Unknown

Dataset Information

0

What Do You Think Would Make You Happier? What Do You Think You Would Choose?().


ABSTRACT: Would people choose what they think would maximize their subjective well-being (SWB)? We present survey respondents with hypothetical scenarios and elicit both choice and predicted SWB rankings of two alternatives. While choice and predicted SWB rankings usually coincide in our data, we find systematic reversals. We identify factors-such as predicted sense of purpose, control over one's life, family happiness, and social status-that help explain hypothetical choice controlling for predicted SWB. We explore how our findings vary by SWB measure and by scenario. Our results have implications regarding the use of SWB survey questions as a proxy for utility.

SUBMITTER: Benjamin DJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3532045 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

altmetric image

Publications

What Do You Think Would Make You Happier? What Do You Think You Would Choose?().

Benjamin Daniel J DJ   Kimball Miles S MS   Heffetz Ori O   Rees-Jones Alex A  

The American economic review 20120801 5


Would people choose what they think would maximize their subjective well-being (SWB)? We present survey respondents with hypothetical scenarios and elicit both choice and predicted SWB rankings of two alternatives. While choice and predicted SWB rankings usually coincide in our data, we find systematic reversals. We identify factors-such as predicted sense of purpose, control over one's life, family happiness, and social status-that help explain hypothetical choice controlling for predicted SWB.  ...[more]

Similar Datasets

| S-EPMC3693090 | biostudies-other
| S-EPMC7707103 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC6310859 | biostudies-other
| S-EPMC6999907 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC10131650 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC6235276 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC6297675 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC4763307 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC6658808 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC4732607 | biostudies-literature