Research Paper on "Happiness"

Research Paper 13 pages (3680 words) Sources: 10 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Happiness

Scores of researchers have studied the link between happiness, income and educational level. The results from these studies indicate that rising income does not necessarily result in substantial rise in happiness. The relationship between happiness and income breaks down at higher income levels. Happiness refers to the mental and emotional condition or a good feeling that happens only at given times. This paper explores the link between education level, income level, culture and happiness. A sample of 50 people will be involved in the research and data will be corrected via highly structured questionnaires. The study will employ a quantitative approach with statistical analysis.

Introduction

Happiness is a choice that calls for effort at all times. Life is an expedition into the very implication of happiness in the very face of all struggles of life. Life itself is what makes people understand the distinctiveness between of its beauty and baubles. It calls into play every component of happiness to which each of the belief leads people to happiness. Present studies attempts to add value to the need to bring ability and happiness perspective to the development of human beings. Aristotle, a philosopher, made a great contribution in the study of happiness and human development via his virtue concept as a basis of bona fide happiness. Aristotle asserted that happiness lies within a complete self-sufficient and final end. Every human being makes every effort for an end.

In this regard, there is a close link between socio demographic variables such as educational level, cultural values, socioeconomic status, and happiness. In the past few years, studies regarding subjective well-being have attained a remarkable increase. One of the definitions of well-being is happiness. Happiness is not only one of the major objectives in an individual's life, but it holds crucial effects on mental and physical health of a person. In the past years, the world population has doubled from 3.9 billion to 6.3 billion. Each additional person brings augmented demands for education, housing, employment, healthcare, food and water which all elements that leads to happiness. As a result, people strive to attain better education and employment in order to attain happiness.

Happiness remains the most treasured but indefinable of all human desires. The link between happiness and other variables has been estimated through multiple and simple regression analysis With data on happiness and divergent life domains, it becomes significant to develop a model that explains the relationship between happiness and the independent variable such as income level, culture and the level of education. The purpose of this research is to explore the link between happiness, cultural values and beliefs, income and educational level. By ascertaining the link between education levels, cultural values, income level and education, blueprints that will support educational achievements can be assessed to facilitate, education for all people that will subsequently help them achieve their ultimate goal.

Literature Review

Education

According to Kahneman & Schwarz (2009), there is a great amount of information regarding the impacts of the socio-demographic variable of, sex, age, education, education among others included as the causes and correlates of happiness in social surveys. Kahneman & Schwarz (2009) cite studies carried between 1965 and 1994 that confirmed the causes and correlates of happiness. Education and occupation correlate with subjective happiness. Kahneman & Schwarz (2009) further asserts that happiness depends on the goal-achievement gap and motivation over time. It has been found out that while men become happier as their age advances, women become less happy. However, happiness cannot influence age, but the link between happiness and age is due to cohort discrepancies; older persons are on average less educated and they hold lower expectations besides being more concerned with fundamental survival.

Income

The relationship between the level of income and happiness measures is evident. The Euro-barometer surveys indicated that 86% of those in the upper quartile of incomes felt fulfilled or felt very satisfied as compared to the seventy-two percent of the lowest quartile (Kahneman & Schwarz, 2009). In American studies, the relationship between happiness and income level was not big. According to Kahneman & Schwarz (2009), rich people enjoy a high living standard, better food, housing, education and have access to better healthcare. Having a lot of money enhances happiness. This is because money is good for marriage as it allows a couple to have their own place to live in. According to Kahneman & Schwarz (2009), Aristotle claimed that human beings desired money, pleasure and honor because they trust that these goods will lead to their happiness. He states that money and honor are means linking to the ultimate goal, which is happiness. Bruni & Porta (2007) claim the weak link between happiness and income is because of using reported income as a measure of economic well-being and commends the formation of a detailed measure of economic well-being.

According to Kahneman & Schwarz (2009), international comparisons of self-reported happiness demonstrate that considerable income links directly to considerable happiness only until per capital incomes attains the half to two-thirds of levels of income in the United States. Beyond this point, the link between advanced income and happiness is fantasy. Indexes that have a connection with GDP to professed well-being offer similar results. For instance, a display offered by San Francisco-based research group redefining progress established that until 1970s the well-being of Americans rose as the Gross Domestic Product rose (Kahneman & Schwarz, 2009). However, since then the happiness of America has declined in spite of an increase in a per capital Gross Domestic Product.

According to Malcolm & Yap (2007), life expectancy, mortality of infants, socioeconomic factors, cultural beliefs and values, and educational achievement among other factors of well-being do not correlate directly to personal income. Kahneman & Schwarz (2009) further assert that inheriting a lot of money or earning does not necessarily lead to happiness. While this assertion is intuitive, it is correct because once one is in possession of huge sum of money; one does not necessarily spend it to make himself or herself happy. Some give the money to benefit others or for charity purpose.

Culture

According to Malcolm & Yap (2007), the idea of subjective happiness is an intricate one, over which scores of discrepancies and deviations exist and act together with other factors such as income, work, health, family relationships, friends and communities. Past studies have indicated that there is conflicting evidence, lack of confidence on the course of causality and concern over the effect on the results of potentially disregarded variables. These studies show that life conditions, which include education, health, feeding and occupation besides personal and cultural values can, affect subjective well-being. Nevertheless, there is still certain proof that upholds that this contribution is not complete and its involvement is pertinent until a given level, after which effects declines.

The differences are evident within happiness and demographic variables. Other studies such as the one carried out by Peterson & Welzel, 2008 & Fritjters & Shield (2007), established that cultural variables could influence subjective well-being (Bruni & Porta, 2007). On the other hand, Graham (2010), and Cornelis (2010) claim that there lacks an apparent link between socioeconomic level and happiness. In response, Kahneman (2010) and Stutzer (2004) studies promotes the view on how there is a close link between socioeconomic level and happiness.

The absence of a powerful link between happiness and money can be explained by the responsibility of values and culture in a person's life. According Bruni & Porta (2007), a person can define success through considering the amount of money one posses, the house one lives in, the car one drives, happiness in one's family and more importantly the level of ones education. Therefore, depending on intrinsic values, an individual might describe happiness interns of money and as a result become unhappy if he/she considers the amount of money he/she posses as inadequate (Bruni & Porta, 2007). It is probable that the impact of income on happiness depends on a person's beliefs as well as the significance that an individual assigns to economic prosperity. Bruni & Porta (2007) assert that values and culture can help in explaining the income paradox. The answer to what entails a good life strongly depends on the values an individual or a society holds. Human values refer to the desirable goals that serve as a guiding principle in a person's life. As results, the weak relationship between happiness and income according to Bruni & Porta (2007) is because of disparities in people's values and beliefs.

Hypotheses

The first hypothesis indicates that there is a close link between happiness and socio-demographic variables, which include income level, education level, culture, values and beliefs. Education, culture, age and income level correlate with subjective-well-being. Kahneman & Schwarz (2009) claim that highly paid people enjoy a high living standard, better food, housing, education and have access to better healthcare. They further ascertained that having a lot of money promotes subjective-well being.

The second hypothesis indicate that there is no relationship between happiness and socio-demographic variables… READ MORE

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