Well-Being of Planet Earth Ed Diener Smiley Distinguished Professor of Psychology, University of Illinois Senior Scientist, Gallup 4 th European Conference.

Well-Beingof

Planet EarthEd DienerSmiley Distinguished Professor of Psychology, University of IllinoisSenior Scientist, Gallup

4th European Conference on Positive Psychology July 1- 4, 2008 Rijeka, Croatia

My Gratitude to:

• The Gallup Organization

Gallup World PollFirst Survey of Planet Earth

• 130+ nations

• Representative samples

• 130,000+ respondents

• Rural areas sampled

– The best poll of world ever taken Represents 96% of globe’s population

Objective conditions?

Have gone hungry this year 24%Cannot afford housing 21%Smoked yesterday 21%Unemployed 13%Assaulted past year 8%Infant morality 4%Life expectancy 68 years

Modern conveniences:

Running water in home 72%

Electricity in home 83%

T.V. in home 74%

Computer in home 26%

Signs for optimism, yetNeed for improvement!

-- Most evident in juxtaposing nations

Cannot Afford Housing

• Finland 3 %• Ireland 4 %• United Kingdom 6 %• Switzerland 8 %• Denmark 9 %• Germany 10 %• France 11 %• Spain 13 %• Belarus 40 %• Sierra Leone 62 %

Striking Disparities!• Longevity

Japan 82 years Botswana 36 years

• Smoking

Nigeria 5% Cuba 39%

• Assaulted Past Year

Japan .4% Burundi 33%

• Gone Hungry Past Year

Austria .4% Chad 78%

How are we doing on Subjective Well-being?

• Ladder of life

• Positive Emotions

• Negative Emotions

• Satisfaction with Important Domains

0: Worst Possible Life

10: Best Possible Life

9

7

8

6

5

4

3

2

1

High on Ladder

Denmark 8.0

Switzerland 7.5

Netherlands 7.5

Canada 7.4

New Zealand 7.3

United States 7.2

Venezuela 7.2

Lowest Life Ladder

Togo 3.2

Cambodia 3.6

Sierra Leone 3.6

Georgia 3.7

Zimbabwe 3.8

West Bank 4.7

More Europe

U.K. 7.0Italy 6.9Germany 6.6Czech. Rep. 6.4Greece 6.1Poland 5.6Croatia 5.4Portugal 5.4Serbia 4.6Albania 4.6

Affect Yesterday

• Unpleasant Emotions– Anger– Sad and depressed– Worried and

stressed

• Pleasant Emotions– Enjoyment– Smiling and laughing

Pleasant Emotions—Enjoyment etc.

High Low

New Zealand Armenia

Honduras Pakistan

Panama Bangladesh

Costa Rica Palestine

Puerto Rico Tajikistan

Unpleasant Emotions—Sad, Angry, Depressed, etc.

Highest Lowest

Armenia DenmarkPalestine SwedenBolivia AustriaSierra Leone Japan

Percent feelings lots yesterday ~ 40 % ~ 13 %

Satisfaction with domains(Health, standard of living, city, job)

High Low

Denmark Zimbabwe

Switzerland Haiti

Singapore Tanzania

Dissatisfied with Standard of Living

• Ukraine

• Georgia

• Romania

• Russia

• Zimbabwe

• Most satisfied: Ireland

Planetary SWB Scorecard

• Evaluating life• 40 percent dissatisfied • 40 percent doing fine • 20 percent doing very well

• Affect Balance (PA – NA)• 20 % negative• 30 % positive• 50 % very positive

What Predicts the Good Society?

Ladder of Life evaluation correlates with:

GDP per person (wealth) r = .83

Meeting basic needs (food etc.)r = .77

Low hunger, low corruption,

and longevity

Predicted Values R = .86

876543

Ladder

-- L

ife E

valu

ation

8

7

6

5

4

3

Does Anything Cause Quality of Life Other

than Money?

Beyond Money: Predicting National Levels of Ladder of Life

Regression Betas

GDP/Capita .43

Optimism .37

Can count on others .25

Beyond Money:Predicting National Positive

Emotions(Betas – all but GDP significant)

• GDP/capita -.03

• Count on someone for help .18

• Freedom to choose .26

• Learned something yesterday .68

Beyond Money: Nation-level Unpleasant Emotions

Betas

• Income .15

• Control of corruption -.36

• Assaulted .27

Happiness and Money?

• Is it basic needs like food and water?

• Or modern conveniences like electricity,

telephones, and the internet?

• Ladder of Life Beta• Basic needs (food and shelter) .27

• Modern conveniences (telly etc.) .58

• Positive Affect• Basic needs (food and shelter) .37

• Modern conveniences (telly etc.) -.19

Strongest Correlates:

• Ladder of life– Modern conveniences (electricity etc.)

• Pleasant Emotions– People I can count on

• Unpleasant Emotions– Assaulted past year

Cannot Afford Medical Care

• Japan 4 %

• Canada 8 %

• Jordan 15 %

• Iran 19 %

• USA 20 %

• Turkey 45 %

• Romania 50 %

Well-Being Accounts for Policy Use

These could enormously benefit positive psychology

Examples of Policies

• Economic– Satisfying work, unemployment

• Health– Mental health

• Social– School checkups, sex work, discrimination

• Environmental– Airport noise, air pollution, commuting

Existing Societal Measures of Well-Being

Organization of Econ. Cooperation & Development

Statistics CanadaGSOEP (Germany)BHPS (U.K.)Center for Disease Control (U.S.)United Nations?

But what about:

Adaptation?

Personal, not societal?

94 % of Danes are Above

97 % of Togolese

Ladder of Life Scores

109876543210

Perc

ent of R

espondents

50

40

30

20

10

0

DENMARK

TOGO

Affect Adaptation?

Enjoyment, laughing, smiling

Pakistan 47% v. New Zealand 88%

Anger, sadness, worry, and depression

Denmark 12% v. Iran 43%

Conclusions

National accounts of well-being can help policy makers create better societies,

and

Help positive psychologists prove their value

Two Extremely Important Psychological Points

1. Circumstances and conditions matter a LOT; it is not just individual set-point. We need stronger positive societal science!

2. Life evaluation and affect have different predictors

-- Wanting versus liking

Take-Home for Positive Psychology

PP has placed an emphasis on internal determinants

But society, neighborhoods, organizations are also important. More development of organizational PP needed.

Social psychology emphasizes the “power of the situation”

Happiness is within people, but also in their circumstances too

More Take-Home Messages

1. Life evaluation seems like “Wanting,” whereas affect is “Liking”

2. Money should not be dismissed as unimportant. But it does not completely predict the Ladder, and certainly not PA and NA, where social factors are more important.

3. We need accounts of well-being!

Diener, Lucas,Schimmack, & Helliwell

Well-being for Public Policy

Oxford University Press, 2009

“The most authoritative

and informative book

about happiness ever ^

written”

Handout overheads in front

Thank you, and:

•Questions?

•Comments?

•Discussion?