Publication Type
PhD Dissertation
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
12-2014
Abstract
People in some parts of the world find positive emotions more desirable than others. What accounts for this variability? We predicted that happiness would be valued less under conditions where the behaviors that happiness promotes would be less beneficial. We analyzed international survey data and United Nations voting records and found that happiness was valued relatively less in environments that had been historically pathogen-rich. Using a series of experimental studies, we showed that people who were experimentally primed by the threat of pathogens judged happiness in others less favorably and found happiness less appropriate. Our findings contribute to research on the function of positive emotions by providing insight into the boundary conditions under which happiness is deemed desirable.
Keywords
Emotion, culture, pathogen threats, happiness, subjective well-being, life satisfaction
Degree Awarded
PhD in Psychology
Discipline
Social Psychology
Supervisor(s)
Scollon, Christie
First Page
1
Last Page
53
Publisher
Singapore Management University
City or Country
Singapore
Citation
KOH, Sharon Li Hua.
The (Un) Desirability of Happiness: Pathogen Threats Predict Differences in the Value of Happiness. (2014). 1-53.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/etd_coll/120
Copyright Owner and License
Author
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.