Moving away from economic factors that are indicative of a country’s happiness can actually be beneficial. But current happiness ratings do not take into account the fact that this condition is understood differently around the world.
Culture can influence how people in different countries respond to happiness surveys. Macropsychologist Kuba Krys from the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw talks about this. Therefore, it is necessary to be careful not to make comprehensive statements based on such country comparisons.
Moreover, it is thought that the concept of happiness, as it is defined and understood today, can be associated with widespread prejudices in Western societies.
Rankings in the Happiness Report are based on responses to a single question in the Gallup Worldwide Poll. People are asked to imagine a staircase with rungs numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life and the bottom represents the worst possible life. Then comes the question itself: “Which rung of the ladder do you think you are personally on right now?”
For example, people in Afghanistan, on average, do not even reach the second digit, while Finns often choose the eighth digit.
But Krys and other scientists question whether such estimates can be compared across countries. For example, when researchers asked 200 people in Tanzania, a low-ranking country, they found that most of those with limited formal education did not understand the question. In fact, people with a 7th grade education don’t even understand the idea of ranking life experiences on a linear scale.
Moreover, personality and cultural psychologist Mohsen Joshanloo notes that many people, especially outside the West, fear that realizing high levels of happiness could lead to something bad. His research shows that this fear can lower his scores in the survey.
Scientists also found that the ideal happiness score varies greatly between countries. In Germany and Iceland, about 85% said they scored 7 out of 10 or higher, while in Bhutan, Ghana, Nigeria, Japan and Pakistan, 70% of people chose a lower score.
Research shows that people in non-Western countries often place greater emphasis on other aspects of the good life: harmony, spirituality, or meaning. Sometimes scores in one category conflict with scores in another. For example, poor countries with low happiness scores often have high life scores. For rich countries, the situation is just the opposite.
Source: Ferra
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