Physical Characteristics

A positive relationship has been found between the volume of gray matter in the right precuneus area of the brain, and the subject's subjective happiness score.[68] A six-week mindfulness based intervention was found to correlate with a significant gray matter increase within the precuneus.[69]

Research that examines the relationship between age and subjective well-being shows that peak psychological well-being can be found in an individual’s old age, which also reflects the time in their life when self-discrepancy is least available and accessible to an individual. By understanding what maximizes the utility of an individual’s experiences, an individual can gain the ability to ensure that they age positively. Since this research shows the significant impact goal discrepancies have on an individual’s subjective well-being, it is also implied that managing an individual's goal discrepancies serves as a tool to maintain positive subjective well-being.[70] The research behind the effect of leisure activities on SWB comes to the conclusion that SWB decreases in old age, adding that quality of life also begins to decrease for this demographic.[71]

Leisure

There are a number of domains that are thought to contribute to subjective well-being. In a study by Hribernik and Mussap (2010), leisure satisfaction was found to predict unique variance in life satisfaction, supporting its inclusion as a distinct life domain contributing to subjective well-being.[72] Additionally, relationship status interacted with age group and gender on differences in leisure satisfaction. The relationship between leisure satisfaction and life satisfaction, however, was reduced when considering the impact of core affect (underlying mood state). This suggests that leisure satisfaction may primarily be influenced by an individual's SWB level as represented by core affect. This has implications for possible limitations in the extent to which leisure satisfaction may be improved beyond pre-existing levels of well-being and mood in individuals. Multiple sources have examined the way that leisure activities can positively impact an individual’s SWB through assessing relational consumption.[28] Research shows that regular leisure activities are positively correlated with SWB while the individual’s preferred activity itself may vary between gender and age groups, thus indicating the need for further study around SWB benefits provided by leisure activities in relation to gender and age. One leisure activity that research has shown to benefit both genders and all age groups is leisure activities involving family. Going forward, research examining the effects of adolescent’s engagement in leisure activities over a long period of time may show their long-term effects on an individual's SWB throughout their life.[71]

Cultural variations

Although all cultures seem to value happiness, cultures vary in how they define happiness. There is also evidence that people in more individualistic cultures tend to rate themselves as higher in subjective well-being compared to people in more collectivistic cultures.[73]

In Western cultures, predictors of happiness include elements that support personal independence, a sense of personal agency, and self-expression. In Eastern cultures, predictors of happiness focus on an interdependent self that is inseparable from significant others. Compared to people in individualistic cultures, people in collectivistic cultures are more likely to base their judgments of life satisfaction on how significant others appraise their life than on the balance of inner emotions experienced as pleasant versus unpleasant. Pleasant emotional experiences have a stronger social component in East Asian cultures compared to Western ones. For example, people in Japan are more likely to associate happiness with interpersonally engaging emotions (such as friendly feelings), whereas people in the United States are more likely to associate happiness with interpersonally disengaging emotions (pride, for example).[73] There are also cultural differences in motives and goals associated with happiness. For example, Asian Americans tend to experience greater happiness after achieving goals that are pleasing to or approved of by significant others compared to European Americans. There is also evidence that high self-esteem, a sense of personal control and a consistent sense of identity relate more strongly to SWB in Western cultures than they do in Eastern ones. However, this is not to say that these things are unimportant to SWB in Eastern cultures. Research has found that even within Eastern cultures, people with high self-esteem and a more consistent sense of identity are somewhat happier than those who are low in these characteristics. There is no evidence that low self-esteem and so on[vague] are actually beneficial to SWB in any known culture.[73]

A large body of research evidence has confirmed that people in individualistic societies report higher levels of happiness than people in collectivistic ones and that socioeconomic factors alone are insufficient to explain this difference.[73] In addition to political and economic differences, individualistic versus collectivistic nations reliably differ in a variety of psychological characteristics that are related to SWB, such as emotion norms and attitudes to the expression of individual needs. Collectivistic cultures are based around the belief that the individual exists for the benefit of the larger social unit, whereas more individualistic cultures assume the opposite. Collectivistic cultures emphasize maintaining social order and harmony and therefore expect members to suppress their personal desires when necessary in order to promote collective interests. Such cultures therefore consider self-regulation more important than self-expression or than individual rights. Individualistic cultures by contrast emphasize the inalienable value of each person and expect individuals to become self-directive and self-sufficient. Although people in collectivistic cultures may gain happiness from the social approval they receive from suppressing self-interest, research seems to suggest that self-expression produces a greater happiness "payoff" compared to seeking approval outside oneself.[73]

Despite westerners reporting higher levels of subjective well-being than easterners, they also have more frequent reports of depression.[74] The differing beliefs on self-expression help explain what may at first seem paradoxical. Westerners tend to encourage individual expression, which leads to a greater focus on one's own emotions. This increased self-awareness combines with the normative belief that joy should be more common than sadness. People living under these conditions can catastrophize their own negative emotions; feeling increased sadness over the fact that they are either not currently happy or frequently happy.[75] Easterners tend to be more concerned about their collective's feelings over their own individual feelings. They do not typically catastrophize their sadness but instead learn to brush it off.

Blue-collar immigrant workers fill a significant gap in the world economy, yet their experiences are often either overlooked or overly generalized, such as research that measures all immigrant's experiences as a single group. Research has shown that the country which a person immigrates to has a significant influence on their experience with SWB. The nature of immigration also leads to immediate resource loss when a person leaves their family and community of origin.[27] An individual’s cultural values may ultimately prevent them from seeking a psychological need if it is not supported by those values, highlighting that determining the uniform psychological needs of a population from research requires careful consideration of the population’s cultural variations.[39]

One conclusion that can be drawn from the research behind the advantages of data-driven methods over word-level methods in assessing SWB of a population is that cultural variations may be overlooked or biases may arise unconsciously from word-level methods, while data-driven methods can accurately account for the socioeconomic implications of language beyond the positive or negative influence of the word.[45]

Positive psychology

Positive psychology is particularly concerned with the study of SWB.[12][76] Positive psychology was founded by Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) who identified that psychology is not just the study of pathology, weakness, and damage; but it is also the study of strength and virtue.[77] Researchers in positive psychology have pointed out that in almost every culture studied the pursuit of happiness is regarded as one of the most valued goals in life.[citation needed] Understanding individual differences in SWB is of key interest in positive psychology, particularly the issue of why some people are happier than others. Some people continue to be happy in the face of adversity whereas others are chronically unhappy at the best of times.[66]

Positive psychology has investigated how people might improve their level of SWB and maintain these improvements over the longer term, rather than returning to baseline.[76] Lyubomirsky (2001) argued that SWB is influenced by a combination of personality/genetics (studies have found that genetic influences usually account for 35-50% of the variance in happiness measures), external circumstances, and activities that affect SWB.[78] She argued that changing one's external circumstances tends to have only a temporary effect on SWB, whereas engaging in activities (mental and/or physical) that enhance SWB can lead to more lasting improvements in SWB.[76] Research shows that positive psychology can be used to determine the point at which an individual’s SWB is in homeostasis, meaning a reliable baseline can be provided to assess and maintain the SWB of a population.[34] By defining a normative range from which to measure SWB, positive psychology is able to identify individuals and groups that may benefit the most from interventions. Research also tells us that when the SWB of a group is initially very low, any intervention will likely be sufficient in providing the resources needed to support the return of their SWB to homeostatic levels.[34]

Nature

The recent interest in subjective well-being components described in literature has led to research into value of urban green spaces. If we continue to include SWB measurements when creating urban spaces, then we will continue to gain a better understanding of how urban planning influences an individual’s experience.[13] A better understanding of psychological and medical topics will lead us to seek the benefits that come from improving our relationship with nature as humans. As we deepen our understanding of ourselves and our experience, we must also recognize the value that the environment provides to humans and the value that humans provide to the environment. Research reviews around the SWB benefits associated with cultural economic systems show the need for established universal terminology to allow for the ease of interdisciplinary collaboration.[21] Because a person’s relationship with nature can be assessed both objectively and subjectively, it is difficult to measure all of the benefits UGS's provide to the SWB of society.[13]

Research shows that nature relatedness directly impacts an individual’s SWB. Nature relatedness is defined as our connection as humans to the rest of the universe. Greater nature relatedness in people reflects greater affect and life satisfaction when evaluating the impact of nature relatedness on the components of subjective well-being, and also reflects a strong correlation between nature relatedness and eudaimonic perspectives when environmental attitudes are part of the control group.[79]

According to Sonja Lyubomirsky, the determinants of happiness are a combination of a person's genetic set-point, intentional activities and life circumstances.[80]

Use in happiness economics

Economic factors

Economic systems theory offers a baseline for various disciplines to determine value.[21]

Macroeconomics infers a positive correlation between gross domestic product and national income with citizen’s individual welfare.[28] Current research into objective macroeconomic influences can be used to evaluate society and inform public policy by inferring SWB expectations for the future. Even when focusing on the internal components of an individual’s happiness, it is still clear that macroeconomic factors positively influence SWB while providing a reliable source of measurement to determine an individual’s experience in society. Shared Socioeconomic Pathways have emerged from the research behind the relationship between SWB and the macroeconomic factors which coincide with an individual’s life-satisfaction. The SSP’s developed by this research have pushed the interdisciplinary boundaries by using data from both past experiences and future expectations to address climate change issues. The discipline may also continue to grow through the development of scenarios which measure both social support and freedom of choice, and by using Sustainable Development Goals to implement another long-term scenario supported by the concept that SWB is a static factor. The goal of welfare research is to quantify the social welfare function, a process that has been propelled forward by the increased accessibility of SWB data. Early welfare literature highlights social choice theory as the methodology behind collectively conveying the experience of the individual to express the social welfare function. Despite the many variables accounted for in this research, the conclusion that socio-economic development will strongly influence the SWB of the population remains constant and clear.[82]

Microeconomics infers that an individual maximizes the utility of their resources through consumption. Microeconomic theory overlooks the value saving can have on an individual's experience, and also directly influenced the thinking behind researching the relationship between SWB and consumption.[28]

Workplace

SWB in the workplace increases productivity and the meaning people make through their work. Many factors can affect SWB in the workplace. One of the bigger factors is negative gossip. A study from Xiamen University found that negative gossip is highly correlated with low levels of SWB. To combat this issue, Cheng et al. suggest offering support to employees who feel psychological distress and help the staff increase their emotional intelligence.

When a person has high levels of SWB in the workplace, that person is often more productive.[83] SWB helps employees to feel less burned out, leading to higher productivity and more desire or willingness to work extra hours. Many people consider SWB, in the workplace specifically, as a necessary condition for happiness.[84] In other words, these people are saying that, if they do not feel SWB in the workplace, they will not feel happiness in life.

Employee's SWB has not only lead to higher profits, but also higher customer loyalty and lower turnover.[85] Prioritizing the SWB of the employees benefits all aspects of an organization.