Daily well-being is about thoughts as well as feelings: Extending the day reconstruction method

Add to your list(s) Download to your calendar using vCal

• Dr. Mathew White (University of Plymouth)
• Tuesday 17 November 2009, 13:00-14:00
• Arts School Room B, New Museums Site.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Dr. Nicholas Gibson.

Serious consideration is being given to the impact of private behaviour and public policies on people’s subjective well-being (SWB). Kahneman and colleagues have proposed a new approach to measuring well-being, the day reconstruction method (DRM). The DRM is a diary approach with the novel twist that the affective component of daily activities is weighted by duration in order to construct temporal aggregates. However, the DRM neglects the potentially important role of thoughts. Using the DRM approach with a heterogeneous sample (N= 625) we include thoughts in two ways: thoughts about activities and thoughts that intrude on those activities. We show that some activities relatively low in pleasure (e.g. work and time with children) are nonetheless thought of as rewarding and therefore contribute to overall SWB . In part this is because recalling these experiences produces positive emotions in the present. We also show that negative recurring thoughts (e.g. financial worries) can significantly impact experienced utility as measured using the activity focused DRM . Such information may be important to policymakers wishing to promote behaviours and alleviate concerns that are conducive to a broader conception of SWB .

This talk is part of the Social Psychology Seminar Series (SPSS) series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• All Talks (aka the CURE list)
• Arts School Room B, New Museums Site
• Biology
• Biology
• Cambridge Neuroscience Seminars
• Cambridge talks
• Chris Davis' list
• Department of Psychiatry talks stream
• Featured lists
• Guy Emerson's list
• Life Science
• Life Sciences
• Life Sciences
• ME Seminar
• Neuroscience
• Neuroscience Seminars
• Neuroscience Seminars
• Psychology talks and events
• Social Psychology Seminar Series (SPSS)
• Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine
• Well-being Institute Seminars
• Yishu's list
• dh539
• my_list
• other talks

Note that ex-directory lists are not shown.