Perceptions of Happiness and Its Determinants An Intergenerational Study of What People Think about Money and Happiness

This study examines people’s perceptions of happiness. Specifically, it seeks to define the determinants of happiness, with a focus on the link between happiness and financial state. Of particular interest is an examination of differences in attribution (if any) on this issue between disparate age groups. An online questionnaire was created and then completed by 538 total participants. Belief that money can buy happiness was tested in two different ways: the Measure of Materialistic Attitudes Scale from the Handbook of Marketing, and the Money-Happiness scale, which was generated for this research. The study also evaluated people’s happiness levels using a device patterned after the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (Hills 2002). The results suggested that as age increases, the tendency to believe that money buys happiness decreases. Furthermore, males are more likely than females to believe that the material possessions that money can buy will bring them increased happiness. In addition, the younger generation is more likely than the older generation to believe that achievement increases happiness while the older generation puts more importance on religious or spiritual beliefs and practices for increases in happiness. This research helps add to a growing research interest in understanding sources of personal contentment

Happiness Institutions

Bakhjulsstyrning av fordon är en möjlig konfiguration som lite glömts bort inom fordonstekniken. Tidigare arbeten inom ämnet bakhjulsstyrning är väldigt detaljerade och snäva i sin analys. I detta arbete vill författaren visa en bakgrund till hur olika farkoster styrs samt analys av detta. Syftet med arbetet är att utifrån litteratursökning och intervjuer kunna besvara vilken inverkan drivkällans placering och de konceptuella skillnaderna mellan olika farkoster har på styrningens placering. Samt vilka förväntade egenskaper en farkost får med icke konventionell styrning. Med hjälp av en simulering i MATLAB är syftet att kunna besvara vilken roll massa, hastighet och axellängd spelar för ett bakhjulsstyrt fordon och hur responsen ser ut jämfört med ett framhjulsstyrt fordon. Resultatet från intervjuerna och litteraturen visar att drivkällans placering nära rodret är väldigt viktig för fartygs styrningsförmåga. Däremot för flygplan påverkar det mest lastförmåga och för fordon tyngdpunktens placering. De konceptuella skillnaderna visar på att större fordon har mer att vinna på fyrhjulsstyrning då en mindre vändradie är merkritiskt för dessa och att flygplan som flyger i överljudsfart behöver andra vinguppsättningar. För fartyg har det visat sig att en liten vändradie är viktigt i hamnområden och att både stora och små fartyg då använder sig av bogpropellrar. De förväntade egenskaperna för en ickekonventionell styrning är främst negativ för fordon och fartyg, då det finns risk för instabilitet och överstyrning, medan flygplan redananvänder sig av styrningen fram i form av nosvingar. Simuleringarna visar att ett bakhjulsstyrt fordon bör ha en hastighetsbegränsning då det blir svårkontrollerat i höga hastigheter över 50km/h. En större massa har visat sig hämma magnituden av den laterala accelerationen en i fel riktning och en längre axellängd minskar rotationshastigheten kring gir-led. Resultaten visar också att ett bakhjulsstyrt fordon har en fördröjning av den laterala accelerationen jämfört med ett framhjulsstyrt fordon på 0,1-0,2 sekunder beroende av bland annat massa, axellängd och hastighet. Responstesten visar att denna fördröjning bidrar till att den laterala förflyttningen är fördröjd första sekunden för hastigheter 10-90km/h men att redan efterytterligare 1,5 sekunder är den dubbel så stor för hastigheter 50-90km/h. Slutsatsen är att fordon inte har bakhjulsstyrning i höga hastigheter på grund av den fördröjda responsen i början samt av att utslaget efter några sekunder blir väldigt mycket kraftigare vilket gör fordonet svårt att kontrollera.Rear wheel steering of vehicles is a possible steering, which has been forgotten in vehicle design. Earlier works show only details concerning one vehicle type from this subject. In this work the author will first present a background to how different vehicles are steered and then the analysis of it. The purpose with this paper is to from literature and interviews answer to which impact the placement of the engine and the conceptual differences have on the steering from different vessels. It will also answer which anticipated properties the steering will have if it´s not placed in a conventional way. Through simulation in MATLAB the paper will answer to which degree mass, velocity and length of axle influences steering behaviour of a rear wheal steered, RWS, car and how the steering response is different to a front wheal steered car, FWS. The result from the literature and the interview shows that placement of engine and propeller near the rudder is very important for a ships steering capability. For vehicles it has most effect on the centrum of gravity, which is to prefer in middle of the vehicle,and for airplanes the ability to place cargo. The conceptual differences shows that a larger vehicle has more to gain, if it is equipped with four wheel steering, due to turning radius is a more critical aspect. For airplanes in super sonic speed it reveals that they need another set of wings. Ships need a smaller turning radius in harbours and all size of ships then use thrusters. The properties of a vessel with not conventional steering are most negative for cars and ships because of risk for oversteering and instability, while for airplanes its already in use in form of canard wings. The simulations display that rear wheel steered vehicle should have a limit of velocity because of its behaviour in high speeds over 50 km/h. A larger mass has shown todepress the magnitude of lateral acceleration in wrong direction and a larger length of an axle is shown to depress the yaw-rate. The result also displays that a RWS vehicle has a delay of the lateral acceleration compared to a FWS vehicle with approximately 0,1-0,2 seconds depending on mass, velocity and length of axle. The test of response indicates that this delay contributes to the delay of the lateral movement of the vehicle the first second for speeds between 10-90 km/h, but after only 1,5 seconds further thelateral movement is twice the value for speeds 50-90km/h. The conclusion is that vehicle doesn’t have RWS due to the delay in response in the beginning and the very larger lateral movement after only seconds later, which makes the vehicle hard to control

The use of happiness research for public policy

Research on happiness tends to follow a "benevolent dictator" approach where politicians pursue people's happiness. This paper takes an antithetic approach based on the insights of public choice theory. First, we inquire how the results of happiness research may be used to improve the choice of institutions. Second, we show that the policy approach matters for the choice of research questions and the kind of knowledge happiness research aims to provide. Third, we emphasize that there is no shortcut to an optimal policy maximizing some happiness indicator or social welfare function since governments have an incentive to manipulate this indicator

What Types of Happiness Do Korean Adults Pursue????Comparison of Seven Happiness Types

Although Korea has achieved successful economic, social, cultural, and technological development over the past decades, Korean people do not seem to be particularly happy. To enhance an individual???s happiness, we need to be aware of what situations and environmental conditions are conducive for happiness and explore the values of happiness we pursue. This study investigated the types of happiness expressed by Korean people using a mixed-method approach. Personal in-depth (n = 15) and focus group (n = 16) interviews were conducted with people who reported feeling a high level of happiness. Happiness categorization was conducted using Q methodology (n = 63). Subsequently, we surveyed 999 nationally representative samples of Korean adults to generalize the results of the Q analysis. The findings revealed seven types of adult happiness in Korea: (1) Self-actualization, (2) Belongingness, (3) Mission, (4) Social recognition, (5) Enjoyment, (6) Material success, and (7) Parenting. The combined results of the qualitative and quantitative analyses showed that in Korea, people pursuing money or social success feel the unhappiest, whereas people pursuing a mission or sense of belonging feel the happiest. In conclusion, we discussed the need for happiness literacy education, to provide each adult an opportunity to understand the type of happiness they pursue

Can you forgive? It depends on how happy you are

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.This paper examined how individual group status and happiness influence forgiveness. In Study 1, happiness was treated as a trait difference: highly happy people, compared with very unhappy people, were found to be more willing to forgive murderers. More important, an interaction effect between happiness and group status on forgiveness was found, that is, highly happy people tended to be more forgiving when either ingroup or outgroup mem- bers were killed; unhappy people, however, tended to be less forgiving about murder when ingroup rather than outgroup members were killed. In Study 2, happiness was treated as an emotional state difference: happiness, rather than sadness, was found to bring greater forgiveness. Moreover, consistent with the interaction effect displayed in Study 1, happy participants tended to forgive more when ingroup or outgroup members were hurt; sad partici- pants tended to forgive less when ingroup members rather than outgroup members were hurt. Implications for connections between happiness, group membership, and forgiveness are discussed

A sore red eye with systemic involvement

The study of happiness has long been a playground for philosophical speculation. By lack of empirical measures of happiness, it was not possible to check propositions about the matter. In the late 20th century, survey-research methods introduced by the social sciences have brought a break-through. Dependable measures of happiness have developed, by means of which a significant body of knowledge has evolved

Happiness Inequality in the United States

This paper examines how the level and dispersion of self-reported happiness has evolved over the period 1972-2006. While there has been no increase in aggregate happiness, inequality in happiness has fallen substantially since the 1970s. There have been large changes in the level of happiness across groups: Two-thirds of the black-white happiness gap has been eroded, and the gender happiness gap has disappeared entirely. Paralleling changes in the income distribution, differences in happiness by education have widened substantially. We develop an integrated approach to measuring inequality and decomposing changes in the distribution of happiness, finding a pervasive decline in within-group inequality during the 1970s and 1980s that was experienced by even narrowly-defined demographic groups. Around one-third of this decline has subsequently been unwound. Juxtaposing these changes with large rises in income inequality suggests an important role for non-pecuniary factors in shaping the well-being distribution.happiness, subjective well-being, inequality

True happiness: The role of morality in the folk concept of happiness

Recent scientific research has settled on a purely descriptive definition of happiness that is focused solely on agents’ psychological states (high positive affect, low negative affect, high life satisfaction). In contrast to this understanding, recent research has suggested that the ordinary concept of happiness is also sensitive to the moral value of agents’ lives. Five studies systematically investigate and explain the impact of morality on ordinary assessments of happiness. Study 1 demonstrates that moral judgments influence assessments of happiness not only for untrained participants, but also for academic researchers and even in those who study happiness specifically. Studies 2 and 3 then respectively ask whether this effect may be explained by general motivational biases or beliefs in a just world. In both cases, we find evidence against these explanations. Study 4 shows that the impact of moral judgments cannot be explained by changes in the perception of descriptive psychological states. Finally, Study 5 compares the impact of moral and non-moral value, and provides evidence that unlike non-moral value, moral value is part of the criteria that govern the ordinary concept of happiness. Taken together, these studies provide a specific explanation of how and why the ordinary concept of happiness deviates from the definition used by researchers studying happiness