Study | Fordyce (1977): study US 1972 |
Title | Development of a Program to Increase Personal Happiness. |
Source | Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1977, Vol. 24, 511 -521 |
DOI | DOI: 10.1037/0022-0167.24.6.511 |
Public | Student participants in a happiness training, USA 197? |
Sample | Non-probability chunk sample |
Non-Response | |
Respondents N = | 202 |
Correlate | |
Author's label | Program to increase personal happiness |
Page in Source | 515-518 |
Our classification | Enlightenment + excercises, code H16ad03ma |
Operationalization | Students were required to apply the program on a daily basis for a period of 2 weeks, keeping record each evening before retiring on a) what items they had tried, b) how succesful they felt they had been, c) any noticable effect the program was generating. A different program was given to 3 adjustement psychology classes as part of their normal clss activities 1: TREATMENTS 1a Insight program: Subjects read selected chapters from the book 'Human happiness' and on that basis a0 took notes of what they themselves might adopt in their daily living, and b) practice any three things on that list 1b Fundamentals program: Students received a list of 9 behaviours that are typical for happy people and worked on at least 3 of these each day: 1c Activities program: Assignments were given to help students think about their personal happiness and the kinds of situations and activities that made them happy to develop a list of \t least 10 items on a) what usually made them happy, b) they would do almost everry day and c) they normally did not take the time to do. Students then practiced at least 3 of these activities each day 0: CONTROL Suggestion group; Students followed (placebo) course activities and were told repeatedly that these would help to become happier |
Observed distribution | Post-test only N = 142 1a: 48; 1b: 44, 1c: 50; 0: 60 Happiness assessed Pre+post-test N = 95 1a: 26,; 1b: 16, 1c: 26; 0: 27 |
Remarks | Pre-test post-test 2 weeks |
Observed Relation with Happiness | ||
Happiness Measure | Statistics | Elaboration/Remarks |
A-Sum-g-mq-*-111-a | D%sr=+ | + 8,7% |
A-Sum-g-mq-*-111-a | DMa=+ | Post-test mean LEVEL of happiness 1a insights program 65,6 | 1b fundamentals program 71,9 | 69,8 1c activities program 72,1 | 0 Control 60,2 - difference + 9,6 |
A-AOL-g-sq-v-11-a | DMa=+ | 1a insights program 7,30 | 1b fundamentals program 7,66 | 7,58 1c activities program 7,78 | 0 Control 6,49 - difference +1.09 |
A-AOL-g-sq-v-11-a | D%sr=+ | +10,9% |
A-TH-g-mq-th%-100-a | DMa=+ | 1a insights program 41,0 | 1b fundamentals program 53,0 | 48,7 1c activities program 51,3 | 0 Control 30,2 - difference +18.5 Net time happy computed by WDH team |
A-TH-g-mq-th%-100-a | D%sr=+ | +18.5% |
A-Sum-g-mq-*-111-a | DMa=+ | POST-test level of Happiness adjusted for PRE-Test level 1a insights program 63,4 | 1b fundamentals program 72,4 | 69,5 1c activities program 72,9 | 0 Control 59,3 - difference +10.2 |
A-Sum-g-mq-*-111-a | D%sr=+9% | |
A-AOL-g-sq-v-11-a | DMa= | 1a insights program 7.18 | 1b fundamentals program 7.73 | 7,59 1c activities program 7.85 | 0 Control 6,27 - difference +1,32 |
A-AOL-g-sq-v-11-a | D%sr=+13% | |
A-TH-g-mq-th%-100-a | DMa=+ | 1a insights program 40,6 | 1b fundamentals program 40,4 | 48,0 1c activities program 42,9 | 0 Control 29,1 - difference +18,9 Adjustments to pre-test happiness are meant to erase initial differences between treatment and control groups and made using covariance. |
A-TH-g-mq-th%-100-a | D%sr=+.19 | |
A-AOL-g-sq-v-11-a | DMa=+ | Post-test happiness adjusted for pre-test happiness 'in last month' - All treated Ma = 7,74 - Controls Ma = 6,20 Difference +1,54 |
A-AOL-g-sq-v-11-a | D%sr=+155 | |
A-TH-g-mq-th%-100-a | DMa=+ | Post-test happiness adjusted for pre-test happiness 'in last month' - All treated Ma = 52,0 - Controls Ma = 31,3 Difference +20,7 |
A-TH-g-mq-th%-100-a | D%sr=+21% | Adjustments to pre-test happiness are meant to erase initial differences between treatment and control groups and made using covariance. No diffrence between adjustment for happiness ' in the Lst month' and ' in general' |
Code | Full Text |
A-AOL-g-sq-v-11-a | Selfreport on single question: ." In general how happy or unhappy do you usually feel....?" Check the one statement that best describes your average happiness. 10 extremely happy (feeling ecstatic, joyous, fantastic) 9 very happy (feeling really good, elated) 8 pretty happy (spirits high, feeling good) 7 mildly happy (feeling fairly good and somewhat cheerful) 6 slightly happy (just a bit above neutral) 5 neutral (not particularly happy or unhappy) 4 slightly unhappy (just a bit below neutral) 3 mildly unhappy (just a little low) 2 pretty unhappy (somewhat "blue", spirits down) 1 very unhappy (depressed, spirits very low) 0 extremely unhappy (utterly depressed, completely down) Fordyce Happiness Scale |
A-Sum-g-mq-*-111-a | Selfreport on two questions: A Use the list below to answer the following question: IN GENERAL, HOW HAPPY OR UNHAPPY DO YOU USUALLY FEEL? Check the one statement that best describes your average happiness. 10 extremely happy (feeling ecstatic, joyous, fantastic!) 9 very happy (feeling really good and elated!) 8 pretty happy (spirits high, feeling good) 7 mildly happy (feeling fairly good and somewhat cheerful) 6 slightly happy ( just a bit above neutral) 5 slightly unhappy (just a bit below neutral) 4 mildly unhappy (just a bit low0 3 pretty unhappy (somewhat "blue", spirits down0 2 very unhappy ( depressed, spirits very low) 1 extremely unhappy (utterly depressed, completely down) B) Consider your emotions a moment further. On the average, what percentage of the time do you feel Happy? What percent of the time do you feel unhappy? What percent of the time do you feel neutral (neither happy nor unhappy)? Write down your best estimate, as well as you can, in the space below. Make sure the figures add-up to equal 100% The percent of time I felt happy _____% The percent of time I felt unhappy _____% The percent of time I felt neutral _____% Summation: A + % happy on B Name: Fordyce's 'Happiness measure' |
A-TH-g-mq-th%-100-a | Selfreport on 3 questions: "What percentage of the time would you say you are....?" (Percentages must add up to 100%) 1 happy 2 unhappy 3 neutral Computation: Net Time Happy (NTH) % time happy - % time unhappy |
Symbol | Explanation |
D%sr | DIFFERENCE in % of SCALE RANGE |
DMa | DIFFERENCE IN ADJUSTED MEANS, See also Ma Type: test statistic Computed in Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) or in multiple classification analysis (MCA) Seldom used in happiness research. See excerpted report for further reference. |