Lay beliefs about happiness : measurement and consequences

Abstract

Two studies investigated lay people’s beliefs about the nature of happiness and how these beliefs influence social judgments. A new scale for assessing these beliefs was developed in Study 1. The results demonstrated the reliability and the validity of this scale and showed that lay people’s beliefs about the nature of happiness include four aspects: whether happiness is biologically based, whether happiness is consistent and stable across time and situations, whether happiness is controllable, and whether happiness is informative. Study 2 examined whether these beliefs shape the process of making social judgments. The results showed that lay people’s beliefs about the Biological Basis, Consistency–Stability, and Informativeness of happiness moderate their judgments on persons with different levels of happiness. This research bridges the gap in the literature by understanding lay beliefs about the nature of happiness. It contributes to the psychology of happiness, the literature about lay theories of happiness, and the research on lay theories.

Date of Award	2013
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology