The concept of happiness: a multidimensional scaling investigation. 1988

J A Thomas, and W A Stock
Arizona State University.

This study investigated the concept of happiness using multidimensional scaling analyses. Two samples were studied. The first contained 100 adult males and females, aged nineteen to ninety (M = 39.5). The second contained 126 female adults, aged twenty-six to eighty-nine (M = 61.3), all Catholic nuns. Respondents provided word associates to the words happiness and unhappiness during separate one-minute intervals. Subsequently, the twelve most frequent associates and the word happiness were used in a written paired comparison task of dissimilarities between all possible pairs. In both samples, a two-dimensional space was judged to optimally fit the data. The first dimension was interpreted as a bipolar affective dimension. The second dimension was one-fifth and one-third as salient as the first dimension in the respective samples, and was interpreted as representing personal independence. Two-dimensional spaces of young, middle-aged, and old subsamples of sample one were, in large part, similar to the total space. Three age trends were noted.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008149 Love Affection; in psychiatry commonly refers to pleasure, particularly as it applies to gratifying experiences between individuals. Loves
D008297 Male Males
D008875 Middle Aged An adult aged 45 - 64 years. Middle Age
D011581 Psychological Tests Standardized tests designed to measure abilities (as in intelligence, aptitude, and achievement tests) or to evaluate personality traits. Parenting Stress Index,Trier Social Stress Test,Trier Stress Test,Psychologic Tests,Psychological Test,Test, Psychological,Tests, Psychological,Index, Parenting Stress,Psychologic Test,Stress Index, Parenting,Stress Test, Trier,Test, Psychologic,Test, Trier Stress,Trier Stress Tests
D011594 Psychometrics Assessment of psychological variables by the application of mathematical procedures. Psychometric
D005260 Female Females
D006240 Happiness Highly pleasant emotion characterized by outward manifestations of gratification. Gladness,Joy,Happinesses
D006262 Health The state of the organism when it functions optimally without evidence of disease. Individual Health,Normalcy,Normality,Health, Individual,Normalcies,Normalities
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000328 Adult A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available. Adults

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