Measuring happiness
Social scientists measure happiness simply by asking people how happy they are.
It is argued that what a person says about their own happiness tends to tally with what friends or even strangers might say about them if asked the same question.
Most people say they are fairly happy.
PDAs can be used to measure happiness levels during the day
The leading American psychologist Professor Ed Diener from the University of Illinois, told The Happiness Formula that the science of happiness is based on one straightforward idea:
"It may sound silly but we ask people 'How happy are you 1-7, 1-10?
"And the interesting thing is that produces real answers that are valid, they're not perfect but they're valid and they predict all sorts of real things in their lives."
One type of measurement even tries to record people's levels of happiness throughout the day wherever they are.
Ecological momentary assessment uses hand held computers.
The person being quizzed is bleeped and then taken through a questionnaire.
"The measures are not perfect yet I think they are in many ways as good as the measures economists use," said Professor Diener.
It is a remarkable claim. Simply by asking people, we have a measure of happiness that is as good as the economists' measure of poverty or growth.
And if true, governments could be judged by how happy they make us.
An adviser to the Prime Minister, David Halpern, told us that within the next 10 years the government would be measured against how happy it made everybody.
The science of happiness
Selection bias would be a problem.
ReplyDelete