Conceptual referents, personality traits and income-happiness relationship: An empirical investigation
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Hussain, Dilwar
Abstract / Description
One of the ongoing debates in social indicator and subjective well-being research is concerned with the weak relationship between objective (such as income) and subjective indicators of well-being (such as life satisfaction). Empirical studies show that the relationship between subjective and the traditional objective well-being indicators is weak. This relationship is found to be very complex and far from clear. The present study tries to shed lights behind the complexity of the relationship between income and subjective well-being (SWB) by bringing into the analysis some alternative factors such as heterogeneity in the human perception and purpose of life (conceptual referent theory) and personality traits. Conceptual referent theory of happiness proposes that people differ in their conceptual referent for a happy life and this referent plays a significant role in their judgment about happiness and life satisfaction. Results of this cross-sectional survey based on 500 individuals residing in rural and urban areas indicate that the relationship between income and life satisfaction is not very strong. Furthermore, the relationship between income and life satisfaction is contingent on a person’s conceptual referent for happiness. This study suggests that income seems to have a significant influence on life satisfaction for some people (especially with outer oriented referents) and insignificant influence for other people (especially holding inner oriented referents). Additionally, neuroticism personality trait was able to further explain the relationship between income and life satisfaction. It was observed that the individuals with higher level of neuroticism tend to get a lower level of satisfaction from income rise as compared to individuals with lower level of neuroticism.
Keyword(s)
subjective well-being life satisfaction conceptual referent theory neuroticismPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2017-11-30
Journal title
Europe's Journal of Psychology
Volume
13
Issue
4
Page numbers
733–748
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Hussain, D. (2017). Conceptual referents, personality traits and income-happiness relationship: An empirical investigation. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 13(4), 733–748. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v13i4.1394
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ejop.v13i4.1394.pdfAdobe PDF - 311.16KBMD5: d86271438bae059fdb26509d426d2f35
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Hussain, Dilwar
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2018-11-21T10:00:10Z
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Made available on2018-11-21T10:00:10Z
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Date of first publication2017-11-30
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Abstract / DescriptionOne of the ongoing debates in social indicator and subjective well-being research is concerned with the weak relationship between objective (such as income) and subjective indicators of well-being (such as life satisfaction). Empirical studies show that the relationship between subjective and the traditional objective well-being indicators is weak. This relationship is found to be very complex and far from clear. The present study tries to shed lights behind the complexity of the relationship between income and subjective well-being (SWB) by bringing into the analysis some alternative factors such as heterogeneity in the human perception and purpose of life (conceptual referent theory) and personality traits. Conceptual referent theory of happiness proposes that people differ in their conceptual referent for a happy life and this referent plays a significant role in their judgment about happiness and life satisfaction. Results of this cross-sectional survey based on 500 individuals residing in rural and urban areas indicate that the relationship between income and life satisfaction is not very strong. Furthermore, the relationship between income and life satisfaction is contingent on a person’s conceptual referent for happiness. This study suggests that income seems to have a significant influence on life satisfaction for some people (especially with outer oriented referents) and insignificant influence for other people (especially holding inner oriented referents). Additionally, neuroticism personality trait was able to further explain the relationship between income and life satisfaction. It was observed that the individuals with higher level of neuroticism tend to get a lower level of satisfaction from income rise as compared to individuals with lower level of neuroticism.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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CitationHussain, D. (2017). Conceptual referents, personality traits and income-happiness relationship: An empirical investigation. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 13(4), 733–748. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v13i4.1394
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ISSN1841-0413
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1077
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1269
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Language of contenteng
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PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v13i4.1394
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Keyword(s)subjective well-beingen_US
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Keyword(s)life satisfactionen_US
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Keyword(s)conceptual referent theoryen_US
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Keyword(s)neuroticismen_US
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleConceptual referents, personality traits and income-happiness relationship: An empirical investigationen_US
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DRO typearticle
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Issue4
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Journal titleEurope's Journal of Psychology
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Page numbers733–748
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Volume13
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Visible tag(s)Version of Record