Wellbeing research needs more cultural approaches

There is a long-standing tradition in social science research on wellbeing, in which scientists create national rankings of happiness. Traditionally, Nordic countries such as Sweden and Denmark tend to top these lists. Such rankings are interesting as dinner table conversation and they are perennially reported on by the media. They also reflect a specific mindset about wellbeing research. Namely, that cross-cultural comparisons are interesting, that they are possible to make, and that nations can serve as reasonable proxies for culture. Although there is an element of truth to all three suppositions, there are also legitimate limitations to them. This article argues that positive psychology and wellbeing researchers should adopt a cultural as well as a cross-cultural perspective. This requires increasing sophistication in A) the understanding of culture itself, B) the methods for investigating it, and C) the complexities of cultural research. Examples and recommendations are provided

Manipulating happiness: Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori is best known for her legacy as an educator. She is the founder of a system of schools that has achieved worldwide success. Instrumental to her teaching method is the idea of fostering engagement by offering children individual choice and harnessing intrinsic motivation. For this reason, she is nominated as a noteworthy felicitator or happiness-enabler. In this article, I discuss Montessori’s life with a special emphasis on her teaching philosophy and methods. I briefly discuss psychological research as it relates to choice-related topics such as perceived personal control and autonomy. I also discuss some limitations of choice as an avenue toward happiness

Wellbeing in Bhutan

Gross National Happiness (GNH) is often recommended as a new approach to assessing economic and social development, and the small nation of Bhutan has become known for advocating this measure of quality of life. Little has been published on actual wellbeing outcomes of GNH policy in Bhutan. The current study uses a demographically representative sample to evaluate a variety of measures of quality of life in Bhutan. We compared 11 nations with Bhutan on 4 domains – Psychological, Social, Environmental, and Income and Material wellbeing. We found mixed results concerning Bhutan’s wellbeing. Results from the study indicated that Bhutan ranks first in terms of Environmental wellbeing and ranks moderately high on Social wellbeing. However, it scores fairly low in terms of overall Psychological wellbeing. Thus, like many societies in the world, Bhutan is succeeding in some areas but remains challenged in other domains. Limitations and implications of the study are discussed

Assessing and understanding hospitality: The Brief Hospitality Scale

Although hospitality is a valued social and cultural phenomenon, it has been largely overlooked in the psychology research literature. Our studies are designed to advance the understanding of hospitality by creating a brief measure of it that can be used across cultures. In Study 1, we employed a large sample of Americans to create and begin validation of a measure of hospitality: the Brief Hospitality Scale, or BHS. In all nations and both studies, the scale had a single strong factor and high internal consistency. In Study 2, we administered the measure to respondents from 11 nations and found that people in some countries (e.g.,Iran) are significantly more hospitable than people in others (e.g.,Singapore). The strongest personality correlates of hospitality were those associated with social characteristics such as extraversion, agreeableness, and feelings of group belonging. The very strongest association with hospitality was the ability to see the perspective of others. Thus, hospitality represents more than simple sociability, and seems to rest on feelings of togetherness with others, concern for their wellbeing, and positive feelings toward them. We found in both studies that hospitality is associated with higher levels of wellbeing, for example, optimism, psychosocial flourishing, and positive affect

Happiness: An interactionist perspective

Few would deny that happiness arises from a complex interaction of internal and external factors, like optimism on the one hand and money on the other. Yet research, as well as practical strategies for promoting happiness, tends to focus narrowly on one side or the other. A typical study, for instance, might examine the correlation between happiness and an internal variable like optimism, or an external variable like income. And practical strategies commonly divide into “change the world” versus “change your mind” approaches: promote health and wealth, for example, or cultivate gratitude for what you already have. This paper explores how our understanding of happiness is enhanced by “interactionist” approaches that emphasize the complex webs of interactions and feedbacks that give rise to happiness and unhappiness. While implicitly interactionist themes have increasingly characterized research on happiness, we anticipate that an explicit recognition of the interactionist perspective will foster greater attention to the complexities of happiness, particularly in the domain of human sociality, which involves especially rich and potent webs of interaction. A further upshot, we believe, is a greater awareness of our co-responsibility for one another’s happiness