Satisfaction with life and its socio-psychological characteristics. Life satisfaction
PSYCHOLOGICAL SATISFACTION FACTORS
R. M. Rakhimgaraev
The article considers the problem of student satisfaction with life. Psychological factors causing different levels of satisfaction with life, which were obtained by an empirical study, are shown.
Key words: value, happiness, life satisfaction, psychological factors of life satisfaction.
The article shows the problems of youth students ’life satisfaction. The psychological factors, which were gotten by empirical research, are shown.
Key words: value, happiness, life satisfaction, psychological factors of life
Satisfaction or dissatisfaction with life determines very many actions of the subject, different types of his activity and behavior: household, economic, political. These experiences are a significant factor not only in the state of individual consciousness, but in total, and in the state of public consciousness, group moods, expectations, and relationships in society.
The constant, complete and justified satisfaction of a person with his life, its conditions, its fullness, the disclosure of human capabilities achieved in it, acts in the modern sense as the ideal of happiness.
Happiness is essentially an interdisciplinary phenomenon. In the historical and scientific perspective, psychology has developed in the context of philosophical knowledge, where the problems of happiness are reflected in the confrontation of two basic ethical and psychological concepts of happiness - hedonism
and eudaimonism. In the first concept, pleasure is considered as “the highest goal and the main stimulus of human behavior”, and the second recognizes “the pursuit of happiness as the criterion of morality and the basis of human behavior”. Individually-psychological happiness appears as an experience of satisfaction with life, the fullness of being.
Various studies examine the components of happiness and life satisfaction. For example, in the work of L. V. Kulikov, the main components of subjective well-being are identified: physical (bodily); material; psychological (mental comfort); spiritual.
M. Argyle, analyzing various studies of happiness, calls it significant sources of social relationships (love, marriage, friendship), work and leisure, religiosity, etc.
In our work, we tried to identify the objective-subjective
factors of satisfaction with life. To study life satisfaction, we based on the theory of optimization R. Kh. Shakurov, which emphasizes that in the most generalized, global form, the meaning of everyone’s life is happiness. At the psychological level, this general, general need is manifested in four forms - aspirations: 1) to save resources, to satisfy needs with the least expenditure of time, energy and money; 2) to the dynamization of his life, the craving for a variety of impressions, movements, activities; 3) to value ascent, to the satisfaction of their needs at an ever higher level; 4) to consolidate, stabilize life.
These aspirations can manifest themselves in different areas of life (professional, education, love, family, friends, hobbies) and in relation to different values \u200b\u200b(social contacts, financial situation, self-development, recognition of others, health).
The purpose of this article is to show the psychological factors that determine the different levels of student satisfaction with life in their professional development, obtained by empirical research.
840 students were studied, of which: 559 full-time students and 281 part-time students of Kazan State Technological University, Kazan State Technical University A.N. Tupolev, Tatars
state Humanitarian and Pedagogical University, including 524 girls and 316 young men aged 17 to 35 years.
To study life satisfaction, we used the “Life Satisfaction Diagnostics Test” by A. B. Belousova (TDUZH), which is based on the concept of R. Kh. Shakurov discussed above.
Statistical analysis carried out using a software package<^ТАТКТ1СА». Каждая из исследуемых групп - студенты очного и заочного отделений были разделены методом кластерного анализа на пять подгрупп по уровням удовлетворенности жизнью. Методом факторного анализа, в каждой из выделенных подгрупп были выявлены скрытые от непосредственного наблюдения факторы. Всем факторам, полученным на выборке студентов очного отделения, мы присвоили букву «О» (очное отделение), а факторам, полученным на выборке студентов заочного отделения, присвоили букву «З» (заочное отделение) (таб.1).
Thus, for full-time students, satisfaction at a very high level is associated with a sense of social relevance. Students of this subgroup have a general optimistic attitude towards life; they strive for achievements in the social sphere related to numerous communicative contacts (for example, participation in a student asset); achieve academic success by spending efforts adequate to their capabilities, without great energy, psychological
High Level Very High Level
Table 1
Life Satisfaction Factors
L r 1st Full-time department Extramural department
Factor name Generic factor Factor name Generic factor
r o 12 sv © O-1.1. - “social achievements” factorial weight - 2.26; fact. load - 4.12%; Sense of social demand; cumulative weight - 5.60; cumulative fact. load - 35.04% Z-1.1. - “desire for joy” factor weight - 2.97; fact. load - 19.79%; The desire for self-realization; cumulative weight of 7.27; cumulative fact. load - 48.44%
Factor 2 O-1.2. - "economic factor" factor weight - 1.74; fact. load - 10.89% Z-1.2. - "self-realization in close relationships" factor weight - 2.36; fact. load - 15.75%
GO r Otkla Fa O-1.3. - “desire for self-realization” factorial weight - 1.60; fact. load - 10.03% 3-1.3. - “the desire for independence, independence” factor weight - 1.93; fact. load - 12.89%
r o open a Fa O-2.1. - “professional prospects” factorial weight - 2.08; fact. load - 13.01%; Professional competence; cumulative weight 5.25; cumulative fact. load - 32.79% 3-2.1. - “desire for impressions” factorial weight - 2.62; fact. workload - 17.47%; Desire to acquire status (social achievements); cumulative weight 6.31; cumulative fact. load - 42.07%
2 r o open a Fa O-2.2. - “stability of close relations” factorial weight - 1.64; fact. load - 10.23% 3-2.2. - “intellectual compensation” factor weight - 1.97; fact. load - 13.16%
Factor 3 O-2.3. - "the diversity of social relations" factor weight - 1.53; fact. load - 9.54% 3-2.3. - “social nihilism” factorial weight - 1.72; fact. load - 11.45%
Low Level Medium Level
Continuation of the table. one
L r 1st factor name Generalized factor Factor name Generalized factor
p o 12 cb © O-3.1. - “protection by type of care” factorial weight - 2.02; fact. load - 12.65%; Sense of socio-economic stability; cumulative weight 5.15; cumulative fact. load - 32.19% 3-3.1. - “passive life position” factorial weight - 2.32; fact. load - 15.49% Avoidance of liability cumulative weight 5.74; cumulative fact. load - 38.23%
(Part 12 © O-3.2. - “conflict of needs and opportunities” factorial weight - 1.56; fact. Load - 9.78% 3-3.2. - “professional compensation” factorial weight - 1.80; fact .load - 11.98%
with r about 12 se © O-3.3. - “confidence in parental support” factorial weight - 1.56; fact. load - 9.76% 3-3.3. - “the pursuit of social stability” factor weight - 1.61; fact. load - 10.77%
r o 12 se © O-4.1. - “the pursuit of self-realization” factor weight - 2.74; fact. load - 17.14% Social immaturity; cumulative weight 6.04; cumulative fact. load - 37.79%. 3-4.1. - “conflict of needs” factorial weight - 2.40; fact. workload - 16.00%; Conflict of life values; cumulative weight 6.43; cumulative fact. load - 42.90%
SC r about 12 se © O-4.2. - “infantilism” factorial weight - 1.81; fact. load - 11.32% 3-4.2. - “desire for belonging, acceptance” factorial weight - 2.09; fact. load - 13.94%
with r about 12 se © O-4.3. - “social compensation” factor weight - 1.49; fact. load - 9.33% 3-4.3. - “dominant physiological needs” factor weight - 1.94; fact. load - 12.96%
Factor Name
Generalized factor
Continuation of the table. one
Factor Name
Generalized
O-5.1. - “compensation through the physical sphere” (healthy lifestyle) factor weight
O-5.2. - “the need for acceptance, love”
factor weight
O-5.3. - “social rejection”
factor weight
Social
unclaimed
bath
cumulative weight of 7.22; cumulative fact. load - 45.10%
S-5.1. - “the need for fullness, richness of life”
Feeling of rejection
cumulative weight of 7.14; cumulative fact. load
S-5.2. - “sublimation” factorial weight - 1.91; fact. load - 12.72%
3-5.3. - "deep pessimism"
logical and intellectual costs (for example, doing homework regularly, but superficially, “for show” and receiving tests and exams “automatically” for most subjects); actively participate in various student events, realizing their abilities and creative potential. To achieve social success, students of this subgroup can sacrifice deep friendly, intimate relationships, as these relationships require a lot of psychological and time consuming.
In the same group, high-level satisfaction is associated with a sense of professional competence. Students of this subgroup
take their studies seriously, the knowledge gained for them is professional knowledge, a contribution to future professional competence; their satisfaction with life is based on a sense of confidence that they own the situation, control life, and that they have friendly support. They strive to become less financially dependent on their parents, often combine study with work, choosing mainly professional activities of the socio-economic type.
The average level of satisfaction is based on a sense of socio-economic stability. These students choose in life that which is familiar, defined,
it does not imply ambiguity and novelty, and what can be quite easily handled by resorting to familiar forms of behavior and emotional reactions. They care about their health, primarily because they must be confident in it so that it does not disappoint. In addition, they are characterized by an internal conflict related to love relationships, when desires exceed capabilities (for example, a partner is chosen with whom there is obviously psychological incompatibility). These students can be noted to be very dependent on their parents, since the parent family acts as the guarantor of stability for their lives.
The low level of satisfaction with life in the group of full-time students is determined by social immaturity. These students would like to realize themselves in socially-approved and evaluated activities, although they do not do it very persistently, actively and, from their point of view, not very successfully. They are dependent on their parents, both financially and psychologically, and emotionally, are unhappy with this, but they make almost no effort to become more independent. They are rather condescending to themselves, allowing themselves to rest, preferring to spend free time in communication with friends.
A very low level of satisfaction with life in the same group of students is associated with a sense of social lack of demand. Students of this subgroup, unlike students of the subgroup with a very high level of
satisfaction, distinguishes a common pessimistic outlook on life. They probably try themselves in any sports or engage in physical education and try to lead a healthy lifestyle in order to be socially successful at least in something. They are characterized by non-acceptance of themselves, criticality and self-criticism as a crowded-out need for love. But this need is not satisfied, since it is difficult for them to build both formal and informal relationships.
The analysis of factors of life satisfaction in a group of correspondence students showed that the psychological factor of life satisfaction in a subgroup with a very high level result is the desire for self-realization. For students of this subgroup, their own life seems successful. They are optimistic, cheerful, consider themselves lucky, because, in their opinion, they often receive some kind of benefits as if by itself, without the application of effort. In many ways, their lives are connected with loved ones whose problems become their problems, often such students are the "soul of the company", they are empathetic, friendly, attentive. At the same time, they want more independence, they are confident in their physical capabilities, in their ability to take responsibility and make decisions.
A high level of satisfaction with life in this group is determined by the desire for status, social
achievements. Subjects are socially active, their life is diverse, events take place in it, days are filled with impressions, trips, meetings. In addition, students of this subgroup assign a significant place to study, taking it seriously and responsibly, even despite the fact that their health can sometimes fail. Education is not yet considered by them as the foundation of future professional activity, but rather serves as an opportunity to be noticed, to stand out against the general background.
The study showed that the average level is characterized by avoidance of responsibility. The subjects of this subgroup prefer to "go with the flow" without applying their own efforts. Satisfaction with life is supported by professional compensation: these subjects try to be “a little better” or at least “no worse than others” in their studies and professional activities. Such students consider study as an opportunity to acquire the necessary knowledge in the profession. In addition, studying for them is a certain guarantee of social stability.
The low level of satisfaction in this group of students is due to the existence of a conflict of life values. Students of the subgroup expressed a desire to get a lot in life, but there is no idea of \u200b\u200bthe methods of action and experience of achieving goals. They try to compensate for the feeling of general restlessness by a sense of belonging to the reference group. Focused
a low state of health, possibly, on the one hand, an attempt to find a strong justification for their failure, and on the other hand, a consequence, the result of a feeling of dissatisfaction.
The main psychological factor of a very low level of satisfaction with life is a feeling of rejection. Students of this subgroup are characterized by an internal conflict between the need for fullness and richness of life and sublimation, on the one hand, and deep pessimism, on the other. Pessimism, a lack of faith in oneself, primarily in one's own strengths, in one’s potential, and also in support of loved ones, lead to frustration in the need for a full and rich life. And sublimation in this case does not cope with the protection function, because the result of the activity is considered as unsuccessful. Apparently, this conflict leads to the fact that subjects are not satisfied with various aspects of life and life in general. From the foregoing, the conclusions follow:
1. It is established that in the group of full-time students:
Very high and very low levels of satisfaction with life are determined by one bipolar factor: “a sense of social demand - a feeling of social non-demand”;
Subgroups with a high and low level of life satisfaction are also similar in that the representatives of the first (high level) can be called socially and emotionally
mature, for whom professional competence is important as the main "capital" in the future adult life, and representatives of the second (low level) are characterized by social immaturity;
The average level of satisfaction with life is determined by a sense of socio-economic stability, when the familiar and certain are more important for a person, that is, what is already there than something new, even if it is better.
2. It is determined that in the group of correspondence students there is a greater variation in the results. This is due to the fact that this group is more heterogeneous in terms of quality characteristics (only the age of correspondence students varies from 17 to 35 years) than the group of full-time students:
A very high level of satisfaction with life is determined by the desire for self-realization, a feeling of ease of life. A very low level is associated with a feeling of self-rejection, of unwillingness;
A high level of satisfaction with life is based on the desire to acquire social status, on the desire to be noticed and noted; low is determined by conflict of life
values;
The middle level is characterized by a life avoidance strategy, passive acceptance of the existing, allowing subjects to balance on the verge of satisfaction
Dissatisfaction.
3. The identified factors in the group of full-time students are more related to society, to the representation of the “I” outside, that is, factors of an extrovert orientation, and factors in the group of correspondence students are more related to internal phenomena, with propensities to change the "I", that is, factors of introvert orientation.
Literature:
1. Argyll M. Psychology of happiness: TRANS. from English / Total. ed. M.V. Klarina. - M .: Progress, 1990 .-- 336 p.
2. Atheistic Dictionary / Abdus-MedovA. I., Aleinik R.M., Alieva B.A .; Under the total. ed. M.P. Novikova. - M .: Politizdat, 1985 .-- 512 p.
3. Kulikov L. V. Determinants of life satisfaction. Shr: // sop8i11 ri. gi / sop1ep1me "/ 101/55 /.
4. Dictionary of foreign words. - 18th ed. - M .: Rus. Yaz., 1989 .-- 624 p.
5. Shakurov R. Kh. Emotion. Personality. Activity. (Mechanisms of psychodynamics). - Kazan: Center for Innovative Technologies, 2001. - 180 p.
Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below
Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.
Coursework: 41 pages, table, appendix, 12 sources.
Research methods: theoretical analysis, systematization of scientific data, using theoretical and methodological teachings on the content of the concept of life satisfaction, empirical testing.
Consideration of the topic of life satisfaction and its socio-psychological characteristics is necessary so that we know how people in our society are satisfied with their own lives, what factors and features affect their sense of satisfaction, is it possible to raise the level of satisfaction with the help of a rational organization of life.
In my work, I considered the concept of life satisfaction and well-being as a more constructive term of the psychological aspect. I also examined needs, as the socio-psychological characteristics of life satisfaction, the rational organization of life and satisfaction as one of its criteria. I conducted a test to identify life satisfaction among 13 third-year students who are neither working nor married, and revealed the prevailing level of life satisfaction among them.
INTRODUCTION
SECTION 2. SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF SATISFACTION
2.1 Needs as socio-psychological characteristics of life satisfaction
3.1 Analysis of tests and conclusion
3.2 a survey of satisfaction with the life of Ukrainians in 2008
LIST OF USED SOURCES
APPENDIX
INTRODUCTION
Satisfaction or dissatisfaction with life plays an important role for a person; they determine very many actions of the subject, different types of his activity and behavior: everyday, economic, political. These experiences are a significant factor in the state of public consciousness, group moods, expectations, relationships in society. Without taking them into account, it is impossible to build a scientifically based social policy, social management, social planning.
Satisfaction with life acts as the most important internal factor of a person, which determines his social activity, and relationships with other people, and his attitude to himself as a person. Satisfaction with life has a number of different factors, the most important of which are the meaning-of-life orientations, value orientations and attitudes towards oneself.
Also, the relevance of research on this topic allows us to analyze how much these or other people's needs are realized, and therefore how much people are satisfied with life, the reasons that affect their sense of satisfaction and the possibility of increasing the level of satisfaction.
The object of study - III year students aged 18-20 years old, not working, not married.
The subject of the study is the socio-psychological characteristics of life satisfaction.
The purpose of the study is to consider life satisfaction and its socio-psychological characteristics. To identify the level of satisfaction with life among third-year students.
1. To analyze the concepts of life satisfaction and well-being.
2. Find out what role needs play in life satisfaction.
3. Consider the rational organization of life as a feature of life satisfaction.
4. Conduct an experimental study using a test to identify satisfaction with life.
5. Find out the level of satisfaction with life among third-year students aged 18-20 years old, not working, not married.
Research methods: theoretical analysis, systematization of scientific data, using theoretical and methodological teachings on the content of the concept of life satisfaction, empirical testing.
SECTION 1. CONCEPTS OF SATISFACTION WITH LIFE AND WELL-BEING
1.1 The essence of the concept of life satisfaction
Direct satisfaction with life has on the mood, mental state, psychological stability of the individual. The significance of this important phenomenon is well understood both in everyday consciousness and in science. At the same time, in many scientific works, satisfaction with life is interpreted as a fairly simple phenomenon, as some assessment by which a person characterizes his current life situation. Without questioning the possibility of obtaining such an assessment from the respondent (with a psychological or sociological questionnaire), it should be noted that there is a wide range of experiences of the subjective well-being of the person behind it.
To describe the state of the subjective world of a person in the aspect of his auspiciousness, various terms are used: experiencing (feeling) happiness, life satisfaction, emotional comfort, well-being.
Satisfaction - (English satisfaction) - a subjective assessment of the quality of certain objects, living conditions and activities, life in general, relations with people, people themselves, including themselves (self-esteem). A high degree of satisfaction with life, obviously, is what is called happiness (English happiness); close construct - psychological (subjective) well-being (English Wellbeing).
“Satisfaction” is a term with a very broad meaning, very widespread and therefore has a definition domain with blurred borders. They talk and write about satisfaction with life in general and about satisfaction with relationships with a particular person, regardless of the degree of significance of the person for the individual. Satisfaction can be experienced from events of very different significance for the individual scale. For example, the experience of the successful completion of a book that has been written for several years, and the feeling after a good lunch are indicated. In the latter case, the word "well-being" is hardly appropriate - we do not say that eating well, we are experiencing well-being. The latter involves generalized, especially significant for the individual experiences. Physical (bodily) well-being cannot arise only due to the fact that there is no acute feeling of hunger and the stomach works well or because the shoes are comfortable for the legs. Although both can be satisfying and important for bodily well-being in general. Body well-being combines many senses determined by the physical existence of an individual and sensations arising in the body.
An important feature of the term “satisfaction with life” for a psychologist is its uncertainty in the subject of assessment - in what exactly satisfies or does not satisfy the respondent. The subject of evaluation very often escapes the attention of researchers. But, depending on what the respondent takes into account: the external circumstances of life (only to some extent changed by his efforts) or evaluates his decisions, actions and actions, his own success, the assessment itself depends significantly.
Despite this uncertainty, it is not possible to abandon this term or completely replace it with another, since it occupies a prominent place in the mentality of both the individual and society as a whole.
In the scientific and popular literature on the topic under discussion, one can often find the phrase “emotional comfort”, but it is better to replace it with the concept of well-being.
The concept of well-being has a fairly clear meaning, its interpretations are largely similar or coincide in different scientific disciplines and ordinary consciousness. Well-being and a sense of well-being are very significant for the whole subjective (inner) world of a person. According to WHO experts, well-being is more due to self-esteem and a sense of social belonging than biological functions of the body. It is associated with the realization of the physical, spiritual and social potentials of man.
There are objective indicators of well-being, and at least some of them are known to every person. The idea of \u200b\u200bone’s own well-being or well-being of other people, the assessment of well-being is based on objective criteria of well-being, success, health indicators, material well-being, etc. The latter have one or another impact on the experience of well-being. But once again we emphasize that this experience is largely due to the characteristics of the individual’s relationship to himself, the world around him and its individual parties. All external factors of well-being with any objective characteristics by the very nature of the psyche cannot act directly on the experience of well-being, but only through subjective perception and subjective assessment, which are caused by the characteristics of all areas of the personality.
The most severe emotional discomfort is caused by the causes within the personality itself, and environmental influences are less powerful. The reason for such a high significance, most likely, is that interpersonal interactions act as the main links mediating the social adaptation of a person, realizing the possibility of social support in difficult life situations, in situations of overcoming.
More than others, people are satisfied with their life, satisfied with their marital relations and health. No connection was found between satisfaction with life and the expectation of good (or bad) events in the future, with the characteristics of housing (a separate or communal apartment).
In other words, the well-being of an individual is, by its very nature, primarily subjective. Objective (external) indicators of a person’s quality of life may probably be enough for many economic studies, but, for example, a sociologist is extremely necessary, in almost any survey, to take into account not only objective indicators, but also the subjective opinion of respondents. It is clear that for the psychologist, the subjective side of being a person is of paramount importance as a subject of research.
It should be noted that, despite the significant role of subjective factors in the well-being (or ill-being) of an individual, it is hardly possible to fully identify the concepts of well-being and subjective well-being - behind them are different, albeit close, realities. As a result, it is not considered superfluous to add the definition of “subjective” to the concept of “well-being”.
1.2 the Concept of well-being of the individual
The experience of well-being (or trouble) is influenced by various aspects of a person’s life, many features of a person’s relationship to himself and the world around him are merged. The well-being of an individual consists of a number of components. Social well-being is a person’s satisfaction with his social status and the current state of the society to which he belongs. It is also satisfaction with interpersonal relationships and status in a microsocial environment, a sense of community (as A. Adler understands), etc.
Spiritual well-being - a feeling of involvement in the spiritual culture of society, awareness of the opportunity to join the riches of spiritual culture (to satisfy spiritual hunger); awareness and experience of the meaning of your life; the presence of faith - in God or in oneself, in destiny (predestination) or happy luck in one's life path, in the success of one's own business or the business of the party to which the subject belongs; the ability to freely demonstrate commitment to one’s faith, etc.
Physical (bodily) well-being - good physical health, bodily comfort, a sense of health, a physical tone satisfying the individual.
Material well-being - satisfaction with the material side of one’s existence (housing, food, leisure), the fullness of one’s wealth, and the stability of material wealth.
Psychological well-being (mental comfort) - the coherence of mental processes and functions, a sense of integrity, internal balance. Psychological well-being is more stable with the harmony of personality. Harmony of personality - the consistency of many processes of its development and self-realization, proportionality of life goals and opportunities. The concept of harmony is revealed through the concepts of coherence and harmony. Slender means "having the right ratio between its parts." Harmony of the personality is also proportionality of the main aspects of the being of the personality: the space of the personality, the time and energy of the personality (potential and realizable).
All of these components of well-being are closely interrelated and affect each other. The attribution of many phenomena to one or another component of well-being is largely arbitrary. For example, a sense of community, awareness and experience of the meaning of life may well be ranked as factors creating mental comfort, and not just social or spiritual well-being. In subjective well-being (as a whole and in its components), it is advisable to distinguish two main components: cognitive (reflective) - ideas about individual aspects of one’s being, and emotional - the dominant emotional tone of relations to these parties. The subjective well-being (or trouble) of a particular person is made up of private assessments of various aspects of a person's life. Separate assessments merge into a feeling of subjective well-being. These aspects of life are the subject of study of various scientific disciplines. Well-being appears to be an interesting subject of study and an urgent problem for psychology.
To determine the significance of the analyzed phenomenon (large or small) for an object of a particular science is, no doubt, important, but even more valuable is to reveal the totality of its connections with other phenomena, in our case, with structures and processes that take place in the individual. For the psychology of personality and psychology in general, it is especially important that the experience of well-being is an essential component of the dominant mood of the individual. It is through mood that subjective well-being, as an integrative, especially significant experience, exerts a constant influence on various parameters of a person’s mental state and, as a result, on successful behavior, productivity, effectiveness of interpersonal interaction and many other aspects of an individual’s external and internal activity. The personality is an integrator of the entire mental activity of the individual. This constant influence is the regulatory role of the subjective well-being of the individual.
SECTION 2. SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF SATISFACTION OF LIFE
2.1 Realized needs, as socio-psychological characteristics of life satisfaction
It is impossible to find a person who has everything and who did not need anything for his life satisfaction. In this case, the fulfillment of needs is a feature of life satisfaction.
Need is a state of need for certain living conditions, activities, material objects, people, or certain social factors, without which this individual experiences a state of discomfort. Needs are always associated with a person's feeling of dissatisfaction, which is due to a deficit of what is required for his satisfaction with life.
Needs are dynamic; they change and become more complex. Their development is based on previously satisfied needs, and new ones appear in the process of including a person in more complex areas of activity (an example of needs and their satisfaction in the fairy tale about the Golden Fish). Full satisfaction of human needs is practically impossible, therefore, a thoughtful and conscious approach to the selection and satisfaction of needs is required from each person. According to one of the most common theories, such as the theory of the hierarchy of needs of the English scientist Abraham Maslow, which was put forward by him in the 50s of our century, there are 5 groups or levels of needs. The lowest level is basic or physiological needs, such as the need for food, clothing, housing, etc., which are determined by the biological nature of man. A higher level is the need for protection from “blows of fate”, such as accidents, illnesses, disability, poverty, etc., which may violate the ability to meet the needs of the previous level - physiological needs. An even higher level is social needs, that is, the need for communication, relationships with other people. According to Maslow, the needs of each level are associated with the ability to meet the needs of the previous level, and social needs are caused by the desire to more fully satisfy the needs for security. The next level is the needs of recognition, or the needs of the Ego. This is the need for prestige, respect for others, fame, etc. The highest level of needs is the need for self-improvement, or the need for development.
Needs are subject to certain "laws of dynamics":
1. The postponement or inaccessibility of vital and valuable personal needs causes apathy, depression, dissatisfaction with life in general.
2. When satisfying certain needs, a person has new needs.
3. With systematic dissatisfaction, the system of needs is curtailed, the desires and aspirations are quenched, disbelief in the possibility of change grows.
Thus, while satisfying his needs, a person, as it were, becomes more satisfied with his life as a whole. In this case, the needs act as socio-psychological characteristics of life satisfaction.
2.2 Reasonable organization of life and satisfaction as one of its criteria
There are many ways to relate to life. The easiest way to live, how to live, and not think about what is not directly related to pressing problems. But the simpler a person lives, the less effort he spends on organizing his life, the more colorless, the more inconspicuous for other people. For others to understand us, certain human qualities are needed, but for them to understand, it’s not enough just to be a good person, evoking vague sympathy. It is necessary to arouse interest in oneself, in one’s plans, actions, creative and social achievements. And if a person himself cannot understand why he lives, it is difficult to expect that the meaning of his existence will be understood by other people.
Unable to organize his life in such a way that it would be interesting to himself and others, a person, as a rule, refers to circumstances - everyday troubles, misunderstanding of relatives, lack of necessary conditions for self-realization. But whatever the external conditions, the decisive word in the organization of life belongs to the mind. “You can’t live pleasantly without living reasonably,” the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus claimed.
An irreconcilable position towards those who are not able to follow the voice of reason was taken by Diogenes of Sinop: “In order to live properly, you must have either a mind or a loop”.
Of course, one cannot literally understand the ancient thinkers. This question belongs to the category of eternal. They argued about him in the past, and they argue now. What remains indisputable is the need to define those life principles and assessments, without which the existence of a person loses its individual meaning and social significance.
With all the variety of individual ideas about life, one can always find in them common features associated with the most typical life positions in the perception, comprehension and development of reality. If we consider the attitude to life in general, then on the basis of a general worldview, two positions can be distinguished: optimism and skepticism. These positions are very important for the level of satisfaction with life. For example, optimists see a mostly good side in life. In the most difficult circumstances, the optimist finds solace and support in the hope of better times.
Optimism does not always get along with realism. This is his good, but this is his weakness. Therefore, it can be assumed that optimists are prone to greater subjective satisfaction with life. But skeptics are realists to the core. Their credo is doubt. Not a single flaw, not a single difficulty, not a single reason for doubt will escape their picky gaze. A skeptic often sees so many difficulties on the way to the most attractive goal that he begins to doubt the need to achieve it. Extreme skepticism turns a person into a pessimist, able to notice in life only its worst side and not believe that anything can change in the future. Such a person annoys the people around him with constant whining and complaints about a hopeless existence. Therefore, skepticism as well as optimism affects the level of subjective satisfaction of human life. However, skepticism does not always reach an extreme degree. In moderate amounts, it is just as necessary for normal life, however, as is optimism.
In search of the meaning of life, his place, role and mission, a person should organize his life in such a way that his individual characteristics and abilities are developed and can be fully revealed and realized in the products of activity. What, in fact, is a person entitled to expect, expending the efforts of reason and will to organize his life? By what criteria can we draw conclusions about the reasonableness or unreasonability of the principles of disposing one's own life, one’s abilities and objective capabilities?
One of the most important criteria is a social assessment of the productivity of human life, which means everything that is created by man for the benefit of other people. As a rule, the results of the activity find a well-deserved response, are highly valued by others, raise the authority of a person, inspire respect for him.
But even in those cases when contemporaries are not able to appreciate the advancement of a scientist or the work of a master ahead of time, the thought of grateful descendants inspires him, the results of his work are recognized and serving humanity. Every person knows how his strength and enthusiasm increase, when he knows that the result of his work is really needed by someone, and how his hands fall from senseless work. Not formal slogans such as “For the good of society” increase a person’s return, but a feeling of personal confidence that everything he has done today, now, at this moment, someone needs and someone is looking forward to it. We are talking about the need to create such economic and psychological conditions in which each person can feel the usefulness for other mental, intellectual and physical efforts expended by him.
The degree of a person’s satisfaction with his life (both in general and its various aspects) is the second criterion for its rational self-organization. As socio-psychological studies show, life satisfaction is closely related to productivity. And not only the one that has already been achieved, but also planned. Can a person who has devoted all his energy to the achievement of material well-being or having managed to organize his life in such a way that recreational leisure is of primary importance in it be satisfied with his life? You can have different hypotheses, especially observing or experiencing all the hardships of the absence of not only comfortable, but also more or less normal living conditions. However, the data of one survey of more than a thousand people of retirement age show that the decisive role in life satisfaction is played not by material factors and not favorable conditions for recreation and entertainment, but by the productivity of life.
To properly evaluate these data, it is necessary to distinguish between feelings of satisfaction and pleasure. The feeling of pleasure is a positive emotional background of consumer activity, as a result of which a person has the opportunity to satisfy his primary needs. But the main characteristic of this feeling that distinguishes it from satisfaction is short duration. Satisfaction is a significantly more stable emotional state. It arises and is formed as a result of productive transformative activities aimed at the production of material and spiritual values \u200b\u200band is far from always accompanied by a direct sense of pleasure. The stability of the feeling of satisfaction is generated, on the one hand, by the fact that the result of labor is a real confirmation of the value, meaninglessness of one’s own life.
On the other hand, the result of labor, especially if other people are interested in it, provokes approval, praise, recognition of special abilities and skills, often not only at the time of its achievement, but also after a certain time. The longer-term product of an activity, the more prolonged a positive response from other (more and more new) people is experienced by a person. This creates the conditions for the stability of a sense of satisfaction.
A person may experience a feeling of dissatisfaction not only with himself, but also with his own life. He may be dissatisfied with his work, the people with whom he communicates, their business or moral qualities, etc. This, as a rule, is based on the protective psychological mechanism of projection. In fact, this is unconscious dissatisfaction with one's own qualities. The traumatic dissatisfaction with work is, in fact, dissatisfaction with one’s ability to cope with difficulties that arise in the process of its implementation. Dissatisfaction with another person is basically dissatisfaction with one’s line of behavior towards him. Indeed, in situations in which it was possible to give a fitting rebuff to an ill-wisher or simply an unpleasant person, a feeling of deep satisfaction arises.
In our minds, an ideal pattern of our own behavior is being formed - an idea of \u200b\u200bhow to hold on, speak, act in various situations. If you manage to behave in accordance with this ideal, a person feels a sense of self-satisfaction. If the actual behavior does not correspond to the model, then the feeling of dissatisfaction is most often transferred to the object in relation to which it was not possible to behave properly. In general, this mechanism performs a certain protective function, since people who are prone to constant self-accusation, according to the data of the famous Polish specialist in the field of psychology of emotions J. Reikovsky, are much more susceptible to stress illnesses.
The third important criterion for the rational organization of life is such an indicator, very significant for each person, as the state of his health. Of course, not all people have an equal initial level: some are born more weakened, with a hereditary predisposition to a particular disease, others undermine their health due to compelling reasons or due to their own negligence. Is a person capable of much and can he have a high degree of satisfaction with life if his state of health leaves much to be desired? Of course, there are examples of high examples of courage and will, when, overcoming a serious illness, people created wonderful creations. But more often than not, a person weakened by an illness is unproductive, uninteresting to those around him who, out of politeness or compassion, will try to understand him. Yes, and he, for natural reasons, focuses on his interests, thoughts and feelings on where it hurts today and what causes it. One can speak of a rational organization of life only when the state of health, regardless of the initial level, improves or does not worsen. Even a slowdown in the rate of deterioration in some cases may indicate that the principles of organizing life are chosen correctly. Thus, the state of health and, more precisely, human well-being is an important biomedical criterion for the rationality of organizing life.
Summarizing the research experience and numerous socio-psychological, sociological and gerontological data, we can distinguish a number of basic principles of the rational organization of life:
Prospectivity;
Certainty;
Rhythm;
Workout;
Sociability.
Perspective is the number one principle and implies the mandatory existence of life goals in a person. By setting long-term goals, a person determines those landmarks, striving for which, he fills his life with individual meaning, answers himself to the question for what he lives. G. Selye notes that the distant goal that a person sets himself can eliminate the constant doubts leading to distress in the correctness of his decisions and actions.
The specific content of goals can be different, it depends on the age stage of a person’s life path, and on his personal interests, level of culture, abilities, life orientations. But there are some general patterns that indicate how the presence and content of life goals affect productivity, satisfaction and well-being.
In 1978-1979 and in 1981-1983, a socio-psychological study was conducted of people aged 50-70 years living in Kiev. The data of this study convince that people whose life goals are socially significant or reflect individual spiritual interests, focus on creative activities, have significantly higher indicators of life satisfaction, well-being, mood. They are much less likely to come into conflict with loved ones, complain about misunderstanding from others. However, one cannot fail to note the alarming fact that there were very few such people - from 4 to 13% in various social groups.
A significantly larger number of people indicated that they want to "live peacefully" or even "die peacefully" as their main goal in life. The lack of a life perspective significantly affects people's attitude to longevity. To the question: “Do you want to live to be 100?” 55% of women and 39% of men gave a negative answer. To the clarifying question: “Why?” People usually answered: “I don’t want to be helpless”, “I don’t want to be a burden to myself”, “I don’t want to be a burden”, “ I don’t want to be a weak old woman ”, etc. Without a life goal, not knowing what to devote free time, strength and ability to, many, still practically healthy people mentally live in future helplessness, negative feelings of the future. It is the future, not the present.
Already by the nature of the answers to the question about the reasons for the unwillingness to live for a long time, one can see the influence on the assessment of the life prospects of relationships with close people. This is no coincidence. The fact is that many elderly people closely associate their life goals with the affairs and concerns of their children and grandchildren: “I want my son to change his job,” “so that her daughter divorces her husband,” “so that the granddaughter goes to college,” etc. There is a kind of compensation for the lack of life goals associated with self-realization, the goals of the device of life of adult children. However, this kind of compensation, the content of which often conflicts with the plans of the children themselves, often leads to tension in family relationships.
Closely associating their life goals with the fate of children, older people practically try reasonably, from their point of view, to organize not their own life, but the lives of other family members. In this case, typical in this study were complaints about the lack of independence of adult children (financially, in the household sector, etc.). In this case, there is a very contradictory attitude: on the one hand, the desire to patronize, on the other - dissatisfaction with non-independence. This psychological state predisposing to conflicts is often aggravated by the fact that the lack of life goals associated with self-realization in itself causes dissatisfaction with life, although the reasons for this dissatisfaction are usually not recognized.
When setting life goals, first of all, it is necessary to be guided by the real possibility of achieving them. Otherwise, there is a probable threat of stress of “collapsed hope”. G. Selye emphasizes that the stress of “collapsed hope” is much more likely to lead to diseases (stomach ulcer, migraine, high blood pressure or increased irritability) than excessive physical work. Therefore, it is necessary to comprehensively assess the feasibility of the planned prospects and concentrate efforts on what has objective grounds for future implementation.
A meaningful realistic perspective is needed at every stage of the journey. And for the first time, a person learns to master the prospect of his own life as a teenager. When studying the life prospects of high school students, it was found that the vast majority of boys and girls aged 15-17 have quite distant goals in life related to future work, continued studies, social advancement, family and material consumption. The main problem in shaping the life prospects of young people is not the lack of a “perspective” view of the future life that is characteristic of representatives of older generations, but the inconsistency of distant life goals with the actual life situation and immediate life plans — study and career choice.
Finding realism in the sequence of future achievements in life, young men and women at the same time are overly optimistic in determining the terms with which these achievements are associated. Literally everything that they plan, they hope to have by 30-35 years. An additional source that young people are supposed to turn to when planning large material acquisitions is, first of all, help from their parents - most high school students count on it. About 80% of students in the implementation of their material plans even take into account the help of the parents of the future spouse. So the complaints of older people about the lack of independence of children have a very specific basis. Comparison of the research data of youth and older people allows us to conclude that there is now a not very favorable symbiosis of material dependency of youth and spiritual dependency of parents, concentrating their life goals on organizing children's lives.
The rational organization of life in each age period requires the mandatory implementation of the principle of prospects, taking into account the age characteristics of a person and the specifics of the life situation in which he is. The lack of a developed perspective is a prerequisite for the adoption of impulsive life decisions leading to psychological crises, moral and physical degradation. The implementation of the principle of perspective is determined by how consistently in the organization of life a person adheres to the principle of certainty, which characterizes the possibility of realizing life goals.
Certainty - the existence of life plans as specific programs for the implementation of goals. Each more or less significant life goal requires a certain sequence of actions aimed at its achievement, and therefore, a preliminary plan of these actions is necessary.
Actually, plans help a person evaluate the reality of goals. The most exalted goals will not have any value if the plans for their implementation remain uncertain. Uncertainty in life plans leads to a decrease in the productivity of activities and negatively affects people's life satisfaction. And vice versa, even the most hardly attainable, at first glance, goal is real if a person has a concrete idea of \u200b\u200bhow he is going to achieve it, what abilities and qualities need to be developed, what can be sacrificed in the name of the intended goal.
As already noted, a youthful life perspective is characterized by a lack of coordination of long-term goals and immediate plans related to the choice of a profession. A peculiar phenomenon of the reverse perspective arises, when more distant objects are more clearly visible than close ones. The uncertainty of plans, even if there is a goal, deprives a person of independence, makes him dependent on circumstances and reduces confidence in the possibility of achieving life goals.
Uncertainty of plans is a social problem to a greater extent than an individual psychological one. If the society has not created objective conditions for the implementation of certain goals, it is difficult to expect that most people will be involved in specific activities. The abstractness of professional intentions of high school students is not so much a manifestation of their frivolity as the absence of targeted career guidance work, the lack of a system of professional orientation for young people. But young people, at least, have a general scheme of self-fulfillment in life - graduation, entering a university, technical school or vocational school, starting work, professional advancement, creating a family, etc. In this regard, older people are at the most disadvantaged position. for which retirement actually cuts off the prospect, since the society lacks an institutionalized system for involving pensioners in various forms of social activity. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the majority of older people are characterized by uncertainty in their life plans in connection with the retirement period.
Our society has suffered an atmosphere of openness and democratization, encouraging initiative and various forms of social and creative self-organization at a high price, one of the components of which is the passivity of most people, including passivity in relation to one’s own life, inability and unwillingness to take it seriously and interestedly to planning.
There are, of course, psychological factors of the uncertainty of life plans - infantilism, children's adult confidence that everything in the world is in accordance with his desires and hopes, a fatalistic view of what is happening, which initially rejects any attempts to influence one's own destiny. It may be easier to live without worrying about the future and take the first step without thinking about how much more you need to go to the goal. But least of all, this attitude to life is based on the mind. Guided by momentary moods, whims and worldly resourcefulness, a person can somehow arrange his life, but you have to pay for it the main thing - the meaning of life, which is carried far beyond the limits of immediate impulses. A certain sequence of life plans requires a corresponding rhythm of life.
Rhythm is a temporary mode of realization of life plans, contributing to their coordination. Plans for the implementation of various life goals, as a rule, compete, overlapping the same period of time. In addition, a person must constantly solve unforeseen problems, perform unexpected tasks. If a person does not have at least an approximate mode of the day, then literally every hour he has to solve the problem of choice - what to do now and what to postpone for the future. Physiologists have experimentally established that decision-making situations associated with the possibility of choice lead to a sharp increase in neuropsychic activation. And if activation turns into a permanent state, it causes overloads, fraught with stress illnesses. In order to reduce the situations of choice to the necessary minimum, a number of constantly planned actions should be automated, that is, to regularly perform them at the same time. In this case, it is necessary to adapt them to individual psychophysical rhythms. It is known that some people are more productive in the morning, others in the evening. Based on this, it is possible to carry out the simplest actions, brought to automaticity, in the least productive periods, leaving creative work time for the best.
This does not mean that a person is gradually turning into an automaton working in a strict time mode. On the contrary, the saved neuropsychic energy in this case will be directed additionally to the solution of creative tasks and unexpected problems of choice.
Rhythm is not only a situational mode of activity, a daily routine. This is a certain rhythm of movement along the path of life. According to the observations of the Soviet scientist N. Pern, a wave-like change in a person’s creative activity with periods of rise and fall occurs throughout life. Moreover, with age, the rhythm of life changes.
In youth, a person easily adapts to changing rhythms of life. Hence the craving for a change of place, the lack of stable stereotypes of behavior. For young people, wrote S. Zweig, peace is always a concern itself. Over the years, it is becoming increasingly difficult for a person to adapt to a change in his usual life rhythm. This age-specific psychological feature was noted by M. Montaigne: “I am not at that age when we do not care about drastic changes, and I cannot get used to a new and unknown way of life.”
Attempts by older people to fully reproduce the youthful rhythm of life, as a rule, end destructively for health. From the point of view of the problem of mutual understanding, attempts by the representatives of the older generation to force young people to adopt their own familiar rhythm of life are equally unjustified. Echoes of this particular tendency are heard in the struggling youth fashion, the free manner of communication, the desire for changes in one's own life and in society.
In turn, young people are far from always reckoning with age-related features of the rhythm of life and activity of older people, which is one of the causes of conflicts between representatives of younger and older generations.
Maintaining a rational life rhythm is a prerequisite for effective activity and a rational lifestyle. Necessary, but not sufficient. Much depends on the level of a person’s functional preparedness for one or another activity.
The next principle of organizing life is the principle of training, its meaning and significance encompass not only the physical condition of a person, but also the ability to actively work in other areas, including in the sphere of spiritual life.
Training - constant exercises that contribute to increasing the level of functional preparation of a person for activity. Success in any area of \u200b\u200blife requires a certain level of preparedness. No one doubts the usefulness of training for maintaining and developing physical (muscle) activity. Everyone knows that regular exercise helps prevent disease and promote good health.
Already in ancient culture, within the framework of philosophical concepts, ideas of conscious life-building developed, one of the principles of which was regular exercise. “There are two kinds of exercises,” said Diogenes of Sinop, “one is for the soul, the other is for the body ... One without the other is imperfect: those who strive for virtue must be healthy and strong both in soul and body.
The data of many modern studies confirm that constant exercise affects a number of mental, including intellectual, functions. As a rule, with age, people better retain those functions that were the main burden in carrying out professional activities. For example, drivers with age reduced visual acuity less than other people in general. Measuring the intellectual level of elderly people of different professional groups revealed not so much quantitative as qualitative differences: accountants and teachers of mathematics found higher indicators of intelligence safety according to the results of counting tests, and editors and teachers of literature received higher scores for verbal (speech) tests. Therefore, the training of certain functions ensures their development and age-related safety.
Resistance to stress is also achieved by training. In animals that have suffered a slight pain for a long time (slight electric shocks), wound healing is better, they adapt to stress faster than animals that have not been exposed to such an effect. There is speculation that sports fans experiencing during the competition experience mini-stress, and this is a kind of stressful workout. Active training as a significant opportunity to prevent the adverse effects of severe stress is the basis of the "speed therapy" method. The patient is encouraged to mentally imagine and feel some (dangerous) situation, and at the moment of culmination, when a panic state occurs, they are taught to relax and breathe deeply, because under severe stress they catch their breath and hypoxia sets in. Training allows you to accustom the body to the fight against it, which increases resistance to stressful effects.
Constant exercises are useful not only in terms of increasing physical, emotional and intellectual readiness for activity. Equally important is the training in the field of communication between people. No matter how reasonable a person may think of his way of life, if there is no place for full communication in him, mental trauma and deep inner emptiness are inevitable. Therefore, sociability is one of the key principles of the rational organization of life.
SECTION 3. EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH (TEST FOR SATISFACTION WITH LIFE)
3.1 analysis of the tests and conclusions
This test has already been performed by tens of thousands of people in different countries. The average final result in older Americans is 28 points for men and 26 for women, for American students - 23-25 \u200b\u200bpoints. The average result for Chinese and East European students is 16-19 points. Male prisoners on average rated life satisfaction at 12 points. The patients of hospitals came to the same conclusion. Patients who visited psychologists on an outpatient basis gave a score of 14-18 points, while women who were abused and elderly nurses, oddly enough, showed a rather high result - about 21 points on average.
I conducted a test to find out the level of satisfaction with life. My subjects were 13 girls 18-20 years old, who are third-year students, not working and not married.
The test consisted of five statements, each of which had to be evaluated as to how true it was for the subject, according to the following seven-point system:
7 - completely agree;
6 - I agree;
5 - partially agree;
4 - I can not say for sure;
3 - I do not quite agree;
2 - do not agree;
1 - absolutely disagree.
The statements themselves look like this:
My life is nearly perfect in almost every way;
My home environment is excellent;
I am completely satisfied with life;
Until now, I have received from life everything that I needed;
If I started life anew, I would not change anything.
Before proceeding to consider the results, I must assume that the responses of my subjects may depend to some extent on the subjective judgments of the subjects themselves. Various factors can influence the answers, such as mood, malaise, fatigue, strong employment, different situations in which the subjects are currently in, etc. We consider the results in the following table:
Table 3.1 the results of the study
|
Result |
|||||||||
Now we will examine in more detail the obtained results of each of the subjects:
1. A twenty-year-old test subject, a student and part-time hairdresser, does not agree that her life is close to ideal in almost all respects, nor does she agree that her home conditions are excellent. Believes that she is not completely satisfied with life. I don’t agree with the statement that if she started life anew she wouldn’t change anything, which means that there are some things and situations that she would like to change for some reason, because not satisfied with them. I partly agree that so far I have received from life everything that was necessary. According to the data obtained, we can say that she is dissatisfied with her life, the result is clearly below average, only 13 points.
2. An eighteen-year-old test subject, a student, does not quite agree that her life is close to ideal in almost all respects. Partly agree that her home conditions are excellent. Whether she is completely satisfied with life, she cannot say for sure. She believes that so far she has not received from life everything that was necessary. But if she began life anew, she would not change anything. According to the data that make up the average score of 20 points, it can be assumed that the subject is more or less happy with her life.
3. An eighteen-year-old test subject, a student, cannot say for sure that her life is close to ideal in almost all respects, that so far she has received from life everything that she needed and that if she started life anew, then nothing would become would change. I do not quite agree that her home conditions are excellent. And partly agrees that she is completely satisfied with life. As a result, the subject scored an average score of 20 points, which suggests that she is more or less happy with her life.
4. A nineteen-year-old test subject, a student, partly agrees that her life is ideal in almost all respects, that her home conditions are excellent, and that she is completely satisfied with life. I agree that so far she has received from life everything that she needed. But she cannot say for sure that if she began life anew, she would not change anything. According to her answers, the subject scored 25 points, this is a higher than average result, according to which it can be said that she is very happy with her life.
5. An eighteen-year-old test subject, a student, partly agrees that her life is ideal in almost all respects. I agree that her home conditions are excellent. I partly agree that she is completely satisfied with life and that so far she has received from life everything that she needed. She cannot say for sure that if she began life anew, she would not change anything. This subject also scored above average, 25 points, which indicates that she is very happy with her life.
6. A nineteen-year-old test subject, a student, agrees with the statement that her home conditions are excellent and that her life is perfect in almost every way. I partly agree with the statements, where it is a question of the fact that she is completely satisfied with life and that so far she has received from life everything that she needed. But she cannot say for sure that if she began life anew, she would not change anything. The result of this test subject is above average, 26 points indicates that she is very happy with her life.
Similar documents
Personality and aging in the modern world. Feeling satisfied with life. The essence of conditions of satisfaction in late adulthood. Stability, changes and stages of life in old age. Identification of life satisfaction in old age.
term paper, added 12/14/2010
A study of the emotional, behavioral, and cognitive components of team relationships. Assessment of personal and group job satisfaction. Analysis of the relationship between indicators of job satisfaction and the socio-psychological climate of the team.
thesis, added 01/20/2016
The structure of self-identity. Self-esteem and level of claims as factors of the human personality. Socio-psychological characteristics of adolescents brought up in a social rehabilitation center. Questionnaire "Satisfaction with life."
thesis, added 09/30/2011
Psychological characteristics of adolescence and its role in the choice of life strategies. Organization and methods of research strategies to achieve satisfaction with the life of first-year students of physics, mathematics and geography.
term paper added 04/14/2014
Satisfaction with marriage and life, its role in the success of the economic socialization of spouses. Factors Affecting Marriage Satisfaction. Questionnaire of satisfaction with marriage V.V. Stolin. V. Coleman’s methodology for determining satisfaction with one’s life.
term paper, added 04/04/2016
A theoretical analysis of the socio-psychological aspects of job satisfaction in the team and the factors that shape it. Characterization of the sample and research methods. Corrective social and psychological work to increase job satisfaction.
thesis, added 07/21/2015
The concepts of entrepreneurial activity and activity in domestic and foreign psychology. The relationship of high entrepreneurial activity with a high level of social intelligence, education, materially secure life and self-control.
thesis, added 04.25.2014
The concept and history of the development of marriage. Socio-psychological factors affecting marriage satisfaction. The study of socio-psychological adaptation. Correlation in men and women. Adaptation, self-acceptance and internality.
thesis, added 09/10/2013
Socio-psychological characteristics of military personnel of various categories. Socio-psychological characteristics of the personality, affecting the formation of the professional identity of contractors of different age groups in the modern Armed Forces.
thesis, added 03/06/2012
The problem of personality structure. Joint socially significant activity. The structure and main features of the motivation process. Psychological motives affecting human behavior in a team. Components of the socio-psychological climate of the team.
SOCIAL DIAGNOSTICS
N.V. Andreenkova
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SATISFACTION WITH LIFE AND DETERMINING
HER FACTORS
ANDREENKOVA Nina Vladimirovna - candidate of philosophical sciences, employee of the Institute for Comparative Social Research (CESSI). E-mail: [email protected]
The article considers such a phenomenon as life satisfaction. The author, based on ESS materials, analyzes the factors determining life satisfaction, highlighting the internal factors that characterize the person and his place in social relations (socio-psychological, socio-demographic), and external factors that characterize the environment in which the person lives (social environment and social ties, institutional, economic, environmental factors). The analysis is carried out at two levels, involving a comparison of countries and a comparison of people (aggregated and individual analysis).
Keywords: life satisfaction, aggregated and individual analysis, cross-country comparisons, internal factors, external factors
In sociology and social psychology, life satisfaction is considered part of a broader concept of subjective well-being, which, in turn, is defined as “a wide category of phenomena consisting in the emotional reaction of people, their satisfaction with certain areas of life, and their judgments about the quality of life in general "31. Satisfaction with life is usually considered the cognitive side of subjective well-being, which is complemented by the affective side - the positive and negative emotions that a person experiences in a certain period of time. In the early stages of learning
31 Diener E., Suh E. M., Lucas R., Smith H. Subjective well-being: three decades of progress // Pshychological bulletin. - 1999. Vol. 125, No. 2. - P. 276-302.
subjective well-being in the framework of social psychology, the main attention was paid to problematic emotional states, such as depression or anxiety. However, the study of the positive state of people was no less significant. Subjective well-being in general and satisfaction with life, in particular, differs from such an indicator as “mood” or “emotional state” in its relative stability over time.
For a long time, researchers were interested in the question of whether life satisfaction and people's assessment of how happy they are, in essence, are the same indicators or whether they measure different aspects of people's attitude to life. Both indicators were often used in large trending multi-country comparative studies. Based on the data of such surveys, it was shown that the correlation coefficient of satisfaction with life and level of happiness does not exceed 0.532 (in some cases 0.6). In Russia, in the 90s of the last century, according to the large longitudinal study RUSSET, the correlation between these questions is quite far from 1 (0.64). These data suggest that life satisfaction and happiness, although closely related to each other, are not identical33. The hypothesis that the indicator of happiness measures mainly feelings, and satisfaction, a cognitive assessment of events in life, has not been confirmed either. Rather, happiness reflects an assessment of the social side of people's lives (the closest indicator of happiness is related to satisfaction with family life, social connections, etc.), and life satisfaction is an integral indicator of the assessment of the external side of people's lives (satisfaction with a position in a social structure, material situation, other achievement factors). Based on this approach, it is satisfaction with life that most depends on societal conditions and changes in the political, economic and social sphere of a country's life, and the analysis of life satisfaction helps assess the impact of these changes on people's lives, which for Russia in recent decades is one of the most priority tasks. That is why we have chosen life satisfaction for further analysis.
32 Campbell, A., Converse P.E., Rodgers W. L. .. The quality of American Life. - New York: Russel Sage Foundation, 1976 .-- P. 213-229.
33 RUSSET (Russian socio-economic panel) - a panel study of subjective and objective indicators of quality and satisfaction with the life of the 90s (1993-1999) of CESSI and the University of Amsterdam (www.cessi.ru).
Factors that determine the level of life satisfaction
In addition to the fact that it is very important to know how residents of different countries, individual social groups within each country are satisfied with their life, it is equally important to understand what are the reasons for people's satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their life.
Over the past decades of studying this problem, several theories have been put forward with the help of which researchers are trying to explain why people are satisfied or not satisfied with their lives. The very first studies of subjective well-being showed that it depended little on demographic and economic factors, and it was necessary to look for deeper and more complex explanations of the differences between people in assessing their own lives.
A theory of adaptation has been put forward, which suggests that satisfaction is determined by each person by comparing the current state with their own past. Immediately after some important event in life, the assessment of one’s life (satisfaction) can change quite a lot, but after a while it usually returns to its previous level. That is, life events have a rather strong, but short-term effect on the level of subjective well-being, and then adaptation and return to the previous level take place. B. Khedi and A. Uiring, who showed such a phenomenon on the example of longitudinal data, i.e. studying the same people for a long time, called this state “a dynamic balance of subjective well-being” 34.
The first comparative studies, which included an indicator of subjective well-being, showed that developed industrial countries differ little from each other in terms of satisfaction with life. To explain such similarities between different countries, Richard Easterlin suggested in 1974 that countries do not differ in the level of subjective well-being because people evaluate their subjective well-being by comparing it with the average within the same society35. Therefore, within each society, the differences in life satisfaction between people are quite significant, and the average level in different countries differs slightly. This theory is called the theory of social comparisons and suggests that satisfaction is determined by
34 Heady B., Wearing A. Personality, life events, and subjective well-being: toward a dynamic equilibrium model // Journal of personality and social psychology. - 1989.No 57. - P. 731-739.
35 Easterlin R. Does economic growth improve the human lot? / Nations and households in economic growth: essays in honor of Moses Abramovtz / P.A. David, M.W. Reder (eds.). - New York: Academic Press. 1974. - P. 98-125.
comparison with other social groups. Subsequently, additional hypotheses were put forward that the object of comparisons can be a variety of significant social groups, including “ideal” ones, and not necessarily national average.
However, if according to the theory of social comparisons, the average satisfaction indicator should tend to the average value, further studies have shown that in practice this is not entirely true - most people in developed countries are above the average satisfaction scale (for example, in the USA, 85% of the population are satisfied with their life) 36. In almost all developed industrial countries, the share of those satisfied with their lives significantly exceeds the share of those unsatisfied (about three to one). Moreover, it was shown that people with similar characteristics, living in different environments - for example, more successful, wealthier, or, conversely, less wealthy, differ little in terms of satisfaction with life, which would have happened if the theory of social comparisons were true. The empirical data is more likely to indicate the validity of the model of constant change of objects for social comparisons, that is, that people specifically choose those with whom to compare themselves, and do not always compare themselves with the same group37.
In the early 80s, another theory was put forward to explain the differences between people in subjective well-being - the theory of achieving goals. This theory suggests that life satisfaction is determined by how far or close a person is from his goals, their achievement. Moreover, subjective well-being is achieved when these goals are achieved38. D. Brunstein on longitudinal data showed that progress in achieving goals leads to positive changes in subjective satisfaction with life, and vice versa39.
In all these theories, satisfaction with life (or subjective well-being in general) depends on various factors that change in time and space and is not a biological constant. Although theories have been put forward that life satisfaction is either a genetically engineered characteristic, or is determined by
36 Diener E., Diener C. Most people are happy // Pshychological Science. - 1996. Vol. 7.No. 3. - P. 181-185.
37 Taylor S.E., Wood J.V., Lichtman R.R .. It could be worse: selective evaluation as a response to victimization // Journal of social issues. - 1983. Vol. 39, No 2. - P. 19-40.
38 Diener E. Subjective well-being // Psychological Bulletin. - 1984. No. 95. - P. 542-575.
39 Brunstein J.C. Personal goals and subjective well-being // Journal of Personality and social psychology. - 1993.No. 65 .-- P. 1061-1070.
"National character", i.e. fixed cultural and behavioral characteristics of the whole people, or part of the personality structure formed in the course of early socialization. Such theories began to be put forward after a rather high level of stability was recorded in the level of satisfaction with life between countries. Over the years, the average level of life satisfaction, which was systematically measured in developed industrial countries, has remained fairly stable, despite changes in social relations, structure, economic and political environment. If this were so, the study of satisfaction with life, especially in an intercountry context, would be a scientific curiosity or just funny journalistic notes about the peculiarities of nations, but these studies would not have serious public significance, since they would not be subject to any social impact, could not be changed.
With the expansion of geography and time of observation, we can state that even the average level of satisfaction with life in individual countries changes if societal changes occur quickly enough and turn out to be significant enough. We will show this on the example of Russia. Therefore, it is unlikely that a genetic predisposition or national character are factors that determine the level of satisfaction with life in a country, although the socio-psychological characteristics of a person may have a definite effect on people's assessment of their life in general.
In the vast literature on the factors that influence people's satisfaction with life, one can find dozens of different assumptions, some of which have been tested on empirical data, and some are not yet available. We will conditionally divide all these factors into two large groups - internal and external factors, each of which will consist of a number of subgroups, according to which we will conduct further analysis:
A) internal factors characterizing the person himself and his place in social relations. Among them:
Socio-psychological - character, personality traits. In empirical studies, the relationship between life satisfaction and personality traits has been most often studied.
such as neuroticism and ectrovertism40, genetic factors41, the level of optimism, openness, etc.
Socio-demographic - gender, age, socio-economic (labor situation, experience of unemployment, level of education), and contextual, situational, life circumstances (state of health, marital status, etc.)
B) external factors characterizing the environment in which a person lives:
Social environment, social connections
Institutional - forms of democracy42, ideological diversity in government43, political and private freedoms44
Economic - the level of unemployment can be affected by the level of unemployment (a direct effect on those who have had experience of unemployment and indirectly on everyone else45), the rate of inflation, the general state of the country's economy. Scientists are still arguing about the role of GDP or the growth of BBH on the level of subjective well-being. In this regard, one cannot fail to mention the well-known "Easterlin paradox", which consists in the fact that according to empirical data, within individual countries, rich people are more satisfied with life than poor, but at the intercountry level there is no such connection (we are talking about developed industrial countries). Moreover, an increase in per capita income over time does not
40 Hayes N., Stephen J. Big 5 correlates of three measures of subjective well-being // Personality and Individual differences. - 2003.No 34 (3). - P. 723-727.
41 The article describes a study of identical and non-identical twins grown together and separately and the effect of this on life satisfaction: Tellegen A., Lykken D., Bouchard TJ, Wilcox KJ, Segal NJ, Rich S .. Personality similarity in twins reared apart and together // Journal of personality and social psychology. - 1988.No 54. - P. 1031-1039.
42 Frey B.S., Stutzer A. Happiness, economy and institutions // Economic Journal. - 2000.No 110. - P. 918-938.
43 Radcliff B. Politics, markets and life satisfaction: the political economy of human happiness // American Political Science Review. - 2001.No 95 (4). - P. 939-952.
44 Veenhoven R. Freedom and Happiness: a comparative study in 46 nations in the early 90 "s / Culture and subjective well-being / Diener E., Suh EM (eds.). - Cambridge: MIT press. 2000. - P. 257-288.
45 Clark A.E., Oswald A.J. Unhappiness and unemployment // Economic journal. - 1994.No 104.- P. 648-659; Winkellmann L., Winkellman R. Why are the unemployed so unhappy? Evidence from panel data // Economica. -1998. No 65. - P. 1-15; Rafael D.T., MacCulloch R.J. Oswald A.J. Preferences over inflation and unemployment: evidence from surveys of happiness // American economic review. - 2001. Vol. 91.No 1. - P. 335-341; Becchetti L., Castriota S., Giutnella O. The effects of age and job protection on the welfare costs of inflation and unemployment: a source of ECB anti-inflation bias // Center for economic and international studies (CEIS) working paper. - 2006. No. 245. - P. 14.
leads to a change in the average level of subjective well-being (again, for example, developed industrial countries).
Environmental - in particular, hypotheses were put forward about the impact on life satisfaction of the climate in which a person lives46.
Despite the fact that a very large number of various factors were considered that affect the subjective satisfaction or well-being of people, a comprehensive explanation of this phenomenon has not yet been found.
Social and demographic factors and situational factors taken together explain no more than 10% of the variations in the level of satisfaction of individuals, at least in rich societies (Campbell, Converse and Rogers in 1976 talked about 20%, but this is due to the peculiarities of their definition demographic factors). Such factors as age, education, and nationality are weakly related to the level of satisfaction with life. According to earlier studies, satisfaction with life is most closely related to marital status. Studies of the 90s of the last century and 2000s showed that married people (both men and women) are happier than those who have never been married, divorced or living separately47. However, what is the reason and what is the consequence in this case is not yet clear - there is evidence, for example, that happy people get married more often48.
Social parameters such as participation in the labor market, participation in public life, and social ties turned out to be not very significant for explaining the level of satisfaction of individuals. Together, these factors also explain no more than 10% of the variations in the answers to the question about life satisfaction49.
In developed Western countries, the personal qualities of people — their social adaptability, physical activity, energy, and psychological stability — are somewhat more important. Interestingly, the level of intelligence (at least on the example of the IQ test) is almost not connected with the level of satisfaction with life. Contribute to
46 Rehdanz K., Maddison D. Climate and Happiness // Ecological Economics. - 2005. Vol. 52.No 1. - P. 111-125.
47 Lee G.R., Seccombe K., Shehan C.L. Marital status and personal happiness: an analysis of trend data // Journal of marriage and the family. - 1991.No 53.- P. 839-844.
48 Mastekaasa A. Marriage and psychological well-being: some evidence on selection into marriage // Journal of marriage and the family. - 1992.No 54. - P. 901-911; Scott C.K. Marital status and well-being. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. - Illinois: University of Illinois. 1991 .-- P. 61.
49 Veenhoven R. The study of life satisfaction / A comparative study of satisfaction with life in Europe / Saris W.E., Veenhoven R., Scherpenzeel A.C., Bunting B. (eds). - Budapest: Eotvos University Press, 1996 .-- P.11-48.
personality traits such as self-confidence, extrovertism and openness, the desire to take responsibility on oneself, not feel external control over one’s higher level of satisfaction. All these factors can explain about 30% of the variations in the answers to the question about life satisfaction50.
Thus, more than half of the variations in the satisfaction of people in their lives so far have not been explained by any factors - nor stable factors of personality, but external environmental factors.
Levels of satisfaction analysis - comparing countries and comparing people (aggregated and individual analysis)
While differences in the level of satisfaction with life between people at the individual level have not yet been explained, at the aggregated level, differences in average satisfaction with life between countries are moving more successfully.
Large trend cross-country comparative studies of the 90s of the last century (World Values \u200b\u200bSurvey, ISSP, etc.) made it possible to expand the analysis of the level of satisfaction with life geographically and include other countries at different stages of development in addition to developed industrial western countries. This has largely changed the way scientists think about the problem. Comparison of a large number of countries showed that countries differ in the average level of satisfaction with their life by the population and the differences between countries are quite large. If the differences between developed industrial countries are very small, in almost all these countries the average level of satisfaction with life is higher than the average on the scale, but in other countries the level of satisfaction is much lower, most often it is somewhere near the middle of the scale, sometimes slightly lower.
The average level of satisfaction with life in different countries is influenced by several factors - the level of wealth of the country (GDP or similar indicators), the level of civil liberties and respect for human rights, the dominance of individualistic values.
Satisfaction with life in different countries according to ESS
50 Veenhoven R. Happiness in Nationas. Subjective appreciation of life in 56 nations (1946-19920, RISBO, studies in Social and Cultural transformations). - Rotterdam: Erasmus University. 1993 .-- 365 p.
The ESS includes a number of indicators of subjective well-being, including satisfaction with life in general, with individual parties to both private life (financial situation) and public life (the state of the country's economy, education system, healthcare system, government work, development of democracy), and also an indicator of happiness. This allows us to carry out both an intercountry analysis of subjective well-being and an analysis of the determinants of such well-being within a single country and verification of various theories.
ESS data makes it possible to test theories about the differences in the level of life satisfaction between countries at the beginning of the XXI century. on the example of Europe. In most European countries, the level of satisfaction with life is very high - in 12 out of 25 countries it exceeds 80%. In almost all developed European countries, more than three quarters of the population are satisfied with their lives. The only exception is France (68%). These data are fully consistent with the conclusions made in previous decades that in developed Western countries the average level of satisfaction with life is very high, and people and countries differ little in terms of satisfaction with life.
However, in Eastern Europe, the situation is much more complicated. Firstly, according to the average level of satisfaction with life, these countries are quite different both from developed industrial countries and among themselves. In two countries - Slovenia and Poland - the average level of satisfaction is close to the lower border of Western Europe and is at the level of three quarters of the population. In Estonia, Latvia and Slovakia, it makes up more than 60% of the population, in Romania 57%. In other countries, the level of satisfaction with life as a whole can be estimated as rather low - 50% are satisfied with life in Portugal, 46% in Hungary, 43% in Russia and it is very low in Bulgaria and Ukraine.
While in Western Europe the differentiation of people in terms of satisfaction with life is small, in the countries of Eastern Europe such differences are quite significant. While in Western Europe the proportion of people dissatisfied with life is only about 10%, in some countries of Eastern Europe the proportion of such people is twice as large (about 20% in Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia), from 25% to one third in Romania, Russia and Hungary. And in two countries (Ukraine and Bulgaria) the share of dissatisfied exceeds the share of satisfied. That is, people are not only differentiated by the level of satisfaction with life, but we can talk about the situation of the polarization of people according to their assessment of their lives in Eastern Europe.
Picture 1
How satisfied are you with your life as a whole now? (% of all respondents)
Denmark Finland Switzerland Netherlands Sweden Cyprus Norway
Belgium 87
Spain 86 5
Ireland Austria United Kingdom Germany Slovenia Poland France Estonia Latvia Slovakia Romania
Portugal 50 25 |
Hungary 46 30
Russia 43 1 33 |
Bulgaria Ukraine
] Satisfied 1 Not Satisfied
In Russia, the level of satisfaction with life is one of the lowest in Europe today. The neutral middle was chosen by 24% of respondents, 33% of Russians are below the middle, and 43% are above. As can be seen from Figure 2, the differences between Russians in assessing their lives are quite significant. If the vast majority of Europeans use points 6-10 on an 11-point scale to assess their lives, then the answers of Russians are distributed throughout the scale from the lowest satisfaction with life to the highest. Almost all respondents were able to assess their lives on the proposed 11-point scale, the proportion of those who found it difficult to do so did not exceed 1%.
Figure 2
Level of satisfaction with life in Russia
If the low average level of satisfaction with life in Russia can be explained by factors that have shown their high significance in previous comparative studies at the intercountry level (level of economic development, level of development of civil and democratic society, level of corruption and bureaucracy, etc.), then explain the differences in the level of satisfaction within Russia itself, which, as we see from Figure 2, is very high, within the framework of existing theories it is rather difficult. Let us try to analyze individual factors that could explain the differences in life satisfaction in Russia, and to build an aggregate model of these factors.
Dynamics of life satisfaction in Russia
While in European countries the average level of satisfaction over the past 20-30 years has remained at a relatively stable high level and the changes are insignificant, in Russia over the years after the start of reforms there have been quite a lot of changes51.
51 Andreenkova A., Scherpenzeel A., Satisfaction in Russia / Saris W.E., Veenhoven R., Scherpenzeel A.C., Bunting B. (eds). - Budapest: Eotvos University Press, 1996 .-- P.11-48.
Figure 3 shows the ESS data for 2006 and the data of two more trend Russian studies - the Russian socio-economic panel Russet (19931999) and the CESSI Values \u200b\u200bResearch (1991-2005). The Russian socio-economic panel (RUSSET) is a longitudinal study whose purpose was to study the consequences and impact of socio-economic and political transformations in the life of the country on subjective and objective indicators of the quality of life of the population. The study was conducted annually from 1993 to 1999, i.e. touched upon the period of the most radical changes in the life of Russian society after the collapse of the Soviet Union52.
The proportion of those who were satisfied with life in the early years of the reforms (1991 data) slightly exceeded the percentage of those who were unsatisfied (31% and 24%, respectively), a significant proportion were those who rated satisfaction with their lives somewhere in the middle (34%). By 1993, the share of dissatisfied exceeded the share of those satisfied, mainly due to the reduction of those who used to evaluate their lives somewhere in between. Throughout the 90s, the proportion of people who were satisfied with their life gradually fell, and the proportion of those who were dissatisfied with it slowly grew. This process continued until 1998, when the size of the groups of satisfied and dissatisfied almost equalized due to the gradual increase in the number of satisfied life. But after the 1998 crisis, there was a sharp decrease in life satisfaction in a significant part of the population. Those who were not satisfied with their lives became a record number (47%), and the percentage of those satisfied fell sharply. Only in 2001 did this trend gradually change in a positive direction. At the same time, the average level of satisfaction with life did not return to the previous level of the 90s, as would happen according to the theory of adaptation, but it is at a higher level, although still very far from most European countries.
52 Russet - Russian socio-economic panel - panel study, i.e. the same people were included in the study for a number of years (from 1993 to 1999). Respondents were selected for the study according to a random probabilistic multi-stage sample of the population of Russia 18 years and older. About 3,700 people participated in the first wave of the 1993 panel. All interviews during this study were conducted by the method of personal interviews at home with respondents. The study was conducted by CESSI (Institute for Comparative Social Research) together with the University of Amsterdam (project manager William Saris) with financial support from the Netherlands Science Foundation.
Figure 3
The dynamics of the level of satisfaction with life in Russia in the 90s and 2000s
Note. Data 1993-1999 - RUSSET, 1991, 2002, 2005 - All-Russian research of CESSI values \u200b\u200bby the methodology of the World Values \u200b\u200bResearch, 2002 - annual monitoring of CESSI. All data was obtained on the basis of all-Russian national surveys of the adult population of the Russian Federation 18 years and older, personal interviews at home.
As can be seen from Figure 3, the level of people's satisfaction with their life in general in Russia throughout the entire period of reforms was closely linked to the external socio-economic circumstances of life. During the deterioration of the economic situation, the average satisfaction with life in the country fell, and with the improvement of the general condition of the economy and stabilization of the situation, it grew again. Until now, the level of satisfaction in life in Russia has not stabilized at any particular level. Thus, it is unlikely that theories about the dependence of the level of satisfaction with life on a national character are true. Russians are not “by nature” an unsatisfied nation. Rather, changes in socio-economic conditions have a direct and quite significant impact on people's lives, which is reflected in people's assessments of their lives. But what factors, and how seriously they affect the satisfaction of Russians with their life, remains to be seen.
Socio-demographic factors, circumstances of life and satisfaction with life in general
At first glance, it may seem that satisfaction with life depends on a large number of socio-demographic, structural variables. Statistically significant (at level p<0.001) является связь удовлетворенности жизнью и субъективной оценки состояния здоровья (0.27), уровня дохода (0.24), возраста (-0.18), семейного положения (0.17), образования (0.10), связь с полом (-0.06 на уровне р<0.01).
However, almost all of these variables are interrelated, and therefore it is necessary to identify the internal structure of this relationship and evaluate it taking into account the mutual influence of all significant structural variables.
Income and Satisfaction
If money does not bring happiness, then, at least in Russia, they greatly contribute to it. The linear relationship between income and satisfaction with life in Russia not only exists, but it is also quite strong. The difference in the level of satisfaction between people with the lowest income and the highest income in the sample is almost twofold (average 3.76 and 6.82, respectively). If among the poorest people in Russia the proportion of people dissatisfied with life (0-4 on an 11-point scale) is more than half (58%), then among people with an average income they are already half as much, and among people with a high income - less than 10% . However, as in Western countries, the level of satisfaction with the material situation in low-income groups is most closely related, and with the increase in income this connection weakens. That is, after reaching a certain level of income, its increase no longer leads to a corresponding increase in the level of satisfaction. The correlation coefficient of these two variables in the group of people with income up to 12 thousand rubles. per family in 2006 it is 0.178, and for groups with a higher income (12 thousand rubles or more) it is 0.131.
In some countries, being poor is worse than in other countries. In a whole series of Western countries, differences in the level of satisfaction between people with different income levels are insignificant (although they exist everywhere, even in Denmark), but in the poorer countries of Eastern Europe these differences are very large.
Figure 4
Level of life satisfaction among people with different income levels (%
satisfied with life, 6-10 on an 11-point scale)
Among people with a relatively high income, the level of satisfaction with life is much more similar between countries than among people with a low income. In most European countries, about 80% of high-income people are generally satisfied with their lives. In Russia, just over 60% of them are satisfied with their lives, as in Ukraine and Portugal. And this is taking into account the fact that the proportion of people who believe that their income is quite high in Russia is much less than the European average. Among low-income groups, satisfaction levels vary greatly between countries. While in countries such as the Netherlands, Switzerland, Finland, and Denmark, about half of the people with the lowest incomes are still satisfied with their lives, in Russia, less than 20% of respondents are satisfied with this group in Russia. That is, satisfaction with people's lives is affected not only by their personal income, even expressed in terms of living standards, but also by other living conditions in the country as a whole. Poor groups in poorer countries rate their life quality especially low (although, in addition to economic development, these countries are also characterized by a number of parameters that are difficult to take into account when analyzing - the state of reform,
system instability, weak development of democracy, high level of corruption, low level of self-government, etc.).
Family status
Although we see that the most satisfied lives are people who have never been married, and the least satisfied are those who broke up the marriage for various reasons (most often due to the death of a spouse or because of a divorce), but the marital status itself is closely associated with age. In the group under 30 years old, the proportion of people with broken marriages is very small so that analysis can be carried out. In the group after 30 years, the proportion of people with a broken marriage and the proportion of those who have never been married are too small for analysis, and at older ages, the proportion of those who have never been married. Therefore, it is highly likely that the dependence of life satisfaction on marital status is largely related to age, and not to the status of marriage as such.
Table 1
Satisfaction with the life of people of different ages (average on an 11-point scale)
Total 18+ 18-29 30-40 years 40-50 years Older than 50 years
Married 5.21 6.13 5.22 5.13 5.08
Broken marriage 4.47 4.81 4.34 4.42
Never married 5.77 6.02 5.01 4.58 5.32
In general, among respondents 18 years of age and older who have never been married, life satisfaction is slightly higher than that of people who are married, and significantly higher than people with a broken marriage. However, among young people under 30, the share of life satisfaction among married is even slightly higher than among those who were not married, although the differences are not very large. In the older age group, the differences between people who live in a marriage and whose marriage has broken up are quite large.
Gender and age
Unlike many other countries where satisfaction with life has little to do with basic socio-demographic indicators (gender and age), in Russia there is such a connection, although not very strong. There is a general gradual decrease in life satisfaction with age. The most noticeable differences between the group of young people under 30 and the middle-aged population are approximately up to the retirement age, then some
increased satisfaction with life, and after 70 years it is again declining. These age differences are superimposed on small and mixed gender differences. If in youth and youth the level of satisfaction of boys and girls is almost the same, then at the age of about 30 years, the level of satisfaction with life in women significantly decreases and remains slightly lower than in men, throughout all years of life, and again begins to approach only after 50 years . On average in Europe, such gender and age differences are much less noticeable.
Figure 5
Satisfaction with the lives of men and women of different ages (average on an 11-point scale)
The influence of all socio-demographic factors together on the level of satisfaction with life in Russia
In total, all demographic factors and life circumstances explain 11% of the variations in people's responses about their overall satisfaction with life. In this regard, Russia is practically no different from other European countries. This conclusion confirms the theories that were previously tested on the population of Western Europe (table 2).
table 2
Coefficient B-Coefficient Standard Standardized
correlation with (regression) error B- coefficient
level of non-standardized regression coefficient (c)
satisfaction (b) (st error b)
life in general
(constant) 6.88 0.32
Gender -0.06 * 0.00 0.10 0.00
Age -0.18 ** 0.00 0.00 0.03
Income level 0.24 ** 0.00 0.00 0.17 **
Marital status -0.02 0.16 0.11 0.03
Availability and quantity -0.15 ** -0.16 0.07 -0.06
Education (years 0.10 ** -0.01 0.02 -0.01
learning)
Affiliation is -0.02 0.11 0.10 0.02
either religion
Health status -0.27 -0.79 0.07 -0.25 **
(subjective assessment)
Note. R2 \u003d 0.12, adjusted R2 \u003d 0.12, ** p<0.001, *p<0.01
The most significant factors affecting life satisfaction in general, taking into account the internal relationship of all these factors, are the financial situation and subjective assessment of health status. The significance of other factors, even those that showed a relationship with life satisfaction when considered individually, such as age, education, or gender, is statistically insignificant in the general model. That is, most likely, the influence of age and education on life satisfaction occurs mainly due to differences between different age groups and people with different levels of education, income and assessment of their health.
Table 3
The influence of social, demographic and other factors related to life circumstances on life satisfaction in general (multivariate regression analysis)
Individual B-factor Standard Mercury Standardized
coefficient (regression) not error B-th coefficient
correlations with the standard regularized regression coefficient (c)
level (b) (st error b)
duo satisfied
life in general
(constant) 6.53 0.35
Gender -0.06 * -0.03 0.11 -0.01
Age -0.18 ** 0.01 0.00 0.04
Income level 0.24 ** 0.00 0.00 0.18 **
Availability and quantity -0.15 ** -0.02 0.06 -0.01
Education (years 0.10 ** 0.00 0.02 0.00
learning)
Affiliation is -0.02 0.07 0.11 0.01
either religion
Health status -0.27 -0.70 0.08 -0.22 **
(subjective assessment)
Note. R2 \u003d 0.10, adjusted R2 \u003d 0.10, ** p<0.001, *р<0.01
Socio-psychological factors and satisfaction with life in general
Based on the analysis of various theories trying to explain life satisfaction with socio-psychological and personal factors, we identified several indicators that could play a significant role in Russia. Among them:
The desire to exercise control over one’s own life and the belief that this is possible. The opposite is the position that control over a person’s life is external and depends on many circumstances (from God to the boss), and to a lesser extent - on the person himself. According to this theory, individuals who are aimed at exercising independent control over their lives are more likely to achieve positive results in life and are more likely to assess their life as successful or “satisfactory”;
Physical activity;
Psychological stability;
Curiosity, the pursuit of knowledge, the new, openness to the world;
General level of optimism;
Self-esteem.
Table 4
The influence of personal qualities on life satisfaction in general (multivariate regression analysis)
Individual correlation coefficient with the level of satisfaction with life as a whole; B-coefficient (regression) not standardized (b) Standard error of the B-coefficient ф егог b) Standardized regression coefficient (c)
(constant) 5.44 0.36
Self-responsibility -0.20 ** -0.13 0.06 -0.05
Physical activity -0.16 ** -0.12 0.05 -0.05
Psychological stability 0.21 ** 0.17 0.06 0.06 *
The desire for a new -0.14 ** -0.11 0.07 -0.03
Optimism -0.33 ** -0.57 0.06 -0.20 **
High self-esteem 0.30 ** 0.49 0.06 0.19 **
Note. R2 \u003d 0.16, adjusted R2 \u003d 0.15, ** p<0.001, *p<0.01
All socio-psychological factors included in the model can explain about 15% of the variations in the level of satisfaction with life. Among them, the most important is the factor of a general optimistic outlook on the future and high self-esteem.
All socio-psychological factors included in the model are indeed associated with life satisfaction (individual correlation coefficients are all statistically significant). At the same time, the general level of optimism and self-esteem of the course of one's life are most closely associated with life satisfaction. The weakest connection is with physical activity and the desire for new knowledge. After taking into account the mutual influence of all these factors, the importance of optimism and self-esteem of the course of life remains quite high, and the significance of all other socio-psychological factors is greatly reduced and practically adds nothing to the explanatory power of this model.
External factors
Another explanatory possibility of life satisfaction is the assumption that life satisfaction is determined not so much by the personal (social, demographic or psychological characteristics of people), but by their assessment and attitude to the external environment. Such an external environment can include both the social environment (close or distant), as well as general political and general economic circumstances of life, more precisely, people's attitude and assessment of these circumstances.
The characteristics of the social environment and social we attributed:
an assessment of how people around relate to each other (social relations in the immediate environment);
Respect and appreciation from others;
The level of interpersonal trust in the widest social environment, society as a whole;
Frequency of communication with people and opportunities for emotional communication;
Personal safety assessment;
Assessment of the political situation in the country (level of trust in representative democratic institutions (Parliament), assessment of government performance, assessment of the work of democracy in the country as a whole);
Assessment of the work of socially significant areas - the education system and the healthcare system;
assessment of the economic situation in the country. Social life and social environment
Table 5
The influence of factors of the social environment and social life on satisfaction with life in general (multivariate regression analysis)
satisfaction
life in general
(Constant) 3.01 0.46
People around help each other 0.15 ** 0.06 0.03 0.04
Respect from others 0.17 ** 0.03 0.05 0.02
Unfair ratio -0.18 ** -0.13 0.04 -0.08 **
Merit score 0.24 ** 0.30 0.04 0.16 **
Interpersonal trust 0.16 ** 0.04 0.02 0.04
People behave honestly 0.23 ** 0.13 0.02 0.13 **
People help each other 0.20 ** 0.06 0.02 0.06
frequency of time 0.17 ** 0.21 0.03 0.15 **
There is someone to talk with about -0.13 ** -0.43 0.15 -0.06 **
Participation in public -0.07 -0.14 0.06 -0.05
useful activities
Frequency of helping others -0.02 0.08 0.03 0.05
Note. R2 \u003d 0.14, adjusted R2 \u003d 0.14, ** p<0.001, *p<0.01
Almost all factors of the social environment are associated with life satisfaction in general at the individual level, with the exception of participation in socially useful activities and helping other people who have little influence on life satisfaction. However, taking into account the mutual influence of all these factors, significant
there were only five, the most important of which were the assessment of what people judged you according to their deserts, the frequency of social communication and perception of the general relationship between people as honest and fair, as well as the notion of fairness on the part of others and less closely related to life satisfaction opportunities for close spiritual communication. Other factors, such as ideas about the general social climate in a personal environment (people help each other), interpersonal trust, mutual assistance and personal participation in mutual assistance, turned out to be insignificant.
All factors of the social environment combined can explain about 14% of differences in life satisfaction between people in Russia.
Table 6
The influence of a subjective assessment of the favorable environment, macro factors on life satisfaction in general (multivariate regression analysis)
Individual B-factor Standard Standards-
coefficient (regression) is not an error
correlation with standardized coefficient coefficient
regression level (b) (st error b) (c)
satisfaction
life in general
(Constant) 2.09 2.09 0.33
Confidence in Parliament 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02
Evaluation of the work of the economy 0.38 ** 0.38 0.03 0.33 **
Performance rating 0.09 0.09 0.02 0.08 **
the government
Assessment of the work of democracy 0.04 0.04 0.03 0.04
Evaluation of the system 0.06 0.06 0.02 0.06
education
System performance assessment 0.10 ** 0.10 0.03 0.09 **
health care
Collision experience with 0.19 ** 0.19 0.11 0.03
violence
Sense of security at -0.12 ** -0.12 0.06 -0.04
Anxiety about the possible 0.09 0.09 0.08 0.03
Anxiety about the possibility of 0.18 ** 0.18 0.07 0.06
robberies
Note. R2 \u003d 0.27, adjusted R2 \u003d 0.27, ** p<0.001, *p<0.01
The subjective representation of people about the favorable environment, macro-factors in their lives has a very serious impact on their level of satisfaction with their lives, more than any other factors. The relationship between life satisfaction and the assessment of the economic situation in the country is especially close (0.38). It is most closely related to
life satisfaction indicator of all that we analyzed based on this data.
However, it must be taken into account that, from a technical point of view, all indicators of satisfaction with the macro environment were evaluated on the same satisfaction scale as satisfaction with life in general, and therefore correlations can increase due to the “effect of the method”.
Weaker than the other characteristics of the external environment, safety indicators are associated with life satisfaction.
If we take into account the mutual influence of all these factors on each other, only a few remain significant. In particular, the most important environmental factor remains the subjective assessment of macroeconomic conditions, with this factor taken into account, all other assessments of the state of the political and social sphere are fading into the background.
General model
In the general model, with the help of which we will try to explain the differences in people's satisfaction with life, that is, find the factors that determine it, we included all the most significant factors from the individual models discussed above. Among social and demographic factors - gender, age, income, state of health; among socio-psychological factors - psychological stability, general optimism, self-confidence; among social ones, the frequency of communication with people, the possibilities of spiritual communication, the level of interpersonal trust in society, and evaluation by others.
Table 7
The influence of personality on life satisfaction in general (multivariate regression analysis)
B-coefficient (regression) not standardized (b) Standard error of B-coefficient (st error b) Standardized regression coefficient (c) Significance in
(Constant) 5.31 0.48 0.00
Gender -0.03 0.10 -0.01 0.76
Age 0.00 0.00 -0.03 0.16
Income 0.00 0.00 0.12 0.00
Health Status -0.47 0.08 -0.15 0.00
Psychological 0.05 0.06 0.02 0.37
sustainability
Optimism -0.39 0.06 -0.14 0.00
Self-confidence 0.32 0.06 0.12 0.00
Interpersonal trust -0.12 0.03 -0.07 0.00
(People behave dishonestly)
Merit score 0.25 0.04 0.13 0.00
Frequency 0.11 0.03 0.07 0.00
time with people
Possibilities of the soul -0.33 0.14 -0.04 0.02
Note. N2 \u003d 0.23, adjusted N2 \u003d 0.23, ** p<0.001, *р<0.01
Such a model can explain 23% of differences in the level of satisfaction between people. In this case, the most important are:
Subjective assessment of health status;
General optimistic outlook on life;
Fair evaluation by others; personal income;
Self confidence.
The path is small, but factors such as interpersonal trust in society and the frequency of social contacts influence it. When all factors are taken into account together, demographic parameters practically cease to play a significant role, as does psychological stability and opportunities for emotional communication.
If macroeconomic factors — an assessment of the state of the economy, government, and the healthcare system — are connected to this model, the model will be able to explain 37% of the variations.
Table 8
The influence of all factors on overall satisfaction with life (multivariate regression analysis)
B-coefficient Standard Mercury - Significance ß
(regression) no error
standard coefficient coefficient
(b) (st error b) regression (c)
(Constant) 3.16 0.44 0.00
Gender -0.10 0.09 -0.02 0.27
Age 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.93
Income 0.00 0.00 0.09 0.00
Health Status -0.32 0.07 -0.10 0.00
Psychological 0.14 0.05 0.05 0.01
sustainability
Optimism -0.30 0.05 -0.11 0.00
Self-confidence 0.21 0.05 0.08 0.00
Interpersonal Confidence -0.10 0.03 -0.06 0.00
(People behave dishonestly)
Merit score 0.17 0.03 0.09 0.00
Assessment 0.30 0.03 0.26 0.00
economy of the country
Performance rating 0.10 0.02 0.10 0.00
the government
Evaluation of the system 0.12 0.02 0.11 0.00
health care
Frequency 0.07 0.03 0.05 0.01
time with people
Possibilities of the soul -0.31 0.13 -0.04 0.02
Note. R2 \u003d 0.37, adjusted R2 \u003d 0.37, ** p<0.001, *p<0.01
Given all these factors, the model can explain 37% of the differences in people's satisfaction with their lives. At the same time, the assessment of macroeconomic conditions becomes the most significant (the number one factor significantly surpassing all others in importance), the general level of optimism, the state of health, the assessment of the work of the government and the work of the healthcare system, followed by an external assessment of personality and personal achievements, personal income.
So, today in Russia, personal circumstances of life are less important for people to evaluate their life in general than their attitude to the situation in the country as a whole. Perhaps this is what determines that the overall average level of satisfaction with life in Russia is much lower than in other countries of Western Europe and even the most prosperous segments of the population who live in the most favorable circumstances show lower life satisfaction than people in similar circumstances in Western countries. European countries.
However, it is not yet possible to fully explain the reasons for low or high satisfaction with life in Russia, just as it has not been possible to do this for many decades in Western Europe. So the mystery why some people are happy with life, despite the circumstances, while others complain about it, remains, and we will continue to work on its solution both within the framework of ESS and with the involvement of all other data.
Literature
1. Andreenkova A., Scherpenzeel A., Satisfaction in Russia / Saris W.E., Veenhoven R., Scherpenzeel A.C., Bunting B. (eds). - Budapest: Eotvos University Press, 1996 .-- P.11-48.
2. Becchetti L., Castriota S., Giutnella O. The effects of age and job protection on the welfare costs of inflation and unemployment: a source of ECB anti-inflation bias // Center for economic and international studies (CEIS) working paper . - 2006. No. 245. -P. fourteen.
3. Brunstein J.C. Personal goals and subjective well-being // Journal of Personality and social psychology. - 1993.No. 65 .-- P. 1061-1070.
4. Campbell, A., Converse P.E., Rodgers W.L. The quality of American Life. - New York: Russel Sage Foundation, 1976 .-- P. 213-229.
5. Clark A.E., Oswald A.J. Unhappiness and unemployment // Economic journal. -1994. No 104. - P. 648-659.
6. Diener E. Subjective well-being // Psychological Bulletin. - 1984. Vol. 95. - P. 542575.
7. Diener E., Diener C. Most people are happy // Pshychological Science. - 1996. Vol. 7.No. 3. - P. 181-185.
8. Diener E., Suh E. M., Lucas R., Smith H. Subjective well-being: three decades of progress // Pshychological bulletin. - 1999. Vol. 125, No. 2. - P. 276-302.
9. Easterlin R. Does economic growth improve the human lot? / Nations and households in economic growth: essays in honor of Moses Abramovtz / P.A. David, M.W. Reder (eds.). - New York: Academic Press. 1974. - P. 98-125.
10. Frey B.S., Stutzer A. Happiness, economy and institutions // Economic Journal. -2000. No 110. - P. 918-938.
11. Hayes N., Stephen J. Big 5 correlates of three measures of subjective well-being // Personality and Individual differences. - 2003.No 34 (3). - P. 723-727.
12. Heady B., Wearing A. Personality, life events, and subjective well-being: toward a dynamic equilibrium model // Journal of personality and social psychology. - 1989.- No. 57.- P. 731-739.
13. Lee G.R., Seccombe K., Shehan C.L. Marital status and personal happiness: an analysis of trend data // Journal of marriage and the family. - 1991.No 53.- P. 839-844.
14. Mastekaasa A. Marriage and psychological well-being: some evidence on selection into marriage // Journal of marriage and the family. - 1992.No 54. - P. 901-911.
15. Radcliff B. Politics, markets and life satisfaction: the political economy of human happiness // American Political Science Review. - 2001.No 95 (4). - P. 939-952.
16. Rafael D.T., MacCulloch R.J. Oswald A.J. Preferences over inflation and unemployment: evidence from surveys of happiness // American economic review. - 2001. Vol. 91.No 1. - P. 335-341.
17. Rehdanz K., Maddison D. Climate and Happiness // Ecological Economics, - 2005. Vol. 52.No 1. - P. 111-125.
18. Scott C.K. Marital status and well-be-ing. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. -Illinois: University of Illinois. 1991 .-- P. 61.
19. Taylor S.E., Wood J.V., Lichtman R.R .. It could be worse: selective evaluation as a response to victimization // Journal of social issues. - 1983. Vol. 39.No 2. - P. 19-40.
20. Tellegen A., Lykken D., Bouchard T.J., Wilcox K.J., Segal N.J., Rich S .. Personality similarity in twins reared apart and together // Journal of personality and social psychology. -1988. No 54. - P. 1031-1039.
21. Veenhoven R. Freedom and Happiness: a comparative study in 46 nations in the early 90 "s / Culture and subjective well-being / Diener E., Suh EM (eds.). - Cambridge: MIT press. 2000. - P . 257-288.
22. Veenhoven R. The study of life satisfaction / A comparative study of satisfaction with life in Europe / Saris W.E., Veenhoven R., Scherpenzeel A.C., Bunting B. (eds). -Budapest: Eotvos University Press, 1996 .-- P.11-48.
Veenhoven R .. Happiness in Nationas. Subjective appreciation of life in 56 nations (194619920, RISBO, studies in Social and Cultural transformations). - Rotterdam: Erasmus University. 1993 .-- 365 p.
Winkellmann L., Winkellman R. Why are the unemployed so unhappy? Evidence from panel data // Economica. - 1998.No 65. - P. 1-15.
Satisfaction with life as a quality of a person is the ability, when recognizing one’s life, to experience peace, calm and humility each time, to show positive emotions when mentally comparing one’s goals, desires, intentions, hopes with actual results, one’s current state with the past, weighing prospects for the future, comparing his life with the life of the environment.
One man erected a poster near his home: "I will give my land to someone who is completely satisfied with life." Driving past the house, a wealthy farmer read a poster and said to himself: - Our friend decided to give his land. I need to pick it up as soon as possible before someone else does it. I'm rich; I have everything I need. I quite have the right to this land. He rang the doorbell and explained the reason for his arrival. - Are you completely satisfied? asked his donor. “Yes, completely, because I have everything I need.” “Friend,” the man answered, “if you have everything you need, then why do you need this piece of land?”
Happiness is satisfaction with life in a company with joy. Most people think so. Joy is emotional, and satisfaction is a conscious component of happiness. Satisfaction with life is the best wealth. A man mentally compares his present situation with the past, weighs the prospects for the future, compares his life with the life of other people and, if everything is successful, feels a pleasant state of satisfaction.
Satisfaction covers with his eyes the most important spheres of life for a person and, as a rule, his interests include love, family relations, material well-being, health, relationships with people, and social status. In a word, the more a person has a circle of interests, the more multifaceted his life, the greater demands he makes on life satisfaction.
A person in ignorance will be delusionally satisfied with life if he is “fed and drunk”, if he always has a drink, a bite, get laid and fall asleep. A sexual maniac (in Ukraine they are called “pissy villain”) will be completely satisfied with his existence if he has an abundance of relations at the level of the lower centers. A man in passion experiences mirage satisfaction with life when he is with money, in a profitable position, in power. Compared to others, he is “cool”, because he has a prestigious house, a car, a yacht, jewelry, in a word, a long range of attributes of luxurious life. A man in goodness associates satisfaction with achieving harmony with himself and with the outside world, with the development of spiritual mind, with a state of peace and self-sufficiency.
In other words, the taste of each person’s happiness, his satisfaction with life directly depends on the influence of which of the three energies he is - ignorance, passion or goodness. There are no identical criteria for life satisfaction for all people. Who has a lot of them, but, for example, a glutton, has one, if only there were a lot of delicious to eat. Stuffed belly, and complete satisfaction with life. Someone eats in order to live, but he lives in order to eat. There is such a parable. It was a long time ago when the Lord created the earth, trees, animals and people. The man became the lord over all of them, but when he was expelled from paradise and became unhappy, he asked the animals to bring him happiness. “Good,” said the animals, accustomed to obeying the man. And they went around the world in search of human happiness. They searched for a long time, but did not find his happiness, because they did not even know what it looked like. And so they decided to bring what made them happy themselves. The fish brought fins, tail, gills and scales. Tiger - strong legs, claws, fangs and nose. Eagle - wings, feathers, strong beak and sharp eye. But none of this made a person happy. And then the animals told him that he himself went to seek his happiness. Since then, each person walks the earth and searches for his own happiness, but few people guess to look for it in themselves.
What are the fat advantages, the benefits of satisfaction as a personality trait? As mentioned above, satisfaction is the basic component for happiness. But this is far from the only plus for the owner of this quality of personality, especially if he is in goodness. A benevolent person, satisfied with life, receives from her a gift of peace, tranquility, prosperity, sobriety and humility. When a person is satisfied with his life, he ceases to be nervous, worried, unnecessarily waste his strength.
A man in passion cannot be truly satisfied with life. His feelings are insatiable, it is their nature. No matter how much he achieves and whatever he has, there will always be little, there will always be new longed desires, new attachments to the objects of the outside world. Today there was a luxury car, tomorrow bring the yacht, and the day after tomorrow a private plane, that is, satisfaction from life will be illusory, imaginary. Engaged in self-deception, out of a sense of vanity, he will convince himself and others in his success. But his false ego will whisper maliciously: “You are only a millionaire and you will never be in Forbes magazine.” You have not achieved anything worthwhile. ” Danny Scheinman, in his book The Quantum Theory of Love, writes: “One must clearly understand the difference between being and having. Passion eats man. If your goal is to earn a certain amount of money, you will not stop even after you have this money in your pocket, you will need more and more. If a man sees his happiness in possessing a specific woman, he is unlikely to limit himself to one. He will have to conquer more and more, more and more new. ”
Greed, like happiness in the future, will constantly drive a person in passion along the road of satisfying his feelings and mind with endless material values. Therefore, his declared satisfaction with life is just a way to deceive himself and others.
In the context of this thought, the following parable sounds. The dervish was sitting by the side of the road, when an arrogant courtier escorted past headlong, accompanied by a magnificent retinue. With anger, wave the whip of a dervish with a cane, the courtier shouted: “You tramp!” Get out of my way! When they sped off, the dervish rose from the earth and said after them: “May you gain everything that you desire in this world, whatever your desires, and even beyond that!” This scene made the deepest impression on a passerby who approached a pious man and asked: “Be so kind as to tell me how your words were caused: by the nobility of your spirit - or by the fact that worldly desires will undoubtedly lead this man to even greater dishonor? - Oh, bright-faced! - said the dervish. - Didn’t it occur to you that I said what I said, because people who achieve satisfaction of their true desires do not have to rush headlong and quilting dervishes?
People in passion need to understand that in their life from the moment of birth, there are four constants, four “vessels”: health, money, family happiness and knowledge. Everything is predetermined in advance. If a person is supposed to be a millionaire, he will become one. An unreasonable person can “pour” the contents of each of the vessels in the direction he needs with his actions. But he must be aware that by filling, for example, a vessel of money, he empties the vessels of health and family happiness. Or, carried away by the family, a man quits work. Clearly, there will be less money in the family. To drag back karma is an ungrateful and life-threatening task, for it is difficult to calculate the consequences of one’s hasty, impatient actions.
A person who shows the quality of life satisfaction understands that the availability of money, health, family happiness and knowledge depend on his past actions. Therefore, he calms down and feels genuine satisfaction. If a person experiences intense tension, runs into great difficulties and obstacles, if he sees that work turns into hard labor, family into a prison, health into a jealous word, and a crunch of money into an auditory hallucination, then these are sure signs that he suffered the wrong way. What to do? You need to press the brakes, to understand that you are not doing what you should. A person who is satisfied with life acts according to his mission, his talent, his duty. Therefore, in life he does not smell, but accumulates strength. And then what happens? Life is getting better, because he worked out his past bad deeds. That is, satisfaction allows you to change the situation of life for the better, while dissatisfaction only in vain loses strength and energy.
Satisfaction is a true friend of simplicity. The common man is satisfied that fate sends him. The fate of this husband sent me - I love him, the fate of these children sent me - I love them, the fate sent this country to me - I love her. What is the point of shouting: “Give me another country, husband and children?” What can I do? I can only love it, or worry and get terribly angry. That is, the energy of understanding that a person lives correctly is in active satisfaction with life.
Peter Kovalev 2013
"Know how to rejoice - rejoice, but do not know how - sit still"
V. Shukshin, “Red viburnum”
The main report of the founder and director of "Here and Now" opened a conference on this topic, while summing up the creation and development of the organization - the Psychological Center "Here and Now" for 15 years.
Our conference opens the year of celebrating the anniversary of our organization - the 15th anniversary. Actually, focusing on this date, we chose the theme of this year. I wanted to take stock, to determine for ourselves whether we are satisfied with these past years. And the question arose - how to measure “life satisfaction”?
Many researchers - philosophers, sociologists, psychologists puzzled and puzzle over this issue. We will try to answer it in terms of practical psychology and psychotherapy.
There is an index of satisfaction with life - scientists calculate it based on surveys and the economic standard of living in the country according to the formula. The Life Satisfaction Index was created by Adrian White, a social psychologist at the University of Leicester. The index shows how people are satisfied with life in different countries. And what do you think about people in our country? Many African countries are more satisfied with life than we are ...
We turn to the theory. Many researchers dealt with this topic and saw it as central in the description of the structure of a person’s personality.
Freud's principle of pleasure was at the core of his concept of personality. The principle of pleasure describes the desire of the psyche to reduce stress to a minimum level. In the seminar "Object Relations", Jacques Lacan compares pleasure with envy, no matter how opposite they may seem: "... pleasure is not associated with idleness, but with envy or an erection of desire."
Melania Klein, on the other hand, considered jealousy, envy and greed to be obstacles to a sense of pleasure.
The ability to receive full pleasure from the first relationship with the breast forms the basis for experiencing pleasure from all other sources. If the undisturbed pleasure of feeding is experienced often, then a sufficiently strong introjection of the good breast occurs. Full satisfaction from the breast means that the infant feels that he has received an exceptional gift from his object that he would like to preserve. This is the basis of gratitude. Gratitude is closely related to the belief in goodness. This includes, first of all, the ability to accept and assimilate your favorite primary object (not only as a food source) without much interference from greed or envy, since greedy internalization disturbs relations with the object.
No doubt, frustrations and unhappy circumstances that arise throughout life evoke envy and hatred in every person, but the strength of these emotions and ways to control them differ significantly. This is one of the many reasons why different people have the ability to have fun associated with a sense of gratitude for the benefit received, also vary significantly.
Let us turn to experimental psychology. A lot of research, a lot of tested tests. Various conclusions - why life satisfaction depends. But the main conclusion is approximately similar. “The level of satisfaction with life depends on a number of factors of satisfaction with life, but it does not come down to their total amount,” say Roman Grigoryev and Tatyana Mordasova, researchers on this topic.
Positive correlating factors from their point of view include:
- the presence of significant social contacts;
- assessment of social status as satisfactory;
- assessment of proper health as good;
- state of need for significant people;
- assessment of financial standing as satisfactory;
- the opportunity to be creative;
- satisfaction with the process of professional activity;
- vision of their own prospects;
- the availability of free time for leisure activities;
- autonomy as the ability to act according to one's convictions;
- personal growth as an opportunity to progress in all areas of life;
- marriage.
Negatively correlating factors include:
- the state of poverty and the lack of material wealth for subsistence;
- health assessment as poor and worsening;
- depression; phobic personality disorders;
- low self-esteem; high anxiety;
- low social activity and significance.
Non-influencing factors or factors with an extremely low correlation with life satisfaction:
- age;
- education;
- ethnicity;
- citizenship and country of residence;
- denominational affiliation;
- momentary emotions;
- intelligence coefficient;
- actual salary;
- profession and position.
And here is a very recent experiment:
To obtain a recipe for happiness, psychologists called for an experiment of 577 participants.
After a week, the researchers again convened 577 people to conduct a second survey.
And already this stage of the experiment has demonstrated that over the past seven days the level of “happiness” of all volunteers has increased markedly.
And all this is only due to the daily use of bright personality traits.
Finally, the third stage of the survey took place four weeks later. He showed that the consequences of using one's own strengths or gifts can be lasting. The scientists made such a conclusion because all the participants in the survey still continued to feel themselves at a high level of indicators of happiness than it was before they came to the survey.
Previously, British researchers realized that owning a certain amount of free money that can be spent without a twinge of conscience injects additional endorphins into the bloodstream. But the possession of a car or apartment has no tangible effect on the feeling of happiness.
T.O. life satisfaction is a subjective factor. Life satisfaction is, in many ways, an indicator of mental health. We all know that people who have different benefits are often depressed, and those who do not have anything often live in joy. It is not on the presence or absence of well-being and opportunities that our pleasure and satisfaction depend (although these concepts must be separated). And from whether we satisfy our own needs, whether we live "our" life.
That is why it is more difficult to feel happy than unhappy. Because the responsibility for self-realization is not easy. Happiness is also a personal responsibility for one’s life.
Whether we live our lives depends on our childhood history. Because satisfaction with life, obviously, depends on the ability to withstand and live through failures, mistakes, difficult moments of one’s life. From the severity of their SuperEgo, respectively, from the criticality of the Parent figure in childhood ... With a very tough SuperEgo, it is impossible to make mistakes and therefore it is intolerable to be guilty. What is coming up with our unconscious? Such protection as projective identification.
Let's talk about this in more detail. The Klein School of Psychoanalysis has discovered and developed the concept of projective identification - a detached part of consciousness projected onto other objects.
The baby projects the cause of his discomfort (for example, abdominal pain) outward. Mother becomes a bad object - because in her is the cause of his pain. But the mechanism that is good for the baby becomes pathological in adulthood, when a person is able to take responsibility for his feelings and experiences.
With projective identification, dissatisfaction with life is provided. A person becomes a victim and attacks a “bad object” - the state, parents, school, boss, competitor ... But you can’t change them. So do not change the cause of dissatisfaction. And then life turns into the persecution and “bombardment” of Putin, the country, the neighbor ... But the result is one. Until you return this reason projected onto another object to yourself, nothing can be done with it.
Classics of projective identification: placing its part in another, there is a fear of absorption, capture. Projective identification depletes the person, because part of his own experience, feelings is thrown away. People cannot live their own lives.
Let's talk a little about the role of psychologist and psychotherapist in improving, increasing life satisfaction.
A sufficiently good mother takes upon herself, contains a projection of this difficult experience - the pain, anxiety of the child, which are transmitted to her from him. The follower of Klein, Wilfred Bion, called this ability of the mother the function of the "container." Bion said so about a mother who really feels anxiety and fear of the child when he cries. Sometimes the mother can endure the anxiety that occurs in the child, and sometimes she herself panics. The same thing happens with the analyst, argued Bion. An analyst and a psychotherapist are also addressed, in order that he, as it were, performs the functions of a mother in relation to a newborn.
The therapist is “filled” with this part of the client, given away, projected onto another object and gradually returns it to the client. In such a form and at such a speed that it was possible to appropriate, to accept the client. How a good mother tells her child why he hit a toy - not a bad, evil toy, but he, the child, got angry at her. And then you have the opportunity to manage your state, because the point is not in the object, but in your reaction.
For example, a client skips psychotherapy, projecting his needy part onto a therapist. The therapist must wait for him, the client. He himself does not want to be waiting \u003d in need ... The therapist suffers when he is waiting for a client and understands how his client feels through it. And then he returns to him ... Projective identification, and when a group puts its feelings into the leader, for example, guilt or rage.
Accepting his feelings, his traits, the client softens the SuperEgo, accepts his limitations and forgives his, and therefore others, mistakes. And you don’t have to chase beyond the salary, but with pleasure receive and spend your own. Do not envy the teacher, but enjoy your growth and place ...
Exactly the same thing I tried for today to do regarding our organization - the Psychological Center "Here and Now". Are we satisfied with our 15 years of work? Started simply with facts.
- 2575 certificates issued to psychologists;
- 38 intensives were conducted in different cities and 7 countries;
- 15 children's camps lived;
- held 18 conferences;
- 37 employees and specialists worked for the benefit of the organization and clients;
- 10 issues of My Psychologist magazine and 3 issues of the Here and Now almanac have been issued;
- 5 books published;
- received thousands of "thanks";
- used a ton of handkerchiefs, pencils, paints, felt-tip pens, sheets of paper;
- hundreds of thousands of cups of tea with cookies have been drunk (some cups have even survived to this day, and several dozen teaspoons have been taken out for memory);
- 4 357 customers are happy.
We can talk about the contribution to the development of psychological culture in Russia of our organization. To paraphrase the words of Bion, we "do well such a difficult job." We have been translating human pain into words for 15 years.
On this day, I would like to thank all the employees who were and are now working in "Here and Now", customers, partners. And for our parents - real and psychological, that is, our teachers.
Bibliography:
R. Grigoryev, T. Mordasova “Psychological features of life satisfaction”;
Freud “Beyond the Principle of Pleasure”;
M. Klein "Envy and gratitude."
