Concepts of Happiness Across Time and Cultures

被引:208
作者
Oishi, Shigehiro [1 ]
Graham, Jesse [2 ]
Kesebir, Selin [3 ]
Galinha, Iolanda Costa [4 ]
机构
[1] Univ Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904 USA
[2] Univ So Calif, Los Angeles, CA USA
[3] London Business Sch, London NW1 4SA, England
[4] Univ Autonoma Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
关键词
happiness; subjective well-being; culture; historical; INDIVIDUALISM-COLLECTIVISM; LIFE SATISFACTION; PEOPLE; CONSEQUENCES; PREVALENCE; EMOTIONS; LANGUAGE; DECISION; HAPPY; LOST;
D O I
10.1177/0146167213480042
中图分类号
B84 [心理学];
学科分类号
04 ; 0402 ;
摘要
We explored cultural and historical variations in concepts of happiness. First, we analyzed the definitions of happiness in dictionaries from 30 nations to understand cultural similarities and differences in happiness concepts. Second, we analyzed the definition of happiness in Webster's dictionaries from 1850 to the present day to understand historical changes in American English. Third, we coded the State of the Union addresses given by U. S. presidents from 1790 to 2010. Finally, we investigated the appearance of the phrases happy nation versus happy person in Google's Ngram Viewer from 1800 to 2008. Across cultures and time, happiness was most frequently defined as good luck and favorable external conditions. However, in American English, this definition was replaced by definitions focused on favorable internal feeling states. Our findings highlight the value of a historical perspective in the study of psychological concepts.
引用
收藏
页码:559 / 577
页数:19
相关论文
共 65 条
[51]   Does living in California make people happy? A focusing illusion in judgments of life satisfaction [J].
Schkade, DA ;
Kahneman, D .
PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE, 1998, 9 (05) :340-346
[52]  
Semin GR, 2000, EUR J SOC PSYCHOL, V30, P595, DOI 10.1002/1099-0992(200009/10)30:5<595::AID-EJSP23>3.0.CO
[53]  
2-A
[54]  
Siedlecki Karen L, 2008, J Posit Psychol, V3, P153, DOI 10.1080/17439760701834602
[55]   Qualitative and quantitative analyses of historical data [J].
Simonton, DK .
ANNUAL REVIEW OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2003, 54 :617-640
[56]  
Slater D., 1997, CONSUMER CULTURE MOD
[57]  
Triandis HC., 1995, INDIVIDUALISM COLLEC, DOI DOI 10.4324/9780429499845
[58]   Do today's young people really think they are so extraordinary? - An examination of secular trends in narcissism and self-enhancement [J].
Trzesniewski, Kali H. ;
Donnellan, M. Brent ;
Robins, Richard W. .
PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE, 2008, 19 (02) :181-188
[59]   Ideal Affect Cultural Causes and Behavioral Consequences [J].
Tsai, Jeanne L. .
PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE, 2007, 2 (03) :242-259
[60]  
Twenge J. M., 2012, CHANGES PRONOUNS USE