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William Tovs research, culture and wellbeing 

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William Tovs research, culture and wellbeing 

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The life satisfaction of Singaporeans and Japanese, if it’s on a 10-point scale, is between six and seven—and that’s not misery. Misery is a lot of countries in Africa that are really poor. There are some countries in the Middle East that are suffering from a lot of political, and social instability, so you see lower levels of life satisfaction in those countries, below the midpoint. But Asian countries, Singapore and Japan—I think Korea as well, and China—their levels of well-being are not below this midpoint. It’s still in the positive range. (In Scandinavian countries, it’s around eight to nine, so it’s much higher.) I don’t want to paint the picture that Asians are unhappy, but there is a cultural difference that seems to be influencing the overall levels of well-being.

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How Cultural Differences Shape Your Happiness. Kira M. Newman May 22, 2019

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William Tov's research on happiness and culture 

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William Tov's research on happiness and culture 

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Newman presents work found by researcher William Tov. His work explains how culture influences how we seek happiness. He goes into depth about how culture is a whole system of beliefs, attitudes, and practices. Essentially cultures have their own ways of acting in a situation. For example, in the U.S., accomplishing your goals and taking action are influenced. If someone wants to influence people around them, it would be helpful for them to have high-arousal positive emotions, be energized, or be enthusiastic. in Asian cultures, important to pay attention to the social situation and not offend anybody. Being too enthusiastic and excited may not be a good strategy. It might be helpful to be calm, peaceful, and relaxed so you can notice how they’re feeling. "It bears on how we measure and define well-being, as well. If we’re going to define happiness in terms of excitement and being cheerful and being merry and joyful, then Westerners are going to report higher levels of these kinds of emotions, and Easterners may tend not to".

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Is There A Universal Formula for Happiness? Xinyi Dai May 17 2022

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Dai's article analyzes the science behind how someone can live a happy life. From the article, " Interestingly, cultural differences affect the usefulness of some positive psychological interventions. The influence of individualism versus collectivism, dominant religions, and belief systems cause happiness strategies to vary in ineffectiveness. Consequently, when choosing and practicing PPIs, it is important to take regional differences into consideration for better results". As mentioned in the quote, positive psychology researchers study the different factors and routes of happiness. They have also found 3 main factors that happiness is influenced by including setpoints, circumstances, and intentional activities.

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What Makes People Happy Across the World: Happiness in Different Cultures. Dee Marques 

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defining happiness from different cultures

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defining happiness from different cultures

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Marques takes a different approach than most articles by specifically going into dept about specific cultures. For example, Chinese culture is the main topic she explains in its relationship to happiness. "In fact, in some parts of the world happiness is not necessarily a desirable state. For example, in Chinese culture funerals are happy, occasion and preparing for them can generate levels of enthusiasm that would be hard to understand in the West." In Chinese culture, people take a lot of time in preparing their outfits and things such as preparing what food will be served.

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Why People Around the World Define Happiness and Well-Being Differently. TCM 

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The article describes how there is no universal definition for happiness. The writer explains how people aren’t all alike in happiness and that interpretation of happiness may be dependent on our cultural contexts. A quote in the article states, "When asked to describe features of happiness, the Japanese, on the other hand, alluded to social harmony, the transient nature of happiness, along with its socially disruptive consequences. Cross-cultural studies on ideal effect have revealed that while Americans associate happiness with high positive states such as elation, enthusiasm, and excitement, Hong Kong Chinese define happiness through more low arousal positive states (e.g., calm and relaxation)".

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Different Cultures Define Happiness Differently. Arthur C. Brooks July 15, 2021

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The article explains how people around the world conceive of happiness. Understanding the differences gives us a better understanding of global happiness. A term that comes up a lot throughout the article is inner harmony. People worldwide said they found happiness in achieving “inner harmony.” Inner harmony might sound universal, but it can mean very different things in different places. For example, researchers found that Americans tend to define it in terms of their skills meeting their passions, usually in the context of work.

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Why redefining happiness is the key to sustaining it.  2016

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The article explains how someone defines happiness is an individual opinion that varies depending on what they define as important in their lives. There are also four main qualities that help people understand how to sustain happiness. Those qualities are optimism, social connection, the way we perceive stresses, and meaning.

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In the article, Walker states, " How people conceive of happiness reveals much about who they are and the values they hold dear. The modern conception of happiness as the private good feeling is the result of a long sequence of changes in dominant conceptions of the ends of life and of humanity’s place in the cosmos. This invites reflection on how the very vagueness of happiness can account for its powerful claim to render diverse values commensurable." He then explains the concept of happiness is a very vague term, which adds to its powerful claim. He highlights the fact that happiness also relates to virtue and responsibility. Especially things that make induvial happy are what they view as important.

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Is Happiness A Universal Human Right? Tania Lombrozo March 20, 2017

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This essay describes the idea that the pursuit of happiness is a "fundamental human goal" and a "universal human right". Lombrozo states,  In the U.S., they found the previously reported link between pursuing happiness and failing to achieve it. But in Germany, there was no reliable association between the strength of individuals' motivation to pursue happiness and their actual wellbeing. And in Russia, Japan, and Taiwan, the association was positive: Those who were more motivated to pursue happiness also reported greater wellbeing". The article then explains how cross-cultural differences in defining happiness are because of the different conceptions of happiness. The term happiness is more likely to be described as something directly related to social engagement and social relationships.

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31 People Share Their Definition of Happiness. Ashley Grates Jan 24,2017

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defining happiness from an adults perspective

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defining happiness from an adults perspective

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This article shares what different adults have to say about how they define happiness. The words love, jobs, and peace came up a lot during my research, especially in this article. Quotes such as "Happiness, to me, is living a meaningful life in both my work and personal life. Being proud of the work I do, being able to live comfortably, yet still have enough free time to enjoy the wonders of the world with my family, friends, and pets that I love most" and "Happiness is when you are completely at peace and lack all anxiety and impatience".

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What is Happiness? Kendra Cherry Feb 9,2022 

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"Happiness is an emotional state characterized by feelings of joy, satisfaction, contentment, and fulfillment". This article describes the term happiness by breaking it down into two components. One is the balance of emotions, which includes everyone's experiences both positive and negative emotions, feelings, and moods. and life satisfaction. The other component is life satisficed. This covers how satisfied you feel in different areas of your life including work, relationships, and other important aspects considered important.