How Global Education Is Affecting Children and Youth: A Challenge to Positive Psychology?
Adrian G. White, University of Leicester - Rarely in recent years has a development in the field of academic psychology captured such widespread attention as the current developments in positive psychology on the topic of happiness. Whilst academic investigation of something as intangible as happiness may seem at first surprising the age long search for happiness, a primary motive of human behaviour, has ensured a broader audience than psychologists usually attract.
The search for happiness is not new and neither is academic interest in the topic. In 1776 the American Declaration of Independence argued for “certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” (The American Declaration of Independence, 1776, as cited in Hawke, 1964). As such, nations have been formed on the basis of the search for happiness, and this desire has been put on a par with the right to life and the right to freedom. In the U.K. interest in happiness was brought to widespread attention with the moral philosophy of Jeremy Bentham (1789) who argued that the purpose of politics should be to bring the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people.
Political interest in happiness has not diminished in modern times. A recent survey (Easton, 2006) found that 81% of the UK population agreed that the Government’s primary objective should be the creation of happiness not wealth. Earlier this year David Cameron, HM Leader of the Opposition, put happiness firmly on the political agenda by arguing that “It’s time we admitted that there’s more to life than money, and it’s time we focused not just on GDP, but on GWB – general well-being" (BBC, 2006).
It seems likely that the current political and media interest in happiness has to a large extent been provoked by a surge of research interest in the topic in economics (see Oswald & Powdthavee, 2006) and positive psychology (see Diener, 2000). Indeed psychologists have led the call for measures of subjective well-being (SWB) to form the basis of Government policy and the political assessment of a nation’s success (Diener, 2000). The increasing importance of SWB in comparison to other measures has been reviewed by Diener & Suh (1997) who concluded that “subjective well-being measures are necessary to evaluate a society, and add substantially to the economic indicators that are now favoured by policy makers” (p.189). As such psychologists are arguing that psychological theory and testing should form a basis of political governance.
It is worth taking a moment at this point to explore the psychological research into SWB. In the literature a major distinction is drawn between brief emotional episodes, periods of joy or acute happiness, and an underlying state of happiness. This underlying state is conceptualised as a sense of satisfaction with one’s life, both in general and in specific areas of one’s life such as relationships, health and work. It is this underlying state of happiness, a measure of subjective well-being (SWB), that is the focus of most current research. A good example of this is the Satisfaction With Life Scale (Pavot & Diener, 1993), a currently popular measure of SWB.
The measurement of something as intangible as SWB is not without difficulties. Schwarz & Stack (1999) have shown, for example, that temporary mood states can influence a participant’s response to SWB measures. However others have shown that temporary moods have only a marginal effect on SWB responses when compared to longer-term influences (Eid & Diener,1999). It has also been shown the long-term changes to an individuals circumstances can affect levels of SWB (countering the suggestion that SWB is biologically determined). Brickman, Coates & Janoff-Bulman (1978) showed that lottery winners were significantly happier than controls, and controls were happier than people who had recently become paraplegics (although the effect was insufficient to reject the null hypothesis due to a small sample size). As such it has been shown that temporary mood states have only a marginal effect on SWB, whilst long term changes and situational factors have a significant effect on SWB.
Whilst happiness is in itself intangible measures of SWB have been shown to be both valid and reliable (Pavot & Diener, 1993). In addition, measure of SWB have shown to be closely associated with more tangible outcomes that would be expected to correlate with measures of SWB. There is extensive evidence of correlations between SWB and general health (Diener, 2000). Arrindell, Heesink & Feij (1999) also found that the use of medical services correlated negatively with SWB. This finding was further supported by Eid & Diener (1999) who showed that SWB was a significant predictor of mental health levels.
Having shown that SWB is affected by long-term situational factors, and that SWB is closely associated with positive outcomes, researchers in positive psychology have focussed on how to increase levels of SWB (see Snyder, 2002, and Seligman, 2006). Diener (2000) has shown the effect of financial well-being on SWB. Additionally, Inglehart (1990) has shown meeting the basic needs of people, needs such as healthcare, education and housing, have strong effects on SWB.
In the map shown here international levels of SWB are presented in a global projection. The data on SWB was extracted from a meta-analysis by Marks, Abdallah, Simms & Thompson (2006). This is the first time a map of global happiness has been published. It is immediately evident that there is an effect of poverty on levels of SWB. The map itself mirrors other projection of poverty and GDP. This data on SWB was compared with data on access to education (UNESCO, 2005), health (United Nations, 2005), and poverty (CIA, 2006). It was found that SWB correlated most strongly with health (.7) closely followed by wealth (.6) and access to basic education (.6). This adds to the evidence that from a global perspective the biggest causes of SWB are poverty and associated variables.
Positive psychological research is almost exclusively focussed in the West (see Snyder, 2002). It is notable from the map above that the areas where research into SWB is greatest are in the very countries where SWB is already highest. It is also notable that positive psychology is currently undergoing something of a transformation. What was initially a predominantly academic field (and in particular not a clinical one) is increasingly becoming a commercial activity. Companies offering positive psychology services are proliferating.
Whilst the interest in SWB within positive psychology is to be welcomed it is interesting to note that the commercial development of the subject is in the very countries where SWB is highest. This leaves positive psychology open to the accusation of selling self-help to the worried well. The current lack of positive psychological studies in countries where levels of SWB are low does nothing to assuage this concern. It is worth asking where are the positive psychological studies exploring the effects on SWB of providing healthcare and education to communities that have never before has access to such resources? An approach that explored these questions really could be called positive psychology.
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NEPS 2007References
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Appendix
Nation
SWLS Score
DENMARK
273
SWITZERLAND
273
AUSTRIA
260
ICELAND
260
BAHAMAS
257
FINLAND
257
SWEDEN
257
BHUTAN
253
BRUNEI DARUSSALAM
253
CANADA
253
IRELAND
253
LUXEMBOURG
253
COSTA RICA
250
MALTA
250
NETHERLANDS
250
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
247
MALAYSIA
247
NEW ZEALAND
247
NORWAY
247
SEYCHELLES
247
ST KITTS AND NEVIS
247
UAE
247
USA
247
VANUATU
247
VENEZUELA
247
AUSTRALIA
243
BARBADOS
243
BELGIUM
243
DOMINICA
243
OMAN
243
SAUDI ARABIA
243
SURINAME
243
BAHRAIN
240
COLUMBIA
240
GERMANY
240
GUYANA
240
HONDURAS
240
KUWAIT
240
PANAMA
240
ST VINCENT AND THE
240
UNITED KINGDOM
237
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
233
GUATEMALA
233
JAMAICA
233
QATAR
233
SPAIN
233
ST LUCIA
233
BELIZE
230
CYPRUS
230
ITALY
230
MEXICO
230
SAMOA WESTERN
230
SINGAPORE
230
SOLOMON ISLANDS
230
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
230
ARGENTINA
227
FIJI
223
ISRAEL
223
MONGOLIA
223
SAO TOME AND PERINI
223
EL SALVADOR
220
FRANCE
220
HONG KONG
220
INDONESIA
220
KYRGYZSTAN
220
MALDIVES
220
SLOVENIA
220
TAIWAN
220
TIMOR-LESTE
220
TONGA
220
CHILE
217
GRENADA
217
MAURITIUS
217
NAMIBIA
217
PARAGUAY
217
THAILAND
217
CZECH REPUBLIC
213
PHILIPPINES
213
TUNISIA
213
UZBEKISTAN
213
BRAZIL
210
CHINA
210
CUBA
210
GREECE
210
NICARAGUA
210
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
210
URUGUAY
210
GABON
207
GHANA
207
JAPAN
207
YEMEN
207
PORTUGAL
203
SRI LANKA
203
TAJIKISTAN
203
VIETNAM
203
IRAN
200
COMOROS
197
CROATIA
197
POLAND
197
CAPE VERDI
193
KAZAKHSTAN
193
MADAGASCAR
193
SOUTH KOREA
193
BANGLADESH
190
CONGO REPUBLIC
190
GAMBIA
190
HUNGARY
190
LIBYA
190
SOUTH AFRICA
190
CAMBODIA
187
ECUADOR
187
KENYA
187
LEBANON
187
MOROCCO
187
PERU
187
SENEGAL
187
BOLIVIA
183
HAITI
183
NEPAL
183
NIGERIA
183
TANZANIA
183
BENIN
180
BOTSWANA
180
GUINEA-BISSAU
180
INDIA
180
LAOS
180
MOZAMBIQUE
180
PALESTINE
180
SLOVAKIA
180
BURMA
177
MALI
177
MAURITANIA
177
TURKEY
177
ALGERIA
173
EQUATORIAL GUINEA
173
ROMANIA
173
BOSNIA & HERZE
170
CAMEROON
170
ESTONIA
170
GUINEA
170
JORDAN
170
SYRIA
170
SIERRA LEONE
167
AZERBAIJAN
163
CENTRAL AFRICAN RE
163
MACEDONIA
163
TOGO
163
ZAMBIA
163
ANGOLA
160
DJIBOUTI
160
EGYPT
160
BURKINA FASO
157
ETHIOPIA
157
LATVIA
157
LITHUANIA
157
UGANDA
157
ALBANIA
153
MALAWI
153
CHAD
150
IVORY COAST
150
NIGER
150
ERITREA
147
RWANDA
147
BULGARIA
143
LESOTHO
143
PAKISTAN
143
RUSSIA
143
SWAZILAND
140
GEORGIA
137
BELARUS
133
TURKMENISTAN
133
ARMENIA
123
SUDAN
120
UKRAINE
120
MOLDOVA
117
CONGO DEMOCRATIC
110
ZIMBABWE
110
BURUNDI
100
The table above gives the SWLS score for each country presented in the map. Data on SWLS is extracted from Marks, N., Abdallah, S., Simms, A, Thompson, S. (2006). Scores have been presented from an index baseline of 100 for ease of comparison. For more information on the Marks et al (2006) study, and the work of the NEF, follow this
