A Conceptual-Referent Theory of Happiness: Heterogeneity and its Consequences

Abstract

conceptual referent, happiness, subjective well-being,

Personal Values as Mitigating Factors in the Link Between Income and Life Satisfaction: Evidence from the European Social Survey

“…Our findings are broadly consistent with Rojas' conceptual-referent-theory (Rojas 2005(Rojas , 2007 and empirical evidence for other countries (e.g. Mexico as reported in Rojas 2007; and US and Germany as reported in Schmuck et al 2000).…”

“…Personal values and beliefs, in particular, have been suggested as among the strongest moderating factors weakening the correlation between income and happiness (Rojas 2005(Rojas , 2007Kasser and Ryan 1996). According to Rojas's (2007) Conceptual-Referent-Theory (CRT), individuals have different things in mind, and different conceptions for happiness, when answering a typical subjective wellbeing question.…”

Are Most People Happy? Exploring the Meaning of Subjective Well-Being Ratings

“…nice people in nursery school, leisure opportunities, sustainable living (bio products, less car rides…) -no friends in town -housewife, wants to move (rent, commuting, heating costs), only ones who live sustainably, brothers and sisters do not get along, restrictions because of back problems, no support from husband due to his job, difficult to get bio products i) -life often felt meaningless, feeling everything went wrong, no support by others, no positive feedback from family/friends views lies, for example, in the fact that some respondents explained LS (''Zufriedenheit'' in German) as specific contentment with material or visible achievements (in contrast to the inner hedonic level), whereas others considered it just as a modest form of happiness (for these interviewees, highly rated satisfaction means that a basic happiness level is reached, but in no way indicates an extreme appraisal). A theoretical framework for the heterogeneity of happiness concepts across individuals is presented by Rojas (2005). It has to be noted that the various interpretations do not necessarily affect SWB comparisons between groups or trend evaluations, but they strongly affect the interpretation of absolute levels, as reflected in statements such as ''for most people, everything is ok'', or, that ''most people are happy''.…”

Helse i hvert smil?

“…Mer sikkerhet er det imidlertid knyttet til at det er sosiodemografiske forskjeller i hvordan folk forstår og definerer wellbeing. Et funn fra studier i denne tradisjonen peker på at den subjektive definisjonen av wellbeing saerlig varierer med alder (McMahan og Estes, 2012;Naess, 2011b;Rojas, 2005;Westerhof et al, 2001). Yngre personer har en tendens til å vektlegge indre opplevelse, mens eldre mennesker i større grad rapporterer ytre faktorer og helse.…”