NDLI: Reference-Dependency of Happiness Ratings

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Verhofstadt, Elsy Bleys, Brent Van Ootegem, Luc
Copyright Year	2014
Abstract	A traditional happiness question does not provide a frame of reference as to how respondents should rate their current level of happiness. Respondents can consider different things when answering the question—for instance, how well their expectations are being met, how they are doing compared to the past or compared to their peers. In this paper, the impact of the frame of reference in happiness questions is explored using a subjective well-being survey conducted in Flanders in 2011. The survey includes three happiness questions that are used to explore both the quantitative and the qualitative differences between the different happiness measures. The first question is a traditional happiness question that uses fixed anchors (0 for “extremely unhappy” and 10 for “extremely happy”). The other two questions use a self-anchoring scale—either the scale ends (SASE) are defined by the respondents as their worst and best moments in life [inspired by Bernheim’s ACSA (Bioethics 13(3/4):272–287, 1999)] or the scale center (SASC) is defined as the happiness rating of the average world citizen. We find quantitative differences between the happiness measures, as the reported happiness using a self-anchoring scale center—the average world citizen—leads to a lower reported level of happiness. We also find qualitative differences between the three happiness measures. First, the traditional happiness measure is influenced more by personality traits than the two measures with a self-anchoring scale. Second, as the SASE measure uses an internal frame of reference—the best and worst moments in life—it is determined more by variables related to the life experiences of respondents (e.g. having a relation). The SASC measure is better predicted by materialistic variables (e.g. income) and living conditions (e.g. being able to act according to one’s personal vision on life) as respondents are comparing their life situation to the one of the average world citizen. In summary, our preliminary results show that it is meaningful to elicit happiness ratings using more complex procedures such as self-anchoring. Further research is needed to explore the impact of references in happiness questions—e.g. by using an experimental survey design.
Starting Page	1437
Ending Page	1454
Page Count	18
File Format	PDF
ISSN	13894978
Journal	Journal of Happiness Studies
Volume Number	16
Issue Number	6
e-ISSN	15737780
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2014-08-19
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Happiness Reference-dependency Self-anchoring Quality of Life Research Personality and Social Psychology Economics Philosophy Positive Psychology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Social Sciences

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
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