I'm Loving It
Super Size Me: Product Size as a Signal of Status
David Dubois, Derek Rucker & Adam Galinsky
Journal of Consumer Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
This research proposes that consumers' preference for supersized food and drinks may have roots in the status-signaling value of larger options. An initial experiment found that consumers view larger-sized options within a set as having greater status. Because low-power consumers desire status, we manipulated power to test our core propositions. Whether induced in the lab or in the field, states of powerlessness led individuals to disproportionately choose larger food options from an assortment. Furthermore, this preference for larger-sized options was enhanced when consumption was public, reversed when the size-to-status relationship was negative (i.e., smaller was equated with greater status), and mediated by consumers' need for status. This research demonstrates that choosing a product on the basis of its relative size allows consumers to signal status, illustrates the consequences of such a choice for consumers' food consumption, and highlights the central role of a product category's size-to-status relationship in driving consumer choice.
----------------------
Progressive Taxation and the Subjective Well-Being of Nations
Shigehiro Oishi, Ulrich Schimmack & Ed Diener
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Using the Global Gallup Poll data, we examined whether progressive taxation is associated with higher levels of subjective well-being. Consistent with John Rawls' (1971/1999) theory of justice, progressive taxation was positively associated with the subjective well-being (SWB) of nations. Interestingly, the overall tax rate and government spending were not associated with the SWB of nations. Furthermore, controlling for the wealth of nations and income inequality, participants living in a nation with more progressive taxation evaluated their lives closer to the best possible life, reported having more positive daily experiences (e.g., smile, well-rested) and less negative daily experiences (e.g., worry, sad) than those living in a nation with less progressive taxation. Finally, we found that the association between progressive taxation and higher levels of subjective well-being was mediated by citizens' satisfaction with public goods such as education and public transportation.
----------------------
Well-Being and Trust in the Workplace
John Helliwell & Haifang Huang
Journal of Happiness Studies, October 2011, Pages 747-767
Abstract:
This paper uses life satisfaction regressions based on three surveys in two countries (Canada and the United States) to estimate the relative values of financial and non-financial job characteristics. The well-being results show strikingly large values for non-financial job characteristics, especially workplace trust and other measures of the quality of social capital in workplaces. For example, an increase of trust in management that is about one tenth of the scale has a value in terms of life satisfaction equivalent to an increase of more than 30% in monetary income. We find that these values differ significantly by gender and by union status. We consider the reasons for such large values, and explore their implications for employers, employees, and policy-makers.
----------------------
'Paradoxical' Decline? Another Look at the Relative Reduction in Female Happiness
Chris Herbst
Journal of Economic Psychology, October 2011, Pages 773-788
Abstract:
In a provocative paper, Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers (2009) provide evidence that women over the last several decades experienced an absolute and relative decline in happiness. The current paper draws upon novel data from the DDB Needham Life Style Survey to take another look at the evolution of women's subjective well-being. In contrast to Stevenson and Wolfers, I find that men and women between 1985 and 2005 experienced similar decreases in life satisfaction. Furthermore, both sexes witnessed comparable slippages in self-confidence, growing regrets about the past, and declines in virtually every measure of self-reported physical and mental health. The data also show that men's well-being in recent years has begun to fall more rapidly than that for women. In the final section of the paper, I present some initial evidence that the steady erosion in social and civic engagement, interpersonal trust, and financial security could be partially responsible for the widespread decline in subjective well-being over the past few decades.
----------------------
Edward Castronova & Gert Wagner
Kyklos, August 2011, Pages 313-328
Abstract:
We study life satisfaction data from the 2005 World Values Survey and a 2009 survey of users of the virtual world Second Life. Second Life users do not have the same demographic profile as the general population, but the differences are not as large as we expected. The mechanisms and causes of life satisfaction seem to be similar in the two samples. Among Second Life users, satisfaction with their virtual life is higher than satisfaction with their real life. Regression analysis indicates that people in certain life situations, such as unemployment, gain more life satisfaction from 'switching' to the virtual world than from changing their real-life circumstances. In other words, an unemployed person can become happier by visiting Second Life rather than finding a job. Correspondingly, problems in real life are positive predictors of intense use of virtual life.
----------------------
"Beauty Is the Promise of Happiness"?
Daniel Hamermesh & Jason Abrevaya
NBER Working Paper, August 2011
Abstract:
We measure the impact of individuals' looks on life satisfaction/happiness. Using five data sets, from the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Germany, we construct beauty measures in different ways that allow placing lower bounds on the effects of beauty. Beauty raises happiness: A one standard-deviation change in beauty generates about 0.10 standard deviations of additional satisfaction/happiness among men, 0.12 among women. Accounting for a wide variety of covariates, particularly effects in the labor and marriage markets, including those that might be affected by differences in beauty, the impact among men is more than halved, among women slightly less than halved.
----------------------
Maurizio Mauri et al.
Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, forthcoming
Abstract:
People are more and more using social networking sites (SNSs) like Facebook and MySpace to engage with others. The use of SNSs can have both positive and negative effect on the individual; however, the increasing use of SNSs might reveal that people look for SNSs because they have a positive experience when they use them. Few studies have tried to identify which particular aspects of the social networking experience make SNSs so successful. In this study we focus on the affective experience evoked by SNSs. In particular, we explore whether the use of SNSs elicits a specific psychophysiological pattern. Specifically, we recorded skin conductance, blood volume pulse, electroencephalogram, electromyography, respiratory activity, and pupil dilation in 30 healthy subjects during a 3-minute exposure to (a) a slide show of natural panoramas (relaxation condition), (b) the subject's personal Facebook account, and (c) a Stroop and mathematical task (stress condition). Statistical analysis of the psychophysiological data and pupil dilation indicates that the Facebook experience was significantly different from stress and relaxation on many linear and spectral indices of somatic activity. Moreover, the biological signals revealed that Facebook use can evoke a psychophysiological state characterized by high positive valence and high arousal (Core Flow State). These findings support the hypothesis that the successful spread of SNSs might be associated with a specific positive affective state experienced by users when they use their SNSs account.
----------------------
Happiness and International Migration
Linnea Polgreen & Nicole Simpson
Journal of Happiness Studies, October 2011, Pages 819-840
Abstract:
In this paper, we consider the extent to which the aggregate happiness of a country affects the flow of people across its borders. We merge data from the World Values Survey, which produces happiness indices for 84 countries between 1981 and 2004, with three different migration datasets: emigration rates from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, immigration rates from the U.S. Census, and net migration rates from the United Nations. We find that happiness has a U-shaped relationship with emigration rates: emigration rates fall in happiness for relatively unhappy countries, but rise for relatively happy countries. The U-shaped relationship also holds for migrant flows into the U.S. When analyzing net migration rates, we find that the reverse relationship exists. Net migration is associated with an increase in happiness for relatively unhappy countries, but after a threshold level of happiness, net migration is associated with a decrease in happiness. Our findings are robust to various empirical specifications and datasets.
----------------------
'How Happy are You ...?' Subjective Well-Being in East Germany Twenty Years after Unification
Patricia Hogwood
Politics, October 2011, Pages 148-158
Abstract:
Since the unification of Germany in 1990, East Germans have largely approximated the characteristics of the 'happiness profile'- but not the overall levels of happiness - of West Germans. Current patterns of subjective well-being among East Germans raise concerns about the contingency of identification with the democratic system of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG); the further entrenchment of financial jealousies between East and West Germany; and the development of a 'happiness gap' between the richest and poorest in East German society. A 'materialist pessimist' outlook in both West and East Germany may best be explained by cultural factors.
----------------------
What Do You Think Would Make You Happier? What Do You Think You Would Choose?
Daniel Benjamin et al.
American Economic Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
Would people choose what they think would maximize their subjective well-being (SWB)? We present survey respondents with hypothetical scenarios and elicit both choice and predicted SWB rankings of two alternatives. While choice and predicted SWB rankings usually coincide in our data, we find systematic reversals. We identify factors -- such as predicted sense of purpose, control over one's life, family happiness, and social status -- that help explain hypothetical choice controlling for predicted SWB. We explore how our findings vary by SWB measure and by scenario. Our results have implications regarding the use of SWB survey questions as a proxy for utility.