SATISFACTION WITH LIFE AS A WHOLE: What informs this judgment?

1. SATISFACTION WITH LIFE AS A WHOLE: What informs this judgment? Yvonne MacKay Doctor of Psychology (Clinical), 2005 – DEAKIN UNIVERSITY Supervisor: Prof. Bob Cummins * Please select a view that enables the notes section to be seen.

2. HEURISTIC SYSTEMATIC “if we feel fine, we gather we must be satisfied” Veenhoven, 1996, (p.10)“there can be top-down influences on how bottom-up information is used”, Diener, Lucas, Oishi & Suh, 2002 (p.443) Affect SWB Affect Cognition SWB

3. Through which pathway does Affect influence satisfaction with “life as a whole”? Influenced by: - The complexity of the judgment - The personal relevance of the judgment

4. Through which pathway does Affect influence satisfaction with “life as a whole”? Influenced by: - The complexity of the judgment - The personal relevance of the judgment Hypothesis: The very high complexity of the “life as a whole” question will lead to heuristic processing dominating. However, as there are features of the question which seem likely to encourage systematic processing, it is also expected that some systematic processing will be detected.

5. Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction

6. Affect Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction

7. Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction

8. Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction

9.  = .75 B = .85 *** (SE = .06) Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect  = .15 B = .19 ** (SE = .06)  = .79 B = .71 *** (SE = .03) Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction

10. Study 2: Will individual factors moderate the presence of heuristic and systematic processing?

11. Systematic Unpleasant affect Pleasant affect Heuristic

12. Heuristic High Activation Systematic Unpleasant affect Pleasant affect Heuristic Low Activation Systematic

13. Heuristic High Activation Systematic Unpleasant affect Pleasant affect Heuristic Low Activation Systematic

14. H Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect S H Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction S H Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect H S Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction S H Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect S H Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction S H Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect H S Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction S

15.  = .11 B = .16 (SE = .14) H Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect S H Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction  = .49 B = .82 *** (SE = .20)  = .44 B = .37 *** (SE = .06) S H Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect H S Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction S H Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect S H Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction S H Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect H S Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction S

16.  = .11 B = .16 (SE = .14) H Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect S H Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction  = .49 B = .82 *** (SE = .20)  = .44 B = .37 *** (SE = .06) S H  = .35 B = .53 (SE = .30) Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect H S Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction  = .20 B = .18 (SE = .13)  = .59 B = .95 ** (SE = .30) S H Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect S H Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction S H Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect H S Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction S

17.  = .11 B = .16 (SE = .14) H Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect S H Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction  = .49 B = .82 *** (SE = .20)  = .44 B = .37 *** (SE = .06) S H  = .35 B = .53 (SE = .30) Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect H S Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction  = .20 B = .18 (SE = .13)  = .59 B = .95 ** (SE = .30) S H  = .56 B = .91 *** (SE = .21) Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect S H Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction  = .17 B = .17 * (SE = .08)  = .47 B = .77 *** (SE = .18) S H Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect H S Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction S

18.  = .11 B = .16 (SE = .14) H Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect S H Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction  = .49 B = .82 *** (SE = .20)  = .44 B = .37 *** (SE = .06) S H  = .35 B = .53 (SE = .30) Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect H S Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction  = .20 B = .18 (SE = .13)  = .59 B = .95 ** (SE = .30) S H  = .56 B = .91 *** (SE = .21) Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect S H Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction  = .17 B = .17 * (SE = .08)  = .47 B = .77 *** (SE = .18) S H  = .65 B = .85 *** (SE = .07) Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect H S  = .61 B = .74 *** (SE = .05) Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction  = .13 B = .15 ** (SE = .05) S

19.  = .11 B = .16 (SE = .14) H Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect S H Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction  = .49 B = .82 *** (SE = .20)  = .44 B = .37 *** (SE = .06) S H  = .35 B = .53 (SE = .30) Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect H S Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction  = .20 B = .18 (SE = .13)  = .59 B = .95 ** (SE = .30) S H  = .56 B = .91 *** (SE = .21) Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect S H Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction  = .17 B = .17 * (SE = .08)  = .47 B = .77 *** (SE = .18) S  = .65 B = .85 *** (SE = .07) H Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect H S  = .61 B = .74 *** (SE = .05) Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction  = .13 B = .15 ** (SE = .05) S

20.  = .11 B = .16 (SE = .14) H Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect S H Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction  = .49 B = .82 *** (SE = .20)  = .44 B = .37 *** (SE = .06) S H  = .35 B = .53 (SE = .30) Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect H S Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction  = .20 B = .18 (SE = .13)  = .59 B = .95 ** (SE = .30) S H  = .56 B = .91 *** (SE = .21) Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect S H Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction  = .17 B = .17 * (SE = .08)  = .47 B = .77 *** (SE = .18) S H  = .65 B = .85 *** (SE = .07) Satisfaction with “life as a whole” Affect H S  = .61 B = .74 *** (SE = .05) Cognitive appraisals of satisfaction  = .13 B = .15 ** (SE = .05) S

21. H • Estimates of Total Effects •  = .33 • = .47 • = .64 •  = .73 S H S H H S S H S H S H H S S

22. Summary The finding that affect strongly predicts satisfaction with “life as a whole” is conditional upon the pleasantness and activation levels of respondent’s affective states - Affect is a relatively strong predictor in samples experiencing pleasant affect, particularly when activation levels are high - Affect is a relatively weak predictor in samples experiencing unpleasant affect, particularly when activation levels are low The finding that affect predominantly influences satisfaction with “life as a whole” via heuristic processing is conditional upon the pleasantness and activation levels of respondent’s affective states - Heuristic processing is dominant in the samples experiencing pleasant affects - Systematic processing is dominant in the sample experiencing unpleasant affect and low activation - Neither heuristic or systematic processing are significant in the sample experiencing unpleasant affect and high activation

23. Thank-you