The realism of expectations.

Irwin, Francis W.

doi:10.1037/h0061743

Cited by 55 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In research on individual welfare functions, a cardinal relationship between income and 8 The concept of aspiration levels is well grounded in psychology and sociology (e.g. Irwin 1944, Lewin et al 1944and Stouffer et al 1949, as is adaptation level theory in psychology (in particular Helson 1964, Brickman and Campbell 1971, Parducci 1995and, for a modern discussion, Frederick and Loewenstein 1999 According to aspiration level theory, higher income aspirations lead to a lower subjective well-being, ceteris paribus.…”

Section: B) How To Test the Effect Of Income Aspirations On Individuamentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing Theories of Happiness

Frey¹,

Stutzer²

2005

Economics and Happiness

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Happiness research in economics takes reported subjective well-being as a proxy measure for utility and has already provided many interesting insights about human well-being and its determinants. We argue that future research on happiness in economics has a lot of potential, but that it needs to be guided more by theory. We propose two ways to test theories of happiness, and illustrate them with two applications. First, reported subjective well-being can contribute towards a new understanding of utility in economics. Here, we study the introduction of income aspirations in individuals' utility functions in order to improve our understanding of how income affects individual well-being. Second, happiness data offers a new possibility of discriminating between different models of behavior. This is studied for theories of marriage, which crucially depend on auxiliary assumptions as to what contributes to well-being in marriage. Both applications are empirically tested with panel data for Germany.JEL classification: D13, D60, D63, I31, J12

show abstract

Section: B) How To Test the Effect Of Income Aspirations On Individuamentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing Theories of Happiness

Frey¹,

Stutzer²

2005

Economics and Happiness

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…• It is assumed that it is not the absolute level of income that matters most, but rather one's position relative to other individuals (Irwin 1944;Duesenberry 1949;Becker 1974;Easterlin 1974Easterlin , 2001Clark und Oswald 1996;Neumark und Postlewaite 1998;Firebaugh und Tach 2005;Layard 2005). Consequently, a rise in average income fails to raise the happiness of all.…”

Section: Country Performance According To Subjective Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Well-Being and Inequality

Böhnke

Köhler

2009

Handbook of European Societies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in AbstractAn objective and a subjective approach to study well-being is introduced. The objective approach is particularly useful to compare the quality of life of given societies across time and space. Using the objective approach, we can identify strong differences of quality of life between European countries. In comparison to Western Europe, East European countries tend to have a rather low quality of life. Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Belgium form a cluster of countries with high quality of life. The subjective approach to study well-being is useful for investigating the importance of dimensions of social inequality for people themselves. It is shown that most of the inequality dimensions traditionally analysed by social scientists affect people's subjective well-being. However, it is also shown that some of the more materialistic inequality dimensions (such as income) tend to be less important in rich societies, while certain non-materialistic dimensions (such as family) are getting more important. The subjective approach to study well-being is also used to investigate the importance of characteristics of societies for people's well-being.

show abstract

“…With an ingenious set of studies, Irwin (1944) showed how these cognitive and affective factors opera te. In his view, a person who is realistic will have goals that flexibly respond to feedback, or knowledge of performance.…”

Section: Atkinson Conc1udes That the Value Of A Goal Is Inverse1ymentioning

confidence: 99%

Inter-ethnic group competition and levels of aspiration.

Yackley¹,

Lambert²

1971

Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science / Revue canadienne des

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The present study examines cultural variations of aspirations in a competitive situation, uaing 9-ll-year-old French Canadian (PC) snd English Canadian (BC) boys fram similar social c1ass backsrounds who were assigned to team8 for a table hockey tournament. Teams were camposed . solely of either FCa or BCs. Ba ch team played two other teams, one comprising members of the same culture (SC) and another of players from the different culture (DC).It was found that (a) FC ls have generally higher aspirations i.e., they expect to score more points, than BC ls when competing against bath DC a·nd SC tesms; and (b) FC ls have highest aspirations specifically when competing against DC li.e., BC) teams. These aspira-,tions not only appeared to be unrealistlc but proved to be so in light of actual performance in competition. One explanation relates social evaluation theory, as developed by Pettigrew, to level of aspiration studies_ lt is argued that FCs in contrast to BCa feel "relatively deprived," inducins them to over emphasize affective ra ther than cognitive factors When settins aspirations. The generally hisher aspirations of Fes were discus8~d in terme of childrearing vaiuesand practices (e.s-, the greater father dominance of FC families) and Boctétal influences which discourase the development of need achievement. Finally, my supervisor, Dr. Wallace E. Lambert. Usually, supervisors are acknowledged for their patience and kindness, which is not at all lacking in this case. However, writing a thesis can be a lonesome affair, when one realizes that few others will ever read it. There is a great deal of comfort in knowing that another has reviewed all your effort and given frank criticisms of its weak and strong points. It would be difficult to find a better reviewer of one's work.

show abstract

The realism of expectations.

Cited by 55 publications

References 5 publications

Testing Theories of Happiness

Testing Theories of Happiness

Well-Being and Inequality

Inter-ethnic group competition and levels of aspiration.

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About