Brickman et al. (1978): study US 1977
Publication
- Author(s):
- Brickman, P.; Coates, D.; Janoff-Bulman, R.
- Title:
- Lottery Winners and Accident Victims: Is Happiness Relative?
- Source:
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1987, Vol. 36, 917 - 927
Investigation
- Public:
- Lottery winners, paralyzed accident victims, and controls, Illinois USA, 1977
- Sample:
- Respondents:
- N = 73
- Non Response:
- 45.5%
- Assessment:
-
Interview: face-to-face
Structured, interview also by phone
Happiness Measure(s) and Distributional Findings
- Full text:
-
Selfreport on single question:
"How happy are you now (not at this moment, but at this stage of life) .....?"
0 not at all
1
2
3
4
5 very much
(originally rated on horizontal line scale) - Classification:
- O-HL-c-sq-n-6-c
- Author's label:
- Happiness
- Remarks:
- Lottery winners: M = 4,00; Ms = 8,00
Accident victims: M = 2,96; Ms = 5,92
Controls: M = 3,82; Ms = 7,64 - Observed distribution
- Frequencies
- 1: 0%, 2: 0%, 3: 0%, 4: 0%, 5: 0%, 6: 0%
- Summary Statistics
- On original range 0 - 5 On range 0-10
- Mean:
- 3.59 7.18
Correlational Findings
Lottery winning
Physical handicap
Victim of accident