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Satisfaction and Happiness – The Bright Side of Quality of Life

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Global Handbook of Quality of Life

Part of the book series: International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life ((IHQL))

Abstract

Researchers and policy makers have become increasingly interested in using happiness or subjective wellbeing (SWB) as an index of quality of life. We examine the utility of using SWB as a social indicator, arguing that SWB is intrinsically valuable as a measure of the end goal of all human activities and extrinsically valuable as a predictor of a wide range of positive outcomes and an indicator of the effects of changing societal conditions. Using the examples of wealth and unemployment, we show that changes in objective societal conditions influence individual and national SWB. Because SWB is sensitive to changes in societal conditions, it can be fruitfully used to measure societal progress. Encouraged by strong evidence that societal conditions influence SWB, researchers and policy makers should focus future efforts on identifying and implementing those societal changes that have the greatest potential to enhance happiness.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Diener and Tov (2012) for a taxonomy of how these components may be further differentiated by whether they are based on “objective” events and life circumstances, “on-line” reactions and experiences, recall of past reactions and experiences, or overall evaluations of one’s general experiences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Louis Tay & Lauren Kuykendall

  2. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA

    Ed Diener

  3. The Gallup Organization, Washington, DC, USA

    Ed Diener

  4. University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA

    Ed Diener

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  1. Louis Tay
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  2. Lauren Kuykendall
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Correspondence to Louis Tay .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Goethe-Universitat, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Wolfgang Glatzer

  2. University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, United Kingdom

    Laura Camfield

  3. Rhodes University Inst. Social & Economic Research, Grahamstown, South Africa

    Valerie Møller

  4. FLACSO-Mexico & UPAEP, Mexico City, Mexico

    Mariano Rojas

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Tay, L., Kuykendall, L., Diener, E. (2015). Satisfaction and Happiness – The Bright Side of Quality of Life. In: Glatzer, W., Camfield, L., Møller, V., Rojas, M. (eds) Global Handbook of Quality of Life. International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9178-6_39

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