**Replication Information**
Two groups of four undergraduate students will condcut a replication of a study originally done by Diener et al. (2010). The students performed the replication study as a part of their Research Methods psychology class, led by Professor Nicole Legate and Kristina Johnson, graduate student, at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago, Illinois. The participants consist of entirely of college students. Recruitment efforts include the SONA subject pool, social media, and on and off campus outreach. To encourage participation from non-IIT students there will be a raffle with multiples chances to win a $10 amazon gift card.
This was a Direct+PLUS as we added 3 questions to the end of the original survey. Two of the questions pertain to financial security and are part of an overarching project by Jordan Wagge. The final question asks whether participants are students or not to test if the wealth-happiness effect replicates for both students and non-students. Everyone participated in this study as an online survey.
Data was collected from 183 participants. All of the participants were college students. Contrary to the original study, there was no significant correlation between income and any of the major predictors of happiness. Null results could be due to the more homogenous and smaller sample than the original study. However, income might be a poor predictor of happiness in a student sample. Having psychological needs met predicted greater positive feelings and fewer negative feelings. Having basic needs unmet predicted more negative feelings. Having more luxury conveniences or being in a relationship were predictors for greater life satisfaction.
** Student Researchers**
Group 1 ("Happiness 1") : Kaushik Suryanarayanan, Sobia Sultana, Dheeksha Ranginani, Magda Wisniewska.
Group 2 ("Happiness 2") : Ashley Aguilar, Gitika Chalasani, Jessica Park
**Project Supervision**
Dr. Nicole Legate
Kristina Johnson
**Notes from the Research Team**
Because the original study was a large cross-country study, we are unable to replicate the study in full. Our sample was entirely college students, with limited generalizability. Three questions were added to the original survey to account for the high percentage of students in the sample.
**Material**
Both groups are using the same survey, advertising materials, and OSF page since this is an online study. The video below illustrates the procedure of running participants.
Video link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19k7wfhnGu60mTi8dt2HuT-s1jjPX_K0W/view
**Survey**
The first page of the survey is the subjective well-being section, followed by questions about economic predictors, and ending with demographic questions. The additional three questions are at the end of the last page, in a separate block.
**Original Abstract**
The Gallup World Poll, the first representative sample of planet Earth, was used to explore the reasons why happiness is associated with higher income, including the meeting of basic needs, fulfillment of psychological needs, increasing satisfaction with one's standard of living, and public goods. Across the globe, the association of log income with subjective well-being was linear but convex with raw income, indicating the declining marginal effects of income on subjective well-being. Income was a moderately strong predictor of life evaluation but a much weaker predictor of positive and negative feelings. Possessing luxury conveniences and satisfaction with standard of living were also strong predictors of life evaluation. Although the meeting of basic and psychological needs mediated the effects of income on life evaluation to some degree, the strongest mediation was provided by standard of living and ownership of conveniences. In contrast, feelings were most associated with the fulfillment of psychological needs: learning, autonomy, using one's skills, respect, and the ability to count on others in an emergency. Thus, two separate types of prosperity—economic and social psychological—best predict different types of well-being.
[2]: https://osf.io/ar5fc/
