Happiness concepts and research

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 which include, income level, education level, culture, values and beliefs. Kahneman & Schwarz (2009) confirm that the link between advanced income and happiness is fantasy. The two researchers further ascertained that inheriting a lot of money or earning as anticipated does not make one happy. This is because once one is in possession of huge sum of money; one does not necessarily spend it to make him/her happy.

The third hypothesis point out that education and income increases the level of happiness in a person's life. Studies carried between 1965 and 1994 confirmed that education and income level are causes and correlates of happiness. Education and occupation correlate with subjective well-being.

Methods

The research method for quantitative approach will be based on questions and hypotheses that are subject to rigorous testing under controlled conditions. This paradigm is strappingly linked with a quantitative research instrument, which include the highly structured questionnaires and statistical analysis. Quantitative research assists the researcher in affirming the number value to the occurrence being tested (Cooper & Schindler, 2006). In this regard, employment of quantitative research analysis in this particular research will facilitate investigation of the link between happiness, cultural values, educational levels and income level.

Participants

The research will take a quantitative perspective where experiential means will be used exclusively for the purpose of findings. The population for this research will involve 25 high schools, colleges and university students. The sample will also involve 25 employees from these institutions thereby forming a study sample of 50 participants. A population from learning institutions will aid the research in establishing whether their levels of education, income levels and cultural values and practices lead to greater happiness or subjective-well-being. The research will utilize a random sample of 25 students and 25 employees from different educational institutions. Random sampling gives every member of the population being studied a prospect to be included in the sample. The response rate will be viewed as a representative sample of the population. Random sampling will help in achievement of unbiased findings, and it is the simplest form of sampling that gives all the respondents an equivalent prospect of being included in the study sample.

Materials

Data collection instrument will entail close-ended questionnaires. These data instrument will contain questions and their dichotomous choices that each respondent will be required to fill. The dichotomous choices provided in the questionnaires will include a) Very happy, b) Pretty happy, c) Not too happy. The use of this type of data collection instruments is effective for both the researcher and respondents. This is because a respondent is only required to answer the questions from the list of provided choices and no additional information, which could lead to misapprehensions, is needed. The questionnaire will contain details on gender, occupational, age, educational level, cultural beliefs and religion and income level. The questions that will be provided in the questionnaires will include:

1. How would rate your happiness and educational level

2. How would rate your happiness and your income level

3. How would rate your happiness and your religion

Procedures

This research adopts use of both primary and secondary data. The researchers will consult a wide body of literature to gather secondary data. In this view, secondary data will be collected from available literature, which include books, research articles and institutional websites. Primary Data for this research will be collected from highly structured questionnaires. The research will make the most of one subordinate to transmit and receive emails from the participants. The researcher will code the collected data and subject it to quantitative analysis using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) in order to draw convincing conclusions.

Data Analysis

Data collected from the survey instruments and data collected from available literature on happiness will be analysed through SPSS Predictive Analytics Software. To confirm the questions, analysis will include validation, descriptive and inferential statistics (Muijs, 2011). The data analysis procedure will generate data about the participants, their cultural background, values, beliefs, their extent of education and their income level.

Results

In order to determine relevant conclusions in relation to the collected data, it was essential to subject the findings for quantitative analysis through Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS). This is essential in the realization of conclusive findings with reference to the confirmation of the hypotheses concerning the research questions on happiness. The findings of the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) are as follows: in the examination of the relationship between happiness and education, about 2039 participants took place. According to the results of this analysis, about 41.6% of the participants noted a relationship between happiness and education. This compares to overwhelming 58.4% that indicated no relationship between the variables.

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. The second hypothesis indicate that there is no relationship between happiness and socio-demographic variables which include, income level, education level, culture, values and beliefs. The third hypothesis point out that education and income increases the level of happiness in a person's life. In the examination of this hypothesis, levels of education (LT high, high school, junior college, bachelor, and graduate) were measured in relation to happiness on three categories: very happy, happy, and not happy.

The results of the exercise indicated mixed reflections because high school level reflected the highest percentages in comparison with the other levels of education. This is through projection of 49.7, 52.4, and 49.0% for the 3 categories of independent variable. This is a reflection that there is relationship between the happiness and socio demographic variables. The analysis the chi-square test is a reflection of the need to accept the first hypothesis and reject the alternative hypothesis in the second aspect. In order to confirm the rationale for accepting the null hypothesis, levels of income were also expressed against the independent variable on the three categories. According to the results, there is increase in the level of happiness as the income increases. This is evident through the massive 60% for income above $25,000. This confirms the null hypothesis thus the need to accept its proposition for the relationship between happiness and socioeconomic factors. It is also essential to understand the role of religion affiliation on the rate of happiness. According to the data analysis, majority of Protestants are happy because of their religious affiliation.

Discussion

In the examination of influence of education on the concept of happiness, there was critical evaluation of the dependent variables and independent variables. In this case, happiness was the aspect of the dependent variable under the influence of three factors: very happy, happy, and not very happy. In the execution of the exercise, 2039 students participated under different levels: LT high school, junior college, bachelor, and graduate. About 42% of the students confirmed the relationship between the concept of happiness and the level of education. This is mainly associated with influence of factors such as achievement, favorable environment, performance, and interactive environment.

About 13% of the LT high school children who participated in the research exercises were very happy. This is quite lower than the 46% of the students at level 1 high school. This is mainly because of the childhood development timeline because at this stage, children have the opportunity to interact with the environment effectively and efficiently. This indicates that they enjoy playing time with other children thus making them very happy with the situation. This is an expression of the quality interaction with the environment and playing activities. At junior college level, the level of happiness is quite low in comparison to the other lower levels. This is mainly because of the volume of work, lack of achievement, and stressful living conditions facing the students as they tackle their educational pursuits. Approximately one fifth of the bachelor students who participated in the exercise are very happy. This is mainly because of the achievements in their development, growth, and knowledge pursuit. The percentage level of very happy reduces at the graduate level.

This might be because of inability to achieve the goals and objectives of the knowledge pursuit thus affecting their level of happiness. Graduates also do not express high level of happiness because of pretence. Most of these students think and believe that expression of happiness is intimidating. They associate happiness with small children and rich people. Majority of the students at LT high school level are not happy. This is a reflection of inability to associate with the new environment and draw satisfaction from relevant interactions. Majority of high school students are also not too happy. This is because of lack of the opportunity to exploit their options. The students under this level of education operate under strict regulations at home and school thus unhappy about these levels of interactions. As they move to higher education levels, the level of unhappiness reduces drastically. This is because most of the individuals enjoy their academic achievements, freedom, and various experiences contributing to cases of happiness. The opportunities and achievements are the driving factors in relation to increase in the level of happiness as individuals move up the academic ladder. Conclusively, there is clear high level of happiness in relation to individuals or students at High school level.