Are we happy and why?
Contents
Abstract
This research investigated the hypothesis that there is no difference between Australians and international students as far as the causes of happiness are concerned.
For the study, a questionnaire consisting of 12 questions about happiness and life satisfaction was created. A survey was conducted among 25 female and 25 male students to solicit the responses of a sample group of 50 international students in Navitas Academic English classes. Their responses were recorded, analysed and compared with previous happiness studies carried out in Australia.
The report’s findings revealed that students were generally happy with their lives and family relationships were the main cause of happiness. The majority of students were very happy with their family relationships.
The study supports the assumption that causes of happiness are the same for most people and they experience happiness in the same way regardless of their nationality.
Introduction
The questions of whether people are happy and what makes them happy with their lives seem to be a deeply individual inquiry. However, in recent years, the question of happiness and life satisfaction has been considered in a much broader societal context (Vinson & Ericson, 2012).
Notions of happiness and life satisfaction are concerned with a wide range of disciplines, including economics, psychology, sociology, neuroscience and public policy. Healey brings out that psychologists often distinguish between the two concepts, with happiness relating to the more temporal concept of positive affect (i.e. positive mood, feelings of pleasure, joy etc.) and life satisfaction constituting the more cognitive concept of an individual’s appraisal to life satisfaction overall, the quality of life. Life satisfaction and happiness both are classified as subjective wellbeing that relates to how people feel about their lives (2008).
Researches investigating happiness have found the following factors enhance
Abstract
This research investigated the hypothesis that there is no difference between Australians and international students as far as the causes of happiness are concerned.
For the study, a questionnaire consisting of 12 questions about happiness and life satisfaction was created. A survey was conducted among 25 female and 25 male students to solicit the responses of a sample group of 50 international students in Navitas Academic English classes. Their responses were recorded, analysed and compared with previous happiness studies carried out in Australia.
The report’s findings revealed that students were generally happy with their lives and family relationships were the main cause of happiness. The majority of students were very happy with their family relationships.
The study supports the assumption that causes of happiness are the same for most people and they experience happiness in the same way regardless of their nationality.
Introduction
The questions of whether people are happy and what makes them happy with their lives seem to be a deeply individual inquiry. However, in recent years, the question of happiness and life satisfaction has been considered in a much broader societal context (Vinson & Ericson, 2012).
Notions of happiness and life satisfaction are concerned with a wide range of disciplines, including economics, psychology, sociology, neuroscience and public policy. Healey brings out that psychologists often distinguish between the two concepts, with happiness relating to the more temporal concept of positive affect (i.e. positive mood, feelings of pleasure, joy etc.) and life satisfaction constituting the more cognitive concept of an individual’s appraisal to life satisfaction overall, the quality of life. Life satisfaction and happiness both are classified as subjective wellbeing that relates to how people feel about their lives (2008).
Researches investigating happiness have found the following factors enhance