Study Wessman et al. (1960): study US 1957
- Public
- Female college students, followed 6 weeks, Radcliffe, USA, 1957
- Sample
- Respondents
- N = 14
- Non Response
- 44% dropouts
- Assessment
-
Multiple assesment methods
Mood diary completed daily during 6 weeks and various tests
Correlate
- Authors's Label
- Ideal-self descriptions
- Our Classification
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-
- Operationalization
- Content analysis of a 45-item Q sort, filled out both in extremely high and in extremely low moods for ideal-con- cept ('the picture of yourself as the kind of person you have hoped to become and have fancied yourself to be').
- Primarily concerned with work
Observed Relation with Happiness
S 2.2).
The group of Ss was divided in two according to their mean 'daily average mood'.
The Q sort description provided by the seven re- latively more happy girls were compared with those of the seven relatively less happy girls.
Only significant discrepancies between the des- criptions of both groups were presented.
In elation the unhappy girls place a high value on work, while the happy girls tend to place a higher value on friendliness and consideration for others. In depression both the happy and unhappy girls value work more than in elation, but this is more extreme for the unhappy girls. For these girls concern with work in depression took the form of more exclusive concern with intellectual creativity and achievement, while the happy girls in depression place a higher value on the inherent satisfactions in learning, and are more concerned with discovering what they want out of life.