In Pursuit of Happiness: Empirical Answers to Philosophical Questions

Kesebir, Pelin; Diener, Ed

doi:10.1111/j.1745-6916.2008.00069.x

Cited by 259 publications

(107 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. The Cantril Ladder is hedonic (following the thinking of Bentham) as opposed to eudaimonic (in line with the thinking of Aristotle) (Kesebir and Diener, 2008;Nordbakke and Schwanen, 2014;Ryff and Singer, 2008), in that it assumes that the subject is the best judge of what makes her happy, as opposed to comparing subject's life to an externally devised set of values (see Banister and Bowling, 2004;De Vos et al, 2013;Nordbakke and Schwanen, 2014;Ryff and Singer, 2008). The hedonic and eudaimonic approaches differ, but each has value and is worth pursuing (Delbosc, 2012).…”

Section: Life Satisfaction (L)mentioning

confidence: 95%

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Should we all just stay home? Travel, out-of-home activities, and life satisfaction

Morris

2015

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice

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Section: Life Satisfaction (L)mentioning

confidence: 95%

“…For thousands of years, philosophers have asked what brings us happiness (Kesebir and Diener, 2008). Today, however, thanks to modern data gathering, statistical techniques, and computing power, we are finally uncovering empirical answers to this question.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Should we all just stay home? Travel, out-of-home activities, and life satisfaction

Morris

2015

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice

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“…Therefore, happiness went from being related to luck and considered as being passive to being considered a more active construct. Currently, happiness is understood as something that humans beings can control and achieve (Kesebir and Diener, 2008; Oishi, 2012). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictor variables of happiness and its connection with risk and protective factors for health

Garaigordobil

2015

Front. Psychol.

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Great thinkers, philosophers, scientists, and artists from History have often been concerned about one of the most important elements of life: happiness. The study had four goals: (1) To analyze possible differences in feelings of happiness as a function of sex and age; (2) To explore the relations of happiness with risk factors (psychopathological symptoms, behavior problems) and protective factors (self-concept-self-esteem, cooperative behavior, social skills) for health; (3) To identify predictor variables of happiness; and (4) To explore whether self-esteem mediates the relationship between happiness and psychopathological symptoms. The sample comprised 286 adolescents (14–16 years old). The study used a descriptive, correlational, and cross-sectional methodology. Seven assessment instruments were administered. The ANOVAs confirm that there are no sex differences, but happiness decreases as age increases. Pearson coefficients show that adolescents with more feelings of happiness had fewer psychopathological symptoms (somatization, obsession–compulsion, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, psychoticism…), fewer behavioral problems (school-academic, antisocial behavior, shyness-withdrawal, psychopathological, psychosomatic), high social adaptation, high self-concept/self-esteem, many cooperative behaviors, many appropriate social skills, and few negative social skills (inappropriate assertiveness, impulsiveness, jealousy-withdrawal). Multiple regression analysis identified five variables predicting happiness: high self-concept, few symptoms of depression, many cooperative behaviors, high self-esteem, and low psychoticism. Results showed a partial mediational effect of self-esteem in the relation between happiness and psychopathological symptoms. The discussion focuses on the importance of implementing programs to promote feelings of happiness, as well as protective factors for health (self-esteem, cooperation…).

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“…For example, research on how people deal with antisocial behavior shows that punishing violators is experienced as pleasurable even when it costs in terms of one's material standing (Angier 2002). The vast body of research on human well-being has identified many dimensions of this complex domain, including hedonic pleasure, emotional well-being, psychological capital, and character strengths (e.g., Ring et al 2007;Kesebir & Diener 2008;Ryff & Singer 2008). Particularly pertinent to the discussion here is that many human qualities are inconsistently exhibited within the same person across time and circumstances.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%