What is happiness? Is it love? Is It wealth? Is it purpose? Is it joy? This essential question has plagued humans throughout history. Ancient thinkers like Aristotle or Plato dedicated their lives to exploring questions related to the question of happiness. Nonetheless, happiness is not just a pursuit for those who think too much.The exploration of this question can have real and practical implications. The question of happiness is the core of our project, and the medium of which this is being explored is data. As a group we were particularly interested in this data set because it was relevant to all our lives and to the very human question of how we can be fulfilled and thrive.
Our project seeks to question and further explore the World Happiness Report. The WHR is a survey of global rankings of subjective happiness. The report is based on responses to six factors that encompass life evaluations, positive emotions, and negative emotions. The report has been going on for ten years since 2012. After examining the data from the World Happiness Report in 2020, our group was interested in exploring the question as to why the Nordic countries consistently ranked the highest out of all the countries in the world. Do the questions being asked in the data set have a bias that favors Nordic perspectives of subjective happiness? Or are there actual concrete reasons rooted in culture, policy, or geographical location that result in Nordic countries being happier? Although the data used in the 2020 WHR report comes from a variety of sources, the central source used is the Gallup World Poll, which is a set of questions conducted in over 140 languages that address site-specific questions regarding law, food, shelter, institutions, infrastructure, jobs, wellbeing and education. This data is central to the WHR and our research questions because the WHR focuses more on life expectancy and access to resources rather than more philosophical questions as to what happiness really is.
When dealing with the question of what happiness is however, there exists a vast array of differing opinions in common literature and scholarly articles. Many articles state the need to take a multi-faced approach to happiness, and the importance of taking into consideration all the factors that contribute to a happy whole. In our research, we sought to examine what current literature says on the topic of happiness. For example, the book “Economics and Happiness: Framing the Analysis” discusses how just because a person may have origins in a wealthier country or seem to be more financially stable it doesn’t mean their happiness is guaranteed. This source will bridge these connections. This book gives an overview of the relationship between happiness and economics with a particular emphasis on the more recent developments in the field of happiness. Essays from the book are important because they provide a deeper look into the connection of money and happiness. This book is specifically helpful because it provides because its writings provide a specific contribution in highlighting the comparative role and influence of money and happiness. (Rodogno, 2008) On the other hand, the article Social Development and Happiness in Nations discusses how the term “social development” is often used to contrast with “economic growth”, and how many people don’t associate the two together. The article discusses how civic involvement and gender equality appear to boost happiness more than economic prosperity. However, more engagement in associations and less disagreement among individuals are associated with lower levels of enjoyment. Intergroup conflict does not appear to be connected to overall pleasure. (Veenhoven, 2012) Another perspective on what constitutes happiness is illustrated in the article “Contentment and affect in the estimation of happiness” which discusses the importance subjective emotions. According to one view, we compare how life is to how life should be. Happiness, according to this viewpoint, derives from a cognitive appraisal based on socially built standards of the ideal life. Another idea contends that we infer happiness based on how good we feel most of the time. Happiness, according to this viewpoint, is an irrational emotive experience rooted in the satisfaction of basic human needs. This discussion raises the question of whether they are truly independent methods of assessing existence. (Rojas, 2013)
Whether happiness is economic, social, or personal and subjective, these three scholarly articles illustrate the amount of different approaches are taken in answering the question of what is happiness. It is also important to acknowledge how these different approaches to understanding happiness is heavily informed by cultural context . The article ““Aversion to Happiness across Cultures” explores the cultural differences when it comes to human ideals and what to strive for, and in this instance, happiness. The article argues that the West is very concerned with achieving individual happiness, whereas other cultures are more concerned with collective harmony. The article draws on several scientific studies to illustrate how there is an “aversion” to happiness in other cultures. This article is also interesting because it states that Westerners are more concerned with feelings of positive emotions outnumbering those of negative emotions. This is much different to how the WHR frames happiness as it is mostly defined as economic. This article further illustrates how skewed the WHR is to illustrating a singular, specific type of happiness and not necessarily taking into account a diverse array of cultural differences when it comes to life satisfaction and happiness. (Joshanloo, 2021)
The fact that definitions of happiness and even the importance of happiness itself can be deeply affected by culture is important to keep in mind when examining the World Happiness Report. Do Nordic countries actually have a better quality of life? Or do they just fit the metric of happiness that the WHR purports is the most ideal, which goes back to the (Rojas, 2013) article and emphasizes how deeply subjective the WHR is. Despite the report’s potential biases, we attempted to examine different factors within the data set and uncover why Nordic countries consistently rank the highest.
Through reviewing multiple exterior studies, our group has come to the understanding that all surveys seek to understand and analyze life factors that have proven to play a large role in many people’s lives globally. With this in mind, the studies then decide and factor how exactly these life subjects affect people and from there scales are generally made. These scales tend to measure how happiness is affected by certain life situations. In doing so, the literature reflects the complexities of this subject, because of the wide ranging data and diversity of topics being analyzed there many opinions of this subject. Many studies applied different factors but for the most part similar conclusions were drawn. For the most part, many scholars believe Europeans and those who reside within this continent tend to be happier. Specifically, Nordic identifying countries usually tend to be the most happy. A question that remains for this study, as well as other studies who choose to analyze and measure happiness, is how accurately can we really measure such a topic. Happiness is generally understood as subjective, so how can one really measure a person’s perception and apply such a notion to others perception?
