness skill is the ability to
experience the emotion, happiness. In descending order, the
other skills are valuation, intention, cognition creation,
emotional appraisal, and habit formation.
The experience of happiness appears to be
universal, and to begin in-utero. Smiling, the prototypical
behavior most expressive of the emotion, happiness (Ekman), has
been established as an innate, universal behavior (Wolff, 1963;
Eible-Eibsfeldt, 1972 (see Izard 1977 p. 248)). Emde and Koenig
(1969) (see Izard 1977 p.249), found that infants smiled during
the first few days after birth, and that this smiling occurred
predominantly, and perhaps exclusively, during REM sleep. These
smiles were found to occur independent of any outside influence
(Nicholson-Habits – get better source). (Source?)'s finding
that infant's experience REM sleep in-utero, coupled with the
endogenous nature of infants' observed smiles, strongly suggest
that the emotion of happiness in humans is also endogenous, and
is first experienced at a time preceding birth.
Since the state of happiness is dependant
upon prior emotions and moods of happiness (pleasant affect),
these findings are important in explaining the causes of
happiness as fundamentally internal, and independent of
environmental conditions. This is, however, not to say that the
day- to-day happiness experienced by individuals is independent
of environmental influence. As we mature, we commonly rely more
and more on environmental stimuli to initiate, or trigger, our
innate emotional happiness response, and, subsequently, our
state, happiness.
The foremost prerequisite to achieving the
state, happiness, is the innate, universal ability to
endogenously experience pleasure, and, hence, this ability is
the first happiness skill. Individuals vary in their inherited
ability to feel pleasure. (section on frontal left lobe
activity?) That the ability to experience pleasure can be
enhanced is evidenced by (source)'s study reporting that a
Buddhist monk was measured to have far greater than average left
frontal lobe activity.
Once one has experienced pleasure, the second
basic skill one uses to ultimately achieve the state, happiness,
is attention. One learns to focus on and remain attentive to
pleasurable sensations in order to understand and appreciate
them. This attentiveness then sets the state for the third
happiness skill; valuation
Pleasure can be willfully acquired through
somatic stimulation, the creation of pleasant cognitions, or
through the selective appraisal of bodily, and environmental,
stimuli. (source) Motivation to acquire pleasant emotions is
determined by the extent to which an individual values
pleasure. Individuals vary in their valuation of the state,
happiness, as is evidenced by studies where subjects from
different cultures reported different levels of such valuation
(source-Culture and well-being?) Differences in individuals'
valuation of pleasure, thus, appear likely (Ency. Of Psych
article on pleasure for genetic component).
Other influences determining to what extent
an individual will value pleasure may be seen in childrearing by
noting differences in the degree to which parents reward, or
punish, (add religious and cultural component) their child's
expressed pleasure. In one instance, parents may highly value
their child's happiness, and communicate this attitude to the
child through praise, and other kinds of reward, whenever the
child appropriately expresses pleasure. In another instance
where parents are guided by cultural or religious strictures on
experiencing pleasure, or have personal difficulty experiencing
the emotion, mood, and state of happiness, rewarding the child's
happiness may be less prevalent, and, in fact, disapproval and
envy elicited by the child’s expressed pleasure may result in
the parents' influencing the child to form an evaluation of
pleasure as an undesirable, potentially dangerous, experience.
Valuation of pleasure provides the motivation necessary for the
fourth happiness skill; pleasure acquisition.
Pleasure is acquired through three different
ways, or sub skills. The first way is by selectively focusing
on pleasant stimuli. When, for example, one attends a concert,
one must focus on the music if one is to experience it as a
pleasure. In like manner, to acquire pleasure from a beautiful
sunset, it must be actively perceived.
The second way is by appraising stimuli in a
manner that induces pleasure. Every cognition, event,
(including thoughts, feelings, etc) and condition is subject to
a variety of possible appraisals, and the particular appraisals
we make determine the hedonic tone and level of our emotions.
Each moment in time provides a unique appraisal opportunity and
the appraised stimuli may consist of endogenous cognitions, or
environmental events and conditions, or both. This strategy is
particularly influenced by learning. For example, were one
taught that dogs are generally friendly and safe animals, one
would likely appraise the sight of a dog in a pleasant manner.
Had previous learning, however, emphasized the fact that dogs at
times attack and bite, seeing a dog would more likely evoke an
unpleasant emotion.
During much of one's time, internal and
external stimuli command one's attention. There are, however,
also times when one's mind is relatively free from these
demands, and is able to create its own endogenous cognitions.
In other words, one is often able to think what one pleases,
without having one's thoughts react predominantly to stimuli.
Ordinarily these thoughts come automatically, without having
been consciously willed, or created. One does, however, have
the ability to consciously create, and direct, one's thoughts,
and the ability to create pleasant cognitions is the third sub
skill used to acquire pleasure. For example, when one attends a
wedding reception, one may intend to enjoy the occasion as much
as appropriately possible. This intention may motivate one to
create pleasant cognitions that may be expressed, for example,
through the relating of (include section on feelings as
cognitions) a humorous anecdote, or, physically, through
dancing.
The state of happiness, however, does not
depend exclusively upon the experience of pleasant affect. An
absence of unpleasant affect is also required. The next, or
fifth happiness skill, minimization of displeasure, is the
ability to direct one's focus away from unpleasant stimuli, or
to appraise such stimuli in a less painful manner. If one finds
one's gaze has settled on an extremely polluted river, one can
choose to divert one's gaze, and attention, and thereby
eliminate, or substantially reduce, one's experience of
displeasure. Or, upon receiving a parking ticket, for example,
an erstwhile happy individual may consider the event as
extremely unfortunate, cognitively appraising it as humiliating,
unfair, and costly, and thereby experiencing diminished
happiness. Another individual, however, may appraise the same
event as minor and inconsequential, minimizing the
unpleasantness of the circumstance, and thereby maintaining a
happy mood. How we choose to appraise events determines, in
part, how frequently we acquire and maintain pleasant emotions
and moods. Beck's (source), and Ellis' (source) cognitive
therapies rely on our ability to pleasantly, or less
unpleasantly, appraise thought, events, and conditions, and
consciously choosing more pleasant appraisals has been shown to
be perhaps the most highly effective method of overcoming
unpleasant affect associated with depression (Seligman 19**).
One's skills of experiencing pleasure,
attending to pleasure, valuing pleasure, acquiring pleasure,
minimizing displeasure, and committing this learning to habit
determine one's ability to achieve and maintain the pleasant
emotions and moods that ultimately lead to the state of
happiness. Development of these skills is subject to influences
like childrearing, and one fortunate enough to have been raised
by parents, or other caregivers, who were adept at using these
skills may have learned to do likewise though learning processes
such as modeling. Improving these skills will likely result in
increasing one's level of happiness. The skill is then, over
time, committed to habit, and to the extent that this is
achieved, one can create pleasant cognitions without having to
consciously will them. Of course, one may intentionally acquire
this habit through various conditioned learning principles and
techniques.
Valuing the experience of happiness, however,
will not, alone, ensure success in creating the emotion,
happiness, with the frequency necessary to ultimately result in
state happiness. Other happiness-creating skills and strategies
must also be learned, and then practiced habitually. While we
all, to some extent, adopt the full spectrum of these strategies
such as needs fulfillment, goals acquisition, comparison and
evaluation (Diener, 1984; Diener et al. 1999), we tend to favor
one, or several of them, that best fit our unique character
traits and life circumstances. Needy people would, thus, favor
needs fulfillment strategies, while ambitious people would tend
to choose goals and comparison strategies for achieving
happiness. (write about the skill of willfully creating
pleasant cognitions as the first skill). Another common factor
underlying each of these different approaches is the appraisal
process that determines our emotion’s hedonic tone, or degree of
pleasure versus pain.
Of the proposed theories, Evaluation Theory
best describes this process of achieving happiness through the
evaluation of events and situations. Evaluation Theory,
however, describes these appraisals as occurring at a level of
overall judgment. For example, Evaluation Theory explains
happiness gained from a goals strategy as dependant on the
appraisal of a goal, and steps taken to achieve it, as
meaningful and ultimately happiness producing. (check for
validity and more specificity -cite source). Happiness Skills
Theory proposes that these general evaluations of events and
conditions are determined by more specific, and fundamental,
appraisals that occur at the level of discrete emotion. (Explain
more fully the difference between Evaluation and Happiness
Skills Theories)
While Evaluation Theory implies,
or may lead one to infer, that the appraisal of events and
conditions occurs at the emotional level, it does not, however,
either name this fundamental process specifically, or explain
the theoretical importance and necessity of appraisal at the
emotional level as a fundamental, determinant of happiness.
Evaluation Theory must therefore be regarded as an accurate,
but, overly general and incomplete theory of SWB (Note Diener's
acknowledgement of this). Happiness Skills theory directly and
specifically proposes that appraisal at the emotional level
is a fundamental condition for happiness, and emphasizes the
importance of other salient components such as experience,
cognition creation, evaluation (also cited by ET), selectivity,
and habit formation.
