Deck 6: Money, Happiness, and Culture

Question 1

The "two-minded view" of money and happiness refers to surveys showing that most people seem to believe that

A) money is not a basis for happiness, but think that more money will make them happier.
B) money is important for happiness, but most people won't do the things that would allow them to accumulate and earn more money.
C) money can make you happy and it can make you miserable.
D) money is essential for the happiness of your family, but people with a lot of money think they are better than everyone else.

Answer 1

money is not a basis for happiness, but think that more money will make them happier.

Question 2

In a Chicago Tribune survey reported by Csikszentmihalyi, people at various yearly income levels (e.g., $30,000, $100,000) were asked whether more money would make them happier. Survey results showed that

A) at higher income levels, people did not believe more money would increase their happiness.
B) people at the lowest income levels were the least likely to believe more would make them happier.
C) only people in the middle income group believed more money meant more happiness.
D) regardless of their current income people believed more money would make them happier.

Answer 2

regardless of their current income people believed more money would make them happier.

Question 3

Up until the recent economic downturn, individual income and consumer purchases have risen dramatically over the last 40 years. During this same period, Americans' level of life satisfaction and happiness has 1.___________
And rates of depression have 2._____________.

A) 1. increased 2. increased
B) 1. not changed 2. increased dramatically
C) 1. decreased 2. decreased
D) 1. increased 2. decreased dramatically

Answer 3

1. not changed 2. increased dramatically

Question 4

Phillip Cushman's idea of an empty self suggests that the "paradox of affluence" has resulted from the

A) increased levels of stress and competition in modern society.
B) increasing disparity between the "haves" and the "have nots."
C) skyrocketing rates of depression and divorce in affluent societies.
D) growth of a consumer culture that has displaced deeper life meanings and purposes.

Question 5

In his book The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less, Schwartz argues that the paradox of affluence results from

A) the decline in family values, confusion over life choices, and too much consumerism.
B) the uneven distribution of freedom, a satisficing philosophy, and frustration over lack of opportunities.
C) unprecedented freedom to choose, a maximizing philosophy, and self- blame for poor choices.
D) high levels of personal freedom that are dependent on high incomes, coupled with declining incomes for a majority of Americans.

Question 6

Between-country comparisons of life satisfaction/happiness and average per capita income show

A) almost no correlations.
B) weak correlations.
C) substantial correlations.
D) positive correlations only among Western cultures.

Question 7

Within-country comparisons of life satisfaction/happiness and per capita income show

A) moderate positive correlations among poor, but very small correlations among more affluent countries, consistent with the idea of basic need fulfillment.
B) stronger correlations than for between country comparisons consistent with the idea that culture determines the income-happiness relationship
C) little or no correlations consistent with the idea that money is unrelated to happiness.
D) income is most strongly related to happiness when the overall level of income is rising within a culture.

Question 8

Two things are important to keep in mind when we interpret national differences in the income-happiness relationship. These are that

A) both within- and between-country comparisons should be viewed with caution because of small samples and biases in the sample selection process.
B) within-country comparisons are heavily influenced by personality differences and between-country comparisons are influenced by co- variations in things like freedom, individual rights, and access to resources.
C) within-country comparisons are based largely on college student samples while between-country comparisons are contaminated by cultural and religious differences.
D) within-country comparisons are biased by the disparity between the "haves" and "have nots" and between-country comparisons are biased by the Western values of the researchers conducting the studies.

Question 9

Studies of the wealthiest Americans and longitudinal studies examining the effects of increased and decreased income on happiness show that overall,

A) wealth and income are consistently and substantially related to individual happiness..
B) what matters most is how much money you make relative to others in your social network.
C) only the very rich enjoy significant gains in happiness.
D) the amount of money people make is only weakly related to happiness.

Question 10

In a longitudinal study, Diener and his colleagues examined the relationship between the positive emotions (cheerfulness) of entering college freshmen and their incomes after graduation. The results of their study showed

A) cheerfulness was unrelated to later income; college grades were much more important.
B) cheerful students tended to socialize and party too much and earned lower incomes than more serious students.
C) parents' income was the most significant predictor of students' post- graduate income; cheerfulness made no difference.
D) the more cheerful students were as freshmen, the more they earned after graduation, but this effect was mediated by their parents' income.

Question 11

The bottom line of your text's discussion of genetics, personality, and relationships as explanations for the weak money-happiness connection was that

A) only certain types of people obtain happiness from material possessions and earning lots of money.
B) genetic make-up, personality, and relationships are more important and not much affected by the money people make.
C) an individual's genetic make-up, personality, and relationships help determine whether and how much money affects his/her happiness.
D) lots of money undermines the positive effects of personality, genetics, and relationships.

Question 12

The idea of a hedonic treadmill

A) predicts that emotional events (new car, house, marriage, etc.) have only short-term effects.
B) is drawn by analogy from sensory adaptation.
C) says we are stuck on a treadmill where we walk and walk, but never get anywhere in terms of increases in long-term happiness.
D) all of the above

Question 13

Brickman, Coates, and Janoff-Bulman, in their well-known study of lottery winners and accident victims, found strong support for habituation and contrast effects. Results showed that lottery winners

A) were happier because they broke their old spending habits and contrasted their good fortune with that of their friends and family.
B) returned to pre-lottery levels of happiness and got less enjoyment from everyday previously pleasurable events.
C) became less happy and wished they could get their old life back.
D) were happier than the control group, but also suffered more financial decision-making stress than in the past.

Question 14

In a modification to the hedonic treadmill conception, Headey and Wearing's dynamic equilibrium model suggests that people

A) reach an equilibrium about halfway between the effects of new events and older happiness baselines.
B) can only adapt to negative events with the social support of others.
C) have positive rather than neutral happiness baselines and return to differing baselines depending on their personalities.
D) share the same basic adaptation response system that is largely unaffected by differences in the events experienced or an individual's temperament.

Question 15

The concept of relative deprivation as an explanation for why more money doesn't necessarily bring more happiness suggests that people's satisfaction with their income and material possessions is

A) relative to how deprived they were in the past, particularly as children.
B) dependent on how a "good" life is defined.
C) relative to the degree of exposure to product advertising.
D) based on social comparisons rather than objective life circumstances.

Question 16

Research evaluating the importance of social comparison processes in people's evaluation of life satisfaction have found that

A) most people seemed to be caught in a cycle of "keeping up with the Jones."
B) people are not passive social comparison victims, but actively choose who to compare themselves to.
C) the most important comparison has to do with whether a person feels he or she exceed or fell short of their family's expectations.
D) all of the above

Question 17

The effect of social comparisons depends heavily on whether the comparison is self-relevant. Social comparisons are likely to effect our level of satisfaction, making us feel better or worse, when they

A) are personal and related to our own self-conception.
B) involve tangible benefits or losses.
C) show a wide disparity between what we have and what others have.
D) are a stable part of our informational environment and cannot be avoided (e.g., athletes' salaries).

Question 18

Cross-cultural researchers have used a variety of different happiness measures and investigated linguistic differences in the meaning of happiness using a method called back translation. These studies provide evidence supporting

A) the significance of cultural differences in the meaning and measure of happiness.
B) the inability of researchers to gather any consistent evidence for or against the controversy over the relative versus universal meaning of happiness.
C) psychologists who argue for a universal meaning of happiness and well-being.
D) the kind of necessary research, yet to be done, that would settle the relativism versus universalism debate.

Question 19

Eudaimonic theories of well-being, such as self-determination theory, generally support a

A) universalistic view of well-being by positing basic needs shared by all human beings.
B) universalisitic view of well-being because all cultures share a common view of what it means to be mentally healthy.
C) relativistic view of culture and well-being because each culture fulfills individual needs in different ways.
D) relativistic view because culture not human nature establishes what a person needs and wants.

Question 20

Which of the following best describes the differences between a 1.individualistic versus a 2. collectivist cultural conception of the self?

A) 1. independent, self-centered, fitting in, versus 2. interdependent, other centered, standing out
B) 1. independent, abstract, consistent across situations, versus 2. interdependence, context, and social dependence
C) 1. interdependent, socially defined, self-critical, versus 2. independent, self-defined, self-enhancement
D) 1. self-enhancement, self-improvement, self-discipline, versus 2. self-critical, self-indulgent, self-expressive.

Question 21

Which of the following best describes the American style of happiness in terms of the "cultural lessons" that children are taught?

A) happiness depends on others, be true to those you love.
B) happiness depends on hard work and personal sacrifice.
C) happiness depends on what you have, get as much as you can.
D) happiness is an important life goal, be true to yourself.

Question 22

Studies comparing North Americans to Asians show that North Americans tend to exaggerate their sense of control, and indulge self-serving explanations. These studies all provide evidence for

A) self-enhancement as a Western cultural theme.
B) the false sense of self that contributes to high rates of depression in Western cultures.
C) the low standards and "social" promotion policies of American education.
D) the Western cultural contradiction between the needs of the individual and the needs of society.

Question 23

Comparison of self-esteem scores for large samples of North Americans and Japanese show that

A) the two cultures have quite similar levels of average self-esteem.
B) average levels of self-esteem are higher for the Japanese than North Americans.
C) average levels of self-esteem are higher for North Americans than for Japanese.
D) social class and gender are more important than culture.

Question 24

Which of the following best describes the Asian style of happiness in terms of the cultural lessons taught to children?

A) emotional expressiveness, individual pride, self-promotion.
B) moderation in emotional expression, group pride, self-critical attitude.
C) socially critical attitude, status conscious, false humility.
D) reserved, non-judgmental, shy.

Question 25

In Asian cultures the statement, "unhappiness is believed to arrive on the heels of happiness and vice versa" means that

A) Asians don't enjoy happy events as much as Westerners because they believe unhappiness will soon follow.
B) unlike Americans, Asians believe that it is better to prepare for disappointment than to enjoy temporary happiness.
C) excessive attachment to happiness or despair is unwarranted because emotions are fleeting - keeping your composure is most important.
D) positive and negative emotions are to be avoided - maintaining a neutral emotional life is most important.

Question 26

In a study by Heine, Takata, and Lehman, Canadian and Japanese students were given false feedback concerning their performance on a test of "Integrative Cognitive Capacity." Some students were led to believe that they had done worse than average and some that they had done better than average. What was the effect of this false feedback on Canadian and Japanese students beliefs about their own performance?

A) False feedback eliminated cultural differences in student's perceptions of their performance.
B) False feedback only effected Canadian students self-enhancing tendencies.
C) False feedback did not change the self-enhancing tendencies of Canadian students or the self-critical attitude of Japanese students.
D) False feedback reversed the self-enhancing tendency of Canadians and the self-critical attitude of Japanese so that students from the two cultures essentially "traded places" in their performance evaluations.