Browsing by Subject "Happiness"
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Item Adolescent-parent interaction and parental marital happiness(Texas Tech University, 1978-08) White, Dana TaylorNot availableItem Age and the correlates of life satisfaction: are the elderly different?(Texas Tech University, 1981-05) Kunkel, Debra JoNot availableItem An analysis of the impact of tax systems on income distribution, poverty, and human well-being: evidence from cross-country comparisons(Texas Tech University, 2006-08) Pippin, Sonja Engeli; Masselli, John J.; Ewing, Bradley T.; Malone, David; Ricketts, Robert C.The question "what is a good tax?" has been addressed many times in the past. While much optimal taxation research focuses on economic effects of taxation, the purpose of this study is to add a new dimension by investigating the relationship between tax system variables and certain aspects of social welfare other than traditional economic variables. To that end, relationships between four dimensions of a country’s tax and transfer system – (i) progressivity, (ii) overall tax burden, (iii) income tax reliance (i.e., the proportion of total tax revenues from income taxes), and (iv) residual tax burden (i.e., overall tax burden net of income taxes) – and three dependent variables – (i) income inequality, (ii) poverty, and (iii) collective happiness – are examined. These correlations are tested using data from North America, Europe, and Australia. Previous studies have shown that, on average, Americans feel less negatively about inequality and poverty than Europeans. If these beliefs affect the design of the respective tax and transfer systems, differences in effects of tax system variables on income inequality, poverty, and collective happiness are probable. Specifically, tax system progressivity and overall tax burden are expected to impact income inequality, poverty, and collective happiness less in the United States than in Europe. Consequently, this study also examines the differences in the impact of tax system variables on income inequality, poverty, and collective happiness across tax and transfer systems in the United States and in Europe. The results show that progressivity and overall tax burden appear to be negatively correlated with income inequality and with poverty. Furthermore, the redistributive and poverty-reducing effect of transfer progressivity – defined as the reduction of income inequality due to transfers – appears to be much more important than the effect of tax progressivity – defined as the redistribution of income due to taxes –, suggesting that, for tax policy decisions, it is essential to take the entire tax and transfer system, i.e., government revenues and expenditures, into consideration. Moreover, this study provides evidence that some tax system variables (i.e., overall tax incidence and income tax reliance) are positively associated with collective happiness indicating that a high tax burden does not necessarily impact human well-being in a negative way. Contrary to expectations, only few differences in effects between United States tax system variables and European tax system variables were found. This is surprising since the United States and European tax and transfer systems differ significantly from each other in every dimension addressed in this study.Item An analysis of the impact of tax systems on income distribution, poverty, and human well-being: Evidence from cross-country comparisons(2006-08) Pippin, Sonja Engeli; Masselli, John J.; Malone, David; Ricketts, Robert C.; Ewing, Bradley T.The question "what is a good tax?" has been addressed many times in the past. While much optimal taxation research focuses on economic effects of taxation, the purpose of this study is to add a new dimension by investigating the relationship between tax system variables and certain aspects of social welfare other than traditional economic variables. To that end, relationships between four dimensions of a country’s tax and transfer system – (i) progressivity, (ii) overall tax burden, (iii) income tax reliance (i.e., the proportion of total tax revenues from income taxes), and (iv) residual tax burden (i.e., overall tax burden net of income taxes) – and three dependent variables – (i) income inequality, (ii) poverty, and (iii) collective happiness – are examined. These correlations are tested using data from North America, Europe, and Australia. Previous studies have shown that, on average, Americans feel less negatively about inequality and poverty than Europeans. If these beliefs affect the design of the respective tax and transfer systems, differences in effects of tax system variables on income inequality, poverty, and collective happiness are probable. Specifically, tax system progressivity and overall tax burden are expected to impact income inequality, poverty, and collective happiness less in the United States than in Europe. Consequently, this study also examines the differences in the impact of tax system variables on income inequality, poverty, and collective happiness across tax and transfer systems in the United States and in Europe. The results show that progressivity and overall tax burden appear to be negatively correlated with income inequality and with poverty. Furthermore, the redistributive and poverty-reducing effect of transfer progressivity – defined as the reduction of income inequality due to transfers – appears to be much more important than the effect of tax progressivity – defined as the redistribution of income due to taxes –, suggesting that, for tax policy decisions, it is essential to take the entire tax and transfer system, i.e., government revenues and expenditures, into consideration. Moreover, this study provides evidence that some tax system variables (i.e., overall tax incidence and income tax reliance) are positively associated with collective happiness indicating that a high tax burden does not necessarily impact human well-being in a negative way. Contrary to expectations, only few differences in effects between United States tax system variables and European tax system variables were found. This is surprising since the United States and European tax and transfer systems differ significantly from each other in every dimension addressed in this study.Item Changes in the relationship between age and happiness(Texas Tech University, 1978-05) Witt, David DeanNot availableItem Character Strengths, Self-Schemas, and Psychological Well Being: A Multi-Method Approach(2007-05-21) Berman, Jason Scott; Moore, Dean BertPositive Psychology is a recent movement within academic psychology that broadens the scope of psychological science to include the correlates and causes of human flourishing as credible topics for investigation. One major area of inquiry in positive psychology is the study of character strengths and virtues. Character strengths are virtuous, nomothetic traits, such as kindness, gratitude, vitality and hope some of which each person individually possesses much like a written signature leading to the name, "signature strengths." The current research investigated ways that such signature strengths were integrated into an individual's overall self-concept through self-schemas. Self-schemas are personally important, domain specific, self-definitions that organize and guide the processing of self-related information from the individual's social experience. The content of self-schemas (e.g. "I am independent" "I am kind" "I am lovable") varies widely among individuals (because past experiences vary) and therefore people have divergent views of self chronically accessible or salient to guide current life experience. The primary research question of this study was whether individuals for whom signature character strengths were a salient or highly accessible part of their self-schemas would experience increased psychological well-being and decreased depressive symptoms. Self-schemas are assessed through both self-report and non-self-report measures (e.g. reaction time, free recall, recognition, likert self-description scales) which are helpful for character strengths research that has typically relied on self-report data. Psychological well-being, an outcome variable in the current study, is a concept similar to life satisfaction. Reaction time, free recall, recognition memory and self-report measures were used to assess the salience of strengths within participant self-schemas. Participants were 298 university students. Results largely indicated that individuals with character strengths highly accessible within their self-schemas predicted increased well-being and decreased depressive symptoms with self-report methods as the most consistent predictors. These results demonstrated that character strengths operate at the level of self-referential processing and that signature strengths, highly salient within self-schemas, meaningfully related to increased emotional well-being and global happiness. Ideas are discussed of ways to open clinical psychology's traditional focus on the pathological self to include a self rich in character strengths and virtues.Item From failure to flourishing: a cognitive, emotional, and behavioral model(2010-05) North, Rebecca Jeanne; Holahan, Charles J.; Carlson, Caryn L.; Pennebaker, James W.; Swann, William B.; Wong, Patrick P.Two studies were conducted to examine if and how failure can lead to subsequent psychological flourishing. Both studies used the context of individuals’ biggest job-related failure or most significant challenge to test a proposed model of adaptive response to failure. Specifically, it was proposed that, at a cognitive/emotional level, an adaptive response to failure is characterized by acceptance of negative emotions and self-acceptance. Further, it was proposed that at a behavioral level, an adaptive response to failure involves goal disengagement coupled with goal reengagement, including reengaging with new goals that are intrinsically meaningful. These complementary studies both examined the relationship between individuals’ response to failure and psychological flourishing. Studies were conducted with different participant samples and used complementary designs to provide converging evidence for the proposed model. Using a random sampling process to recruit participants, Study 1 (N = 50) consisted of semi-structured interviews with individuals from the Austin community. Study 2 (N = 101) was an online study and consisted of a series of questionnaires and a writing task. Analyses were conducted on interviews, questionnaires, and writings to examine the relationships between response to failure, including acceptance of negative emotions, self-acceptance, goal disengagement, and goal reengagement, and psychological flourishing. Overall, findings underscored the significance of acceptance and goal reengagement in predicting psychological flourishing after failure. Goal reengagement, in particular, consistently predicted subsequent flourishing. Results also indicated that in response to failure, both persistence toward meeting established goals and moving beyond established goals can lead to subsequent flourishing. These findings imply that flexibility, rather than adherence to a singular response, may be adaptive in responding at a behavioral level to failure. Furthermore, results showed that failures characterized by higher emotional distress can lead to greater subsequent psychological flourishing than failures characterized by low levels of emotional distress. Overall, both studies demonstrate that failure, when responded to in an adaptive way, can lead to a broad range of positive psychological outcomes.Item Gender, marital status, and mental well-being(Texas Tech University, 1984-05) Smith, Robert R.Not availableItem Rigorous honesty : an ongoing wrestling match with happiness and fear(2015-05) Kettler, Brian Klein; Dietz, Steven; Lynn, Kirk; Engelman, LizIn my thesis, Rigorous Honesty: An Ongoing Wrestling Match with Happiness and Fear, I will examine the role of fear and ego in my artistic practice and collaborations with other artists. My investigation is based around the concept of The Process vs. The Ticket mentality. At UT, I've committed fully to the process of creating and mounting new work. This has helped to combat the "Ticket" mentality or, thinking of each project as a ticket to widespread success, acclaim of financial gain. Additionally, I have craved and sought out close scrutiny and critique from my colleagues and professors. This commitment to the "process" of UT has helped me find moments of joy, connection and artistic breakthrough. While I still struggle with fear, jealousy and ego, I’ve been able to adopt concrete strategies to keep the focus on my work and my own personal version of success.Item Social forces and hedonic adaptation(2013-05) Chugani, Sunaina Kumar; Irwin, Julie R.Consumers acquire products to enhance their lives, but the happiness from these acquisitions generally decreases with the passage of time. This process of hedonic adaptation plays an integral role in post-acquisition consumer satisfaction, product disposal and replacement behavior, and the "hedonic treadmill" that partially drives the relationship between consumption and happiness. Humans are social animals, however, and we know little about the relationship between the social environment and hedonic adaptation. My dissertation addresses this gap by exploring the moderating role of social presence (Essay 1) and self-concepts (Essay 2) on hedonic adaptation to products. Essay 1 explores how social presence affects hedonic adaptation to products. Research on general happiness has shown that significantly positive life events tend to maintain their positivity for longer periods of time when they involve active social interactions. I examine a more common situation in the domain of product consumption, i.e., the presence of others during consumption, and test whether hedonic adaptation to products is moderated by public contexts. By tracking happiness with products over time, I show that a "social audience" (i.e., the presence of others and the perception that those others notice the consumer) moderates hedonic adaptation through a consumer's inference of the social audience perspective. Inferring that the social audience is admiring one's product slows down adaptation, and inferring that the social audience is negatively viewing one's product accelerates adaptation. Essay 2 explores the role the identity-relevance of a product plays in hedonic adaptation. Extant research illustrates that consumers avoid consuming identity-inconsistent products in order to avoid dissonance arising from product choices conflicting with important self-concepts. I show that dissonance can also arise from consuming identity-consistent products because of the force of hedonic adaptation. I provide evidence that consumers feel uncomfortable experiencing declining happiness with identity-consistent products and thus resist hedonic adaptation to such products in order to resolve the dissonance.Item Social Mobility and Mental Well-Being(Texas Tech University, 1979-05) Creagan, Judith FosterNot Available.Item The relationship between job satisfaction and non-work life satisfaction among public school teachers in west Texas(Texas Tech University, 2004-08) White, Melanie GNot availableItem What’s happiness got to do with it? Wellbeing and sustainable development policy in Greater Victoria, British Columbia, Canada(2013-08) Teschauer, Mark Daniel; Oden, MichaelPlanners often invoke wellbeing, sustainability, and related concepts when discussing planning initiatives, all of which are contested within their own separate literatures. Some of these planners, however, have begun drawing connections between the disciplines, a connection that very few in the planning academic literature are recognizing and studying. Using the Greater Victoria Happiness Index Partnership (HIP) in British Columbia as its primary case study, this thesis draws upon HIP’s experience in creating regional wellbeing indicators to better understand this relationship. It will investigate the efficacy of their efforts in affecting regional policy, explore their as well as the academic understandings of the wellbeing/sustainable development relationship, and draw recommendations that ultimately suggest a new means of applying this relationship in planning and other realms of public policy.