Studying Happiness: Well-Being Interventions And Individual Differences Annabel Naftali Dianne Vella-Brodrick School of Psychology, Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine, Monash University

Background - SWB Subjective well-being Positive affect (PA) Negative affect (NA) Satisfaction with life (SWL) The benefits of being happy Health – physical and psychological Success – social, work, education Broaden-and-Build Theory of PA (Fredrickson)

IS IT POSSIBLE TO CHANGE SWB? Hedonic adaptation (Set-point theory, dynamic equilibrium) – Sustained change is unlikely Model of longitudinal well-being (Chronic Happiness) (Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, 2005) –50% hereditary. Personality is the strongest predictor –10% circumstances –40% - intentional activity What people choose to do, to think and to aspire for in daily life -Flexible, changeable, can be manipulated to affect SWB

Interventions: Counting Blessings ‘‘Counting blessings’’ means that you make an effort to think about the many things in your life, both large and small, that you have to be grateful about. These might include particular supportive relationships, sacrifices or contributions that others have made for you, facts about your life such as your advantages and opportunities, or even gratitude for life itself, and the world that we live in. In all of these cases you are identifying previously unappreciated aspects of your life, for which you can be thankful. Why is gratitude a good thing? –Focus on positive rather than negative emotions – past, present, future –Linked to other positive conditions like optimism and self-esteem –Increases engagement with the present, which is linked to SWB

Interventions: Best Possible Self “Best Possible Self” means that you imagine yourself in the future, after everything has gone as well as it possibly could. You have worked hard and succeeded at accomplishing all of your life goals. Think of this as the realization of your life dreams, and of your own best potentials. In all of these cases you are identifying the best possible way that things might turn out in your life, in order to help guide your decisions now. Why is it good to write about life goals? - Triggers healthy self regulation processes – increases awareness into emotional reactions, values, and priorities - Insightful thinking is linked to positive outcomes - Visualizing goals promotes progress towards the goals - Both goal striving and goal progress are important for well-being

Placebo: Life Details “Life details’’ means that you take notice of the ordinary details of your life that you wouldn’t typically think about. These might include particular classes or meetings you attend, typical interactions with acquaintances, typical thoughts that you have during the day, or your typical schedule as you move through the day. In all of these cases, you may be helped to better identify problem areas in your life, and to take action to change them.

What determines the effectiveness of those techniques? Do all people benefit from all interventions the same way

Character Strengths Classification system of humans’ strengths Values In Action (VIA) (Peterson & Seligman, 2004) 24 Character Strengths and Virtues –Acting upon strengths is fulfilling and satisfying –Finding new ways to express strengths enhances positive affect and reduced negative symptoms. Some strengths were found to be most strongly associated with satisfaction with life: –Gratitude –Love –Hope –Zest –Curiosity

Aim Investigate the effect of counting blessings (CB) and best-possible self (BPS) on SWB Explore the involvement of gratitude and hope in the effect of CB and BPS

Hypotheses 1.CB and BPS will increase PA, NA, SWL (from pre- intervention to post-intervention measures) 2.Gratitude will be positively correlated with change in SWB (from pre- to post-intervention measures) in the counting blessings group 3. Hope will be positively correlated with change in SWB (from pre- to post-intervention measures) in the best possible self group

The sample 305 adults from the general community –Age range –76% females (M=26.8, SD=14.02) –21% males (M=25.91, SD=12.26) Randomly allocated to one of three groups

Measures Subjective Well-Being Positive and Negative Affect Scales (PANAS) (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985) Hope The Adult Trait Hope Scale (THS) (Snyder, Harris, Anderson, et. Al, 1991) Gratitude The Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6) (McCollough Emmons, & Tsang, 2002) Social desirability Short version of Marlowe-Crowne’s [MC-(20)] (Strahan & Gerbasi, 1972)

SWB Hope Gratitude Intervention SWB Social Desirability Online / pen and paper Participants to complete in their own time Procedure

Statistical Analysis Hypothesis 1: CB and BPS will increase PA, NA, SWL Three (2X3) mixed model Two-way ANOVAs: Within factor: Time of measurement: pre, post Between factor: Intervention type: CB, BPS, Control Depenent Variable:1.Post PA 2.Post NA 3.Post SWL

Statistical Analysis Hypothesis2: Gratitude is related to SWBchange * in CB Hypothesis3: Hope is related to SWBchange in BPS Pearson’s Correlations Separate correlations were calculated for the three intervention groups (CB, BPS, Control) between the scales: Gratitude, Hope, PAchange, NAchange, SWLchange * Change variables are (Post SWB scores) – (Pre SWB scores)

Results 1. PA: Time:F(1,302)=67.67, p<.001,  ²=.18 Intervention:F(2,302)=1.26, p>.05,  ²=.01 Interaction:F(2,302)=8.89, p<.001,  ²= NA: Time:F(1,302)=28.02, p<.001,  ²=.09 Intervention:F(2,302)=2.76, p>.05,  ²=.02 Interaction:F(2,302)=0.34, p>.05,  ²= SWL : Time:F(1,302)=65.20, p<.001,  ²=.18 Intervention:F(2,302)=.07, p>.05,  ²=.00 Interaction:F(2,302)=7.37, p<.01,  ²=.05 Three (2X3) mixed model Two-way ANOVAs: Main effects of time of measurement, main effects of intervention type, and interaction effects (time X intervention):

Results – in English Positive Affect (PA) CB, BPS (and life details) increased PA CB and BPS - greater increase than life details Negative Affect (NA) CB, BPS (and life details) decreased NA Satisfaction With Life (SWL) CB, BPS (and life details) increased SWL CB - greater increase than BPS and life details Are the counting blessings (CB) and best possible self (BPS) interventions effective?

Results InterventionPAchnageNAchangeSWBchange CBGratitude.21* N=305Hope BPSGratitude N=305Hope ControlGratitude N=305Hope * Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). Correlation Coefficients Between the Strengths Hope and Gratitude and the SWB Change Scores for CB, BPS and control Groups.

Results – in English The only significant correlation between character strengths and subjective well-being change was between: Gratitude and Positive Affect for the counting blessings group (4.3%) Are the strengths of gratitude and hope involved in the effect of the interventions?

What do the results mean? The counting blessings and the best possible self interventions can effectively enhance SWB (immediately after completing the intervention task) The life-details placebo group, can also enhance SWB The counting blessings intervention is more effective than best possible self at increasing SWL

What do the results mean? People with higher gratitude gain a greater increase in PA than people with lower gratitude by practicing counting blessing Hope does not seem to have a direct immediate effect on SWB enhancement when practicing best possible self

What do the results mean in the REAL WORLD? Happiness seekers can be taught simple writing tasks like counting blessings, best possible self, and life details These methods are simple and can be varied and adjusted according to individual’s life style and needs Positive interventions can be incorporated into traditional psychological treatments People with greater initial gratitude should be recommended to engage in the counting blessings method if they wish to increase their well-being

THANK YOU! Any questions?