Happiness around the world: A combined etic-emic approach across 63 countries

What does it mean to be happy? The vast majority of cross-cultural studies on happiness have employed a Western-origin, or "WEIRD" measure of happiness that conceptualizes it as a self-centered (or "independent"), high-arousal emotion. However, research from Eastern cultures, particularly Japan, conceptualizes happiness as including an interpersonal aspect emphasizing harmony and connectedness to others. Following a combined emicetic approach (Cheung, van de Vijver & Leong, 2011), we assessed the cross-cultural applicability of a measure of independent happiness developed in the US (Subjective Happiness Scale; Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999) and a measure of interdependent happiness developed in Japan (Interdependent Happiness Scale; Hitokoto & Uchida, 2015), with data from 63 countries representing 7 sociocultural regions. Results indicate that the schema of independent happiness was more coherent in more WEIRD countries. In contrast, the coherence of interdependent happiness was unrelated to a country's "WEIRD-ness." Reliabilities of both happiness measures were lowest in African and Middle Eastern countries, suggesting these two conceptualizations of happiness may not be globally comprehensive. Overall, while the two measures had many similar correlates and properties, the self-focused concept of independent happiness is "WEIRD-er" than interdependent happiness, suggesting cross-cultural researchers should attend to both conceptualizations

Happiness around the world: A combined etic-emic approach across 63 countries.

What does it mean to be happy? The vast majority of cross-cultural studies on happiness have employed a Western-origin, or "WEIRD" measure of happiness that conceptualizes it as a self-centered (or "independent"), high-arousal emotion. However, research from Eastern cultures, particularly Japan, conceptualizes happiness as including an interpersonal aspect emphasizing harmony and connectedness to others. Following a combined emic-etic approach (Cheung, van de Vijver & Leong, 2011), we assessed the cross-cultural applicability of a measure of independent happiness developed in the US (Subjective Happiness Scale; Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999) and a measure of interdependent happiness developed in Japan (Interdependent Happiness Scale; Hitokoto & Uchida, 2015), with data from 63 countries representing 7 sociocultural regions. Results indicate that the schema of independent happiness was more coherent in more WEIRD countries. In contrast, the coherence of interdependent happiness was unrelated to a country's "WEIRD-ness." Reliabilities of both happiness measures were lowest in African and Middle Eastern countries, suggesting these two conceptualizations of happiness may not be globally comprehensive. Overall, while the two measures had many similar correlates and properties, the self-focused concept of independent happiness is "WEIRD-er" than interdependent happiness, suggesting cross-cultural researchers should attend to both conceptualizations

The economic well-being of nations is associated with positive daily situational experiences

People in economically advantaged nations tend to evaluate their life as more positive overall and report greater well-being than people in less advantaged nations. But how does positivity manifest in the daily life experiences of individuals around the world? The present study asked 15,244 college students from 62 nations, in 42 languages, to describe a situation they experienced the previous day using the Riverside Situational Q-sort (RSQ). Using expert ratings, the overall positivity of each situation was calculated for both nations and individuals. The positivity of the average situation in each nation was strongly related to the economic development of the nation as measured by the Human Development Index (HDI). For individuals’ daily experiences, the economic status of their nation also predicted the positivity of their experience, even more than their family socioeconomic status. Further analyses revealed the specific characteristics of the average situations for higher HDI nations that make their experiences more positive. Higher HDI was associated with situational experiences involving humor, socializing with others, and the potential to express emotions and fantasies. Lower HDI was associated with an increase in the presence of threats, blame, and hostility, as well as situational experiences consisting of family, religion, and money. Despite the increase in a few negative situational characteristics in lower HDI countries, the overall average experience still ranged from neutral to slightly positive, rather than negative, suggesting that greater HDI may not necessarily increase positive experiences but rather decrease negative experiences. The results illustrate how national economic status influences the lives of individuals even within a single instance of daily life, with large and powerful consequences when accumulated across individuals within each nation

Moscow and St. Petersburgpsychological schools: from opposition to friendship

The paper is an attempt to summarize the interaction of the two largest schools of psychology in Russia: the psychological schools of Moscow and St. Petersburg. The paper is a sketch dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the psychological faculties of Moscow and St. Petersburg, and should not be appreciated as a historical treatise. Tense ties between the psychological schools, that originate in the distant past, have gone through different historical stages. Slavophilevs Westernizer traditions affected the initial difference in these schoolsemerging into the opposition: either the human being is studied entirety with his/her vast subjective experience, but losing the reliability of our statements (peculiarity of Moscow school), or we study the human being accurately using objective methods, but losing the integrity of our ideas (peculiarity of St.-Petersburg school). Both psychological schools, having gone through the ups and downs, have retained their identity and their emphasis on research. Moscow scholars in their studies are aimed to larger issues and still rely on large-scale Vygotsky-Leontiev approach. Scholars of St.-Petersburgtouch upon more specific issues using empirical methods, but still continue with nostalgia and hope making plans about creating a common concept of human individual according to Ananiev. Nowadays between the two schools there is no opposition, but only one mutual love

The Role of Consciousness in Human Cognitive Activity

The problem of consciousness is examined in the article. It is argued that all the existing approaches to consciousness do not explain the role consciousness plays in human life. An attempt of revealing and describing the principles of the mind’s work is made. Experimental phenomena observed by the author and his followers, particularly, the tendency of previously non-realized ideas not to be realized subsequently, are reviewed. The discussion of these phenomena allows to formulate a novel view on the nature of consciousness

Осознанное восприятие: дискретность vs непрерывность

Introduction. Is perception discrete or continuous? This question has a long history, but in the light of experimental data obtained in recent years, it is gaining relevance again. The available models rely on different understandings of discreteness, and they highlight different units of discrete perception. Theoretical justification. This article reviews the development of discrete models of perception and discusses the various theoretical evidence for discreteness of perception. Results and discussion. The article provides a review of experimental studies supporting discrete models and their general critique. The results of the latest studies support the idea that it is precisely conscious perception that is discrete, while unconscious information processing can be continuous or carried out with higher temporal resolution. The authors compare two popular contemporary approaches to discrete perception. One approach assumes that the discrete unit of perception is relatively small and related to temporal resolution, but that it is not universal - discretization can occur at different frequencies, for example, for different modalities. The second approach associate’s discretization with the need to calculate the most meaningful interpretation of incoming data. The discrete unit in this approach (the time window of unconscious processing) is universal, but its duration is not fixed and depends on the nature of incoming data. Authors also propose an alternative approach based on V. M. Allakhverdov\u27s negative choice theory, which implies the existence of the unconscious processing window, the duration of which is not constant. This approach suggests a novel idea that the duration of the window depends on the complexity of control operations, the goal of which is to select information for conscious processing. Authors discuss the capabilities of this approach to explain the temporal dynamics of priming and the attentional blink effects where the difference in the duration of discrete window can be seen as the manifestation of the general logic of discretization.Аннотация: Введение. Является ли восприятие дискретным или непрерывным? Этот вопрос имеет давнюю историю, но в свете полученных в последние годы экспериментальных данных снова обретает актуальность. Имеющиеся модели опираются на разное понимание дискретности, и в них выделяются разные единицы дискретного восприятия. Теоретическое обоснование. В статье рассматривается развитие дискретных моделей восприятия и разбираются различные теоретические обоснования дискретности. Результаты и их обсуждение. Приводится обзор экспериментальных исследований, поддерживающих дискретные модели, обсуждаются основные направления их критики. Результаты новых исследований поддерживают идею о том, что дискретно именно осознаваемое восприятие, тогда как неосознаваемая обработка информации может быть непрерывной или осуществляться с бо́льшим временны́м разрешением. Сравниваются два популярных современных подхода к дискретному восприятию. В рамках одного из них предполагается, что дискретная единица восприятия относительно невелика и связана с временны́м разрешением, при этом она не является универсальной – дискретизация может осуществляться с разной частотой, например, для разных модальностей. В рамках второго подхода дискретизация связывается с необходимостью вычисления наилучшей осмысленной интерпретации поступающих данных. Дискретная единица в этом подходе (временно́е окно неосознаваемой обработки) является универсальной, но ее длительность не фиксирована и зависит от характера поступающих данных. Также предлагается альтернативный подход, опирающийся на положения концепции негативного выбора В. М. Аллахвердова, из которой также следует существование окна неосознаваемой обработки, длительность которого не является постоянной. Новизна данного подхода в том, что длительность окна связывается со сложностью операций контроля, задачей которого является отбор информации для поступления в сознание. Обсуждается возможность использования этого подхода для объяснения временно́й динамики эффектов прайминга и мигания внимания, за непостоянством временны́х границ которой мы видим проявление общей логики дискретизации