Outline+the+cognitive+factors+in+happiness+and+evaluate+supporting+studies.

=** •Why do people in the western world are not happier even though they become richer? ** =




 * The Social Comparison Theory **

- Leon Festinger
•People learn about and assess themselves by comparison with others. •People are happy if they have more than those they normally compare themselves to.




 * Level of aspiration theory **

 • //“People like happiness to reaching certain goals, but they tend to set higher goals once they have achieved the first ones; therefore they end up never really feeling happy. ”// //Julian Rotter// 



states that people learn about and asses themselves in comparison to others. If one sees that a neighbor or friend has nicer things than them, they are likely to be caused distress. However, if they have the nicest things on the block, their happiness will receive a boost.

Julian Rotter's Level of Aspiration Theory proposes that people examine how much they can gain and how likely achievment is before making decisions about what to do. Previous experience and desire influence expectations. This can develop general expectations.



**Study of Myerand Dieners (1995) & Study of Hagerty (2003) **


 * Upward Comparison Theroy **

 • //“Comparing yourself to those who are more fortunate leads to dissatisfaction.” //

Upward Comparison occurs when people compare themselves to those above them. "If he has that, then I want (insert nicer object here)." This almost always leads to unhappiness, as those above a person <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px;">just about always have more money and can afford more.

__**<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px;">Study of Conway, Di Fazio, and Mayman (1999) **__





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