Wellbeing and Measures of Subjective Wellbeing Dan Weijers 14 December 2011

NZGSS The NZGSS 2010 provides information on the wellbeing of New Zealanders aged 15+ This includes objective information about their circumstance, such as their labour force status and income, as well as their assessment of different aspects of their lives. Includes a life-satisfaction question

Don Farmer – Wairarapa Times Age “happiness survey… revealed 87[% is] ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with their lives overall.” “But I can’t for the life of me figure out how 87[%] of us keep smiling when many of us are either hungry, cold, fearful, neglected, or… suffering from all five afflictions.” 5 November 2011

Wellbeing A broad concept about how a life is going for the person living it Does wellbeing = happiness? Intrinsic vs. instrumental bearers of value

Measuring Wellbeing (WB) Subjective WBObjective WB OverallDomain-Specific Mental state/ hedonism Life Satisfaction theories Objective List/ Flourishing Quality of Life Indicators Traditional Economic Indicators Health/ healthcare Freedom Trust Safety Environ- ment Education Equality Production Income Employ- ment Wealth Survey Pager Day reco- nstruction Survey “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life?” Survey Rate agreement “I have good friends” HAPPINESS Happiness Brain scan Behav- ioural

Mental State Theories Folk: get pleasure now! Philosophers: maximise pleasure over your entire life Key: All that matters is how you feel (your mental states) WellbeingHappiness+ve net balance of good over bad mental states Especially hedonism

What about Truth & Freedom? Compare two lives –Same experiences –Different reality Double agent partner Sponsored children all died Whose life is better? What should we do about a happy slave?

Measuring Mental State Happiness Survey Questions –“How happy are you these days?” Pager method –“What are you doing now and how are you feeling?” Day reconstruction method –Note down activities and mood from previous day

Life Satisfaction Theories Based on desire/preference-satisfaction Informed: adequately informed desires only Ideal: desires that fit some objective criteria only Key: All that matters is getting what you want WellbeingHappiness Having most or more of your desires satisfied Sometimes

Is the Satisfaction of Our Desires Good for us? What to do about dissatisfaction? –Earn more –Want less We choose to desire things because we think that their satisfaction will provide us with some value or meaning D-S accounts put the value in the satisfaction, not the ultimate reason for having the desire

Measuring Life Satisfaction Questions –“All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole?” –“Compared to what it could have been, how satisfied are you with your life?” Scales –4 point to 11 point –Some labelled very differently –Delighted, Pleased, Mostly satisfied, Mixed, Mostly dissatisfied, Unhappy, Terrible

Flourishing Theories Developing excellencies in one or all of your species’ fundamental traits Only some versions include or require happiness/enjoyment of life Key: All that matters is being the best you can be (given that you’re a human) WellbeingFlourishingDeveloping & expressing natural capacities

Flourishing = Objective List But, which traits do you prioritise? –Is excellence in reasoning or long- distance running better for us? Unnatural things can be good for us too! –E.g. Pacemakers, wings etc. We end up with a list of things that are good for us E.g. WD Ross: Knowledge, Pleasure, Virtue and the proper apportionment of pleasure to virtue

Measuring Objective List/Flourishing Well-Being Survey Questions: –“Rate the extent to which you agree with the following statements” I maintain many good friendships My life is meaningful I am a virtuous person I am rarely deceived I am very knowledgeable I am free to act as I please (when not harming others) I live in a pristine environment

Policy- making ↑ Well-being (WB) Fairness Sustainability Equality Subjective WBObjective WB OverallDomain-Specific Mental state/ hedonism Life Satisfaction theories Objective List/ Flourishing Quality of Life Indicators Traditional Economic Indicators Health/ healthcare Freedom Trust Safety Environ- ment Education Equality Production Income Employ- ment Justice Wealth Survey Pager Day reco- nstruction Survey “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life?” Survey Rate agreement “I have good friends” HAPPINESS Happiness Brain scan Behav- ioural

Some Complicating Factors Subjective vs. objective measures of flourishing/capabilities/quality of life Positivity bias on self-reports Expectations and reference groups Survey Question wording: –“All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole?” –“Compared to what it could have been, how satisfied are you with your life?”

So what should we measure? What do we want to know? How are NZers are doing and why? What is the best measure of Nzers wellbeing? Some relevant factors: –Best captures wellbeing –Easy/cheap/fast to measure –Reliable results –Can compare with other surveys