Happy Individuals Research Articles

Spontaneous instrumental approach-avoidance learning in social contexts in autism

BackgroundIndividuals with Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) are characterized by atypicalities in social interactions, compared to Typically Developing individuals (TD). The social motivation theory posits that these difficulties stem from diminished anticipation, reception, and/or learning from social rewards. Although learning from socioemotional outcomes is core to the theory, studies to date have been sparse and inconsistent. This possibly arises from a combination of theoretical, methodological and sample-related issues. Here, we assessed participants’ ability to develop a spontaneous preference for actions that lead to desirable socioemotional outcomes (approaching/avoiding of happy/angry individuals, respectively), in an ecologically valid social scenario. We expected that learning abilities would be impaired in ASC individuals, particularly in response to affiliative social feedback.MethodWe ran an online social reinforcement learning task, on two large online cohorts with (n = 274) and without (n = 290) ASC, matched for gender, age and education. Participants had to indicate where they would sit in a waiting room. Each seat was associated with different probabilities of approaching/avoiding emotional individuals. Importantly, the task was implicit, as participants were not instructed to learn, and emotional expressions were never mentioned. We applied both categorical analyses contrasting the ASC and TD groups and dimensional factor analysis on affective questionnaires.ResultsContrary to our hypothesis, participants showed spontaneous learning from socioemotional outcomes, regardless of their diagnostic group. Yet, when accounting for dimensional variations in autistic traits, as well as depression and anxiety, two main findings emerged among females who failed to develop explicit learning strategies: (1) autism severity in ASC correlated with reduced learning to approach happy individuals; (2) anxiety-depression severity across both ASC and TD participants correlated with reduced learning to approach/avoid happy/angry individuals, respectively.ConclusionsImplicit spontaneous learning from socioemotional outcomes is not generally impaired in autism but may be specifically associated with autism severity in females with ASC, when they do not have an explicit strategy for adapting to their social environment. Clinical diagnosis and intervention ought to take into account individual differences in their full complexity, including the presence of co-morbid anxiety and depression, when dealing with social atypicalities in autism.

Happy people are always similar: The evidence from brain morphological and functional inter-subject correlations

A fundamental question in the study of happiness is whether there is neural evidence to support a well-known hypothesis that happy people are always similar while unfortunate people have their own misfortunes. To investigate this, we employed several happiness-related questionnaires to identify potential components of happiness, and further investigated and confirmed their associations with personality, mood, aggressive behaviors, and amygdala reactivity to fearful faces within a substantial sample size of college students (n = 570). Additionally, we examined the functional and morphological similarities and differences among happy individuals using the inter-subject representational similarity analysis (IS-RSA). IS-RSA emphasizes the geometric properties in a high-dimensional space constructed by brain or behavioral patterns and focuses on individual subjects. Our behavioral findings unveiled two factors of happiness: individual and social, both of which mediated the effect of personality traits on individual aggression. Subsequently, mood mediated the impact of happiness on aggressive behaviors across two subgroup splits. Functional imaging data revealed that individuals with higher levels of happiness exhibited reduced amygdala reactivity to fearful faces, as evidenced by a conventional face-matching task (n = 104). Moreover, IS-RSA demonstrated that these participants manifested similar neural activation patterns when processing fearful faces within the visual pathway, but not within the emotional network (e.g., amygdala). Morphological observations (n = 425) indicated that individuals with similar high happiness levels exhibited comparable gray matter volume patterns within several networks, including the default mode network, fronto-parietal network, visual network, and attention network. Collectively, these findings offer early neural evidence supporting the proposition that happy individuals may share common neural characteristics.

Missed Lessons from The Holocaust: Avoiding Complexities and Darker Aspects of Jewish Child Survivors' Life Experiences

Abstract: Joanna Beata Michlic sees how much of the attention to child survivor histories can be traced to the experiences of Jewish children after the Holocaust. She criticizes the continuing attempts to draw a narrative of redemption and renewal from this history—and its uses as a paradigm—as simplistic and harmful. Instead, Michlic argues it is important to understand the many vulnerabilities of child survivors, not simply celebrate their success. Accepting the complexities and painful truths pertaining to the Jewish child survivors' biographies uncovers valuable lessons that may be applied to policies directed at today's vulnerable child refugees. Fully examining the experience of young Jewish refugees recognizes that reaching a peaceful Western country to start life anew did not mean that the children instantly transformed themselves into happy individuals. Michlic argues that the multiple scars incurred by war, loss, separation, and the imperative to adapt to a new life are not simply left behind. In the case of Jewish child survivors, these wounds lingered, shaping their identities and memories throughout their lives. It is essential to listen to child survivors' testimonies about the emotional price of losing their families and communities. Invoking the past to understand the present includes being willing to accept history's uneasy, painful, and complex personal realities.

Understanding how cities demographics incite and determine the use of tobacco in Punjab, Pakistan

Objective: The alarming usage of tobacco and its detrimental effects on health is a serious concern and smoking is a leading cause of deaths which result in 7 million deaths annually. Authors aimed to examine the driving trend of tobacco usage among adults in Punjab, Pakistan. The axes of this study are to investigate the socio-economic and demographic factors to understand the smoking patterns in Punjab. Methods: Authors undertook the study by taking cross-sectional household survey; MICS datasets from every district of Punjab by running a logistic regression model. Results: We find that individuals with higher education and income levels are less likely to smoke, while married individuals and older adults have a higher probability of using tobacco. Additionally, life satisfaction plays a critical role in tobacco usage, with happier individuals having a lower likelihood of smoking. Authors also observed that highly educated, and wealthy females have a higher chance of using tobacco compared to their less educated counterparts. Conclusion & Recommendations: Authors are not condoning the ways and patterns of smoking but are suggesting that the government must implement targeted anti-smoking policies that consider the unique characteristics of different population sub-groups, with a particular emphasis on increasing education and reducing poverty.

Happiness: Exploring Relationship with Empathic Sense, Altruistic Behaviour, Social Responsibility, and Interpersonal Relationship

An unhealthy personality makes students vulnerable to depression due to a lack of happiness. This research aims to analyze the relationship between altruistic behavior, empathy, social responsibility, interpersonal relationships, and happiness. The types of research used are surveys, cross-sectional, and correlational studies. A total of 149 students were selected through random-stratified sampling from high school students. Students fill out research instruments via Google Forms. The data obtained were analyzed using multivariate analysis with Smart-PLS software. The research results show a significant relationship between altruistic behavior, empathy, social responsibility, and interpersonal relationships on happiness. Happy individuals demonstrate more cooperative behavior and are more satisfied as students. Thus, happiness is one of the essential positive feelings and is vital in explaining overall life satisfaction and the degree of enjoyable quality of life for each individual. Positive affect dominates more than negative affect. Students must have these shifting skills as prospective young intellectuals who, in the future, will become agents of social control and agents of social change.

Creative and Happy Individuals Concerned about Climate Change: Evidence Based on the 10th Round of the European Social Survey in 22 Countries

Previous studies, to some extent, link creativity, well-being, and environmental concerns. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the associations between self-reported creativity, psychological well-being, and climate change concerns. This study was based on data derived from the European Social Survey’s 10th round and applied several items from sections H, B, and C. The findings revealed that creativity was positively linked to climate change concerns and psychological well-being, while psychological well-being was, to some extent, negatively related to climate change concerns. The SEM model demonstrated an acceptable fit, χ2 = 1627.862; Df = 7; CFI = 0.959; TLI = 0.876; NFI = 0.958; RMSEA = 0.078 [0.075–0.082]. Additionally, the findings indicated that more creative and happy individuals were also more concerned about climate change; they were more prone to believe that climate change is caused by human activity, they felt a higher personal responsibility to reduce climate change, and they were significantly more worried about climate change. This implies that as creative and happy individuals have a heightened sense of responsibility for climate change, these individuals may indeed play a key role in promoting climate change awareness and actions, including communication on sustainability, sustainability-related projects, and other activities; thus, tailored campaigns could be developed within the frames of citizen science. The findings also suggest implications for policy development: policymakers could consider the perspectives of creative and happy individuals when crafting climate policies, potentially leading to more effective and widely accepted solutions.

Genç Kuşakların Spor Farkındalığı ile Yaşam Doyumları Arasındaki İlişkinin İncelenmesi

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between young generations sports awareness levels and their life satisfaction. Human resource management is an important trend in today's business environment. In this research, the life satisfaction of young generations, who will be the future human resource of the business world, was examined from the perspective of sports awareness. It is thought that the research will provide important benefits for the young generations, who will play an important role in the future, to be healthy and happy individuals, social welfare and production. The quantitative research method was used in the study. Descriptive scanning was used in the study to identify people's attitudes and behaviors. Within the scope of the research, a questionnaire including a personal information form and sports awareness and life satisfaction scales was applied to individuals aged 12-25. A total of 1.102 people, 751 women and 351 men, participated in the research. The research findings and the obtained data were obtained by ANOVA test and correlation analysis in SPSS program. The study's findings show a considerable difference between the young generation's relation with sports, life satisfaction and sports awareness, as well as a weak and positive relation between sports awareness and life contentment. As a result, it can be said that the status of the participants’ relation with sports has an effect on their awareness of sports and their life satisfaction and state of sports awareness also contributes positively to the life satisfaction of the participants.

A psychological flexibility perspective on well-being: Emotional reactivity, adaptive choices, and daily experiences.

According to psychological flexibility theory, fully experiencing one's emotions, even when they involve negative reactions, can enhance psychological well-being. In pursuit of this possibility, procedures capable of disentangling reaction intensities from reaction durations, in response to affective images, were developed and variations of this paradigm were applied in understanding variations in happiness and adaptive behavior. Consistent with psychological flexibility theory, three studies showed that more intense emotional reactions, irrespective of valence, were associated with higher levels of well-being. Two additional studies showed that happy individuals, relative to less happy individuals, exhibited more functional approach/avoidance behavior in behavior-focused tasks. Together, the results are consistent with the idea that adaptive emotion generation systems are those that flexibly adapt emotion output to concurrent emotion-related stimulation. The program of research adds to our understanding of the relationship between emotion reactivity and well-being while highlighting specific processes through which emotion and well-being interact. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Depression and approach-avoidance decisions to emotional displays: The role of anhedonia

Depression is linked to dysfunctional appetitive and aversive motivational systems and effort-based decision-making, yet whether such deficits extend to social decisions remains unclear. Participants (23 non-depressed, 48 depressed – 24 with a past history of suicide attempt) completed a social decision-making task consisting in freely choosing whether to approach or avoid individuals displaying happy or angry expressions. Occasionally, participants had to make a further effort (change button press) to obtain the desired outcome. All participants preferentially avoided anger on their first choice. Yet, depressed patients less often chose to approach happy individuals, as a function of anhedonia severity. Depressed patients were also less inclined than controls to change their response when the anticipated outcome of their first choice was undesirable (approach angry and avoid happy). Again, such effect correlated with anhedonia severity. Our results support that both altered valuation and willingness to exert effort impact approach-avoidance decisions in social contexts in depression. On this basis, we propose a new integrating framework for reconciling different hypotheses on the effect of depression and anhedonia on motivational responses to emotional stimuli.

Hubungan Quality Of Work Life Dengan Kebahagiaan Di Tempat Kerja Pada Pegawai Kantor Wilayah Kementerian Agama Provinsi Sumatera Barat

Happy individuals tend to be more productive at work because they don't have feelings of worry about their work so that their attention can focus on work. Happiness at work can be achieved by having quality of work life in individuals. This study aims to look at the relationship between quality of work life and happiness at work among employees of the Regional Office of the Ministry of Religion, West Sumatra Province. This study uses a quantitative method with a correlational type. The sample in this study were 131 employees at the Regional Office of the Ministry of Religion of West Sumatra Province. The sampling technique used is non-probability with quota sampling. Data was collected using two psychological scales as measuring tools, namely the quality of work life scale and the happiness scale at work. Analysis of the research data was carried out using Pearson Product Moment correlation analysis with the Statistical Package for The Social Science (SPSS) 20.0 for windows program. The results of the study show that there is a significant relationship between quality of work life and happiness at work for employees of the Regional Office of the Ministry of Religion of West Sumatra Province. Quality of work life is in the low category and happiness at work is also in the low category.

Kebermaknaan Konseling Kelompok dalam Menanggulangi Masalah Kehidupan

Every human being must have problems; what distinguishes them is how individuals respond and live them. Hence, it takes someone who is an expert (counsellor) to accompany people experiencing problems (clients) to take on the responsibility of their lives and become happy individuals. Group counselling is one of the services that counsellors can provide to help clients or group members solve their life problems because the purpose of this service is to alleviate client problems by utilizing group dynamics to establish a sense of empathy and mutual understanding and help between fellow group members. In this article, we will discuss in more detail the meaning of group counselling in overcoming human life problems, starting from discussing the meaning of group counselling, the differences between group counselling and individual counselling, the function of group counselling in overcoming life problems, the purpose of holding group counselling, principles of group counselling, and therapy that can be used in group counselling

Does mental well-being predict being perceived as a happy peer? A longitudinal social network study

Social processes depend on individual features that make possible the development of social relationships and strong ties. Mental well-being (i.e., emotional, social, and psychological) in particular plays a key role in these processes influencing the formation of social ties. However, little is known about the potential of perceiving individuals as happy because of their levels of mental well-being. The aim of the study is to perform a longitudinal social network analysis to explore how mental well-being predicts being perceived as a happy individual. The study sample comprised 240 first-year university students and data were gathered through self-reported measures and peer reports, asking the students to select happy peers according to their perceptions. Results confirmed that mental well-being influenced the judgments of individuals regarding being perceived as a happy peer at zero-acquaintance level. These findings support mental well-being as an important resource to facilitate the development of social relationships.

Association between depression, happiness, and sleep duration: data from the UAE healthy future pilot study

BackgroundThe United Arab Emirates Healthy Future Study (UAEHFS) is one of the first large prospective cohort studies and one of the few studies in the region which examines causes and risk factors for chronic diseases among the nationals of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The aim of this study is to investigate the eight-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8) as a screening instrument for depression among the UAEHFS pilot participants.MethodsThe UAEHFS pilot data were analyzed to examine the relationship between the PHQ-8 and possible confounding factors, such as self-reported happiness, and self-reported sleep duration (hours) after adjusting for age, body mass index (BMI), and gender.ResultsOut of 517 participants who met the inclusion criteria, 487 (94.2%) participants filled out the questionnaire and were included in the statistical analysis using 100 multiple imputations. 231 (44.7%) were included in the primary statistical analysis after omitting the missing values. Participants’ median age was 32.0 years (Interquartile Range: 24.0, 39.0). In total, 22 (9.5%) of the participant reported depression. Females have shown significantly higher odds of reporting depression than males with an odds ratio = 3.2 (95% CI:1.17, 8.88), and there were approximately 5-fold higher odds of reporting depression for unhappy than for happy individuals. For one interquartile-range increase in age and BMI, the odds ratio of reporting depression was 0.34 (95% CI: 0.1, 1.0) and 1.8 (95% CI: 0.97, 3.32) respectively.ConclusionFemales are more likely to report depression compared to males. Increasing age may decrease the risk of reporting depression. Unhappy individuals have approximately 5-fold higher odds of reporting depression compared to happy individuals. A higher BMI was associated with a higher risk of reporting depression. In a sensitivity analysis, individuals who reported less than 6 h of sleep per 24 h were more likely to report depression than those who reported 7 h of sleep.

Investigating the Predictors of Marital Satisfaction: The Case of Iranian Women

Previous studies have demonstrated that self-esteem and happiness play significant roles in couples’ levels of marital satisfaction. However, most of these studies findings are from Western countries; thereby, the extent to which these findings are generalizable across different languages and cultures is still an open question. This study aims to investigate the relationship between self-esteem and happiness with marital satisfaction in the sample of Iranian female students to fill this gap. Participants were 250 Iranian female students who completed Rosenberg's self-esteem, Oxford happiness, Pick and Andrade's marital satisfaction questionnaires. The results logistic regression showed that the odds of being satisfied in marriage increased with happiness and self-esteem. Happy individuals with high self-esteem had, respectively, 2.4 and 2.41 times more likely to have marital satisfaction than unhappy individuals with low levels of self-esteem. The demographic variables of participants such as age, number of children, and the length of the relationship did not predict marital satisfaction. The results are discussed in relation to psychological and cultural factors present in self-esteem and marital relationships in Iranian women.

Self-Compassion and Happiness: Exploring the Influence of the Subcomponents of Self-Compassion on Happiness and Vice Versa.

Self-compassion is a healthy conceptualization of the self and has been associated with a myriad of health benefits. There is limited research regarding the influence of the subcomponents of self-compassion on happiness and vice versa. This study investigated (1) the influence and relative strength of the relationships of the 6 subcomponents of self-compassion onto happiness, (2) the influence and relative strength of the relationships of happiness onto the 6 subcomponents of self-compassion and (3) the bi-directional relationship between total self-compassion variables and happiness across two timepoints. This study followed a pre-post design whereby 33 university students and employees undergoing a physical activity counselling (PAC) program filled out validated online questionnaires before and immediately after individualized sessions. Results revealed that there was a positive bi-directional relationship between self-compassion and happiness over time, with the stronger influence being from happiness to self-compassion. This is likely because happier individuals are kinder to themselves and strongly connected with others. Moreover, results showed that mindfulness was the strongest subcomponent of self-compassion to positively influence happiness, and happiness was the strongest negative predictor of isolation. This has practical implications in that PAC counsellors and other practitioners should try to emphasize mindfulness in their interventions to maximize feelings of happiness, and try to cultivate happiness to reduce feelings of isolation and increase total self-compassion.

Suicide in Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (1877), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958)

This paper studies the idea of identity loss and suicide in three novels that have different cultural backgrounds. These novels are Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (1877), Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s Sorrows of Young Werther (1774) and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958). The paper discusses the theme of suicide in all of these three novels through concentrating on one major aspect which is individuality. Okonkow in Things Fall Apart, Anna in Anna Karenina and Werther in Sorrows of Young Werther have suffered and struggled hard to live as happy individuals in society. Each one of them had dreams and ambitions which they tried to realize. Individuality seems one of the strongest motives behind their own dreams. However, all of them have failed in their pursuit of having an individual life away from social constraints and pressures. The study points out the social, psychological, political factors and conditions that lead to the individual’s identity loss. All these protagonists were looking for establishing an unfettered personal identity, but they all lost their dreams on the way and the result was a downfall, a loss of individuality, and most importantly a tragic life which pushed them to commit suicide.

Prioritizing Happiness has Important Implications for Mental Health, but Perhaps Only if you Already are Happy

Happiness is frequently posited as an important outcome of quality of life and characteristic of well-adjusted and functioning individuals. Happy individuals are less likely to report adverse mental health. Understanding the importance that individuals place on happiness is less clearly articulated and inconsistent. Valuing or placing higher importance of happiness appear to confer both benefits and risk for mental health outcomes. The primary aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the importance of happiness and mental health outcomes and whether the relationship between happiness and mental health is moderated by the importance individuals place on happiness. We utilised data from two studies, a university student sample (n = 413) and a community sample (n = 248) to examine the study aims. Mental health was operationalised in terms of psychological distress and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Happiness and the level of importance individuals ascribed to happiness were associated with adverse mental health outcomes. In multi-variate analyses, level of happiness was more strongly related to mental health. Interactions between happiness and the importance of happiness revealed that the effect of happiness was moderated by the importance that individuals placed on happiness. Overall happiness and to a lesser extent, the importance of happiness, are significantly associated with mental health outcomes. Happiness was most strongly related to mental health amongst those who rated the importance of happiness more highly.

Heroism and Homoeroticism in Madame d’Aulnoy’s Belle Tales

Madame d’Aulnoy’s two fairy tales featuring central characters named Belle, La Belle aux cheveux d’or (1697) and Belle-Belle ou le chevalier Fortuné (1698) share similar themes and share many parallels and convergences in addition to sources in common. However, an overlooked and significant element in both stories is the depiction of same-sex desire on the part of central male characters. Ultimately, these characters conform to the heteronormative conventional ending of the majority of early modern fairy tales, but not before a process of detachment from their homoerotic desires and homosocial world. This process involves their intellectual and physical intimacy with women with whom they ‘become men’ in the sense of healthy and happy individuals. The tales therefore present a flouting of patriarchal imperatives both through their depiction of feminine parity, and indeed, superiority and in their strident critique of male society that excludes women, be it homosocial or homosexual in nature.

INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECT OF FATHER EDUCATION ON THE PERCEPTION OF FATHERHOOD IN THE LIFELONG LEARNING PROCESS

In this study, the perceptions of fathers with children in the preschool period towards the concept of fatherhood, a lifelong learning process, and father education after the father education they received, were examined. The study was carried out with a qualitative research method. The sample of the study consisted of 14 fathers who had children attending two kindergartens in Kocaeli in the 2018-2019 academic year and volunteering to participate in the study. Fourteen fathers in the group were interviewed after the training program was applied. As a result of the face-to-face interviews with the semi-structured interview form, what they expressed about fatherhood, how they expressed themselves as fathers in the lifelong learning process, and their thoughts on participation in father education were obtained. It is known that the father has a critical role in the formation of the child's personality. Father education should be given importance to raise happy and healthy individuals. Today, it has been observed that there is a transition from the patriarchal social structure to modernity, and the fathers' traditional thoughts have changed, and they have started to think more child-oriented. It has been revealed that fathers gain awareness after education and fatherhood is a conscious and learnable phenomenon when an effort is made.
 
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A Pragmatic Business Approach to a Novel C5 Concept ATMAN

In this paper, we present a business model for Active Transformation of Mind and Body through Abundant Natural Methods (ATMAN). ATMAN is a tool for the growth of Concentration, Confidence, Creativity, Calmness, and Contentment (C5) and Harmony, Energy, Aesthetics, Limberness, Tranquility, and Happiness (HEALTH) to regain the balance of human mind and body through natural methods. It promotes physical health and peace of mind that helps in a sound and restful sleep. Regular practice ensures to control the Physical, Psychological, and Psychosomatic (P3) disorders. The emphasis of the model is on an improved Quality of Life for individuals, that is, social responsibility as well as the duty of everyone in the society. The aim of the model is a steady march towards Global peace and harmony with healthy and happy individuals.