Is there a correlation between happiness and sociability Essay Example

Is there a correlation between happiness and sociability Essay Example Is there a correlation between happiness and sociability Essay Is there a correlation between happiness and sociability Essay The aim of this investigation was to discover whether there is a correlation between happiness and sociability. The experimental hypothesis was that there would be a significant correlation between happiness and sociability, because most of the background research indicated that this would be the case. A total of 20 participants were used from college that were selected using a casual sample. The results were in terms of numerical scores and were analysed using the Spearman Rank Order Correlation Coefficient, and were found not to be significant at the 0.05 level of significance for a one tailed test. The results for the mean (11.3 (happiness), 7.7 (sociability)), median (12 (happiness), 7.5 (sociability)) and mode (14 (happiness), 5 (sociability)) reflected this with there being fairly significant differences between the results for happiness, and those for sociability. The range (14 (happiness), 12 (sociability)) showed that the data for both sets of scores was skewed. The conclusi on was that the results were inconclusive, as most evidence pointed to there being a positive correlation between happiness and sociability.Introduction:To be able to gain a better understanding of what this questionnaire is about the terms happiness and sociability need to try and be defined, so it can be seen what is actually being measured.Definitions of Sociability:The tendency to have and make personal relationships'(*1)Ability to engage in an appropriate range of social relationships.'(*2)Definition of Happiness:Having, taking, or demonstrating pleasure or satisfaction'(*3)glad, content, happy'(*4)There is lots of evidence that points towards happiness and sociability being related. These quotes show this relationship:Social science surveys have universally concluded that people claim to be most happy with friends and family, or just in the company of others(*5).This shows how people who socialise are likely to get a feeling of happiness; therefore, in theory the more sociable a person, the happier they should be.Relationships make us extremely happy when they go well, and very depressed when they dont work out(*5).This shows how the breakdown of social relationships can be the cause of unhappiness, but these relationships can also cause a person to be happy when they are going well.Happiness, along with health and mental health, is increased by presence of certain social relationships and depressed by those losing these(*6).This demonstrates how social relationships can not only affect a persons happiness, but also their health.Horowitz et al., 1982, and Weeks et al., 1980(*6) concluded that lonely people become depressed, and Horowitz et al. also concluded that lonely people also feel excluded, alienated and angry. This demonstrates how those who dont socialise very much may become unhappy.Reich and Zautra, 1981 (*6) have shown that increases in social contact lead to increases in happiness, therefore suggesting that the results to our questionnaire ar e likely to show that the more sociable a person is the more likely they are to be happy, and visa versa.Wessman and Ricks, 1966 (*6) conducted an experiment between happy students and unhappy students. Their findings showed that the students who had the better relationships with other students were the happier ones, whilst those students who were unhappy their social relations were often sources of anxiety, anger and guilt that led to cautious withdrawal and empty isolation. This study demonstrates well how the happiness of a person can affect their sociability, although it is not clear how Wessman and Ricks measured the students happiness.For this investigation we have comprised a questionnaire with questions taken from Eysncks (*7) Personality questionnaire, which has been accepted in terms of reliability and validity.Campbell, Converse and Rodgers, 1976 (*5) compiled the following table taken from an American national sample survey of 2164 people in 1971 showing what peoplethoug ht were the main sources of satisfaction in everyday life:Source of satisfactionMean importance ratingFamily lifeMarriageFinancial situationHousingJobFriendshipHealthLeisure activities1.461.442.942.102.192.081.372.79From this table we can see that two of the things that people regard as being among the most important sources of satisfaction are friendship and leisure activities which are both associated to sociability, showing that being sociable can cause happiness. We can also see that a persons financial situation gives them the most satisfaction in everyday life. If a person is financially secure then they can afford to participant in leisure activities, and meet new people.Aims: The aim of this investigation is to see if there is a positive correlation between how happy a person is and how sociable they are.Experimental hypothesis: There will be a significant positive correlation between happiness and sociability, as measured by questionnaire.This hypothesis has been decided up on because past research, such as that done by Horowitz et al. (1982), Reich and Zautra (1981), and Wessman and Ricks (1966) indicates that this hypothesis should be true.Null hypothesis: There will be no significant correlation between happiness and sociability, as measured by questionnaire.*1 The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology*2 A Students Dictionary of Psychology Second Edition*3 Readers Digest Universal Dictionary*4 Collins mini Gem English Dictioary*5 Flow the Psychology of Happiness*6 The Psychology of Happiness*7 Know your own PersonalityMethod:A correlation was used so that it could be discovered if there is a relationship between happiness and sociability.The two variables being investigated were happiness and sociability.Participants were given a pre-prepared questionnaire (see Appendix item 1) that contained a mixture of both questions related to sociability and questions related to happiness selected from Eysencks personality questionnaire. There were 18 questions re lated to each of the variables, plus 14 unrelated questions randomly mixed together to try to stop the participant from guessing the nature of the questionnaire.To analyse the data the Spearmans RHO test was used, at the 0.05 significance level (see Appendix item 6).In total we used 20 participants, 10 female and 10 male. Participants were taken from the local 6th form college, BHASVIC, and were selected using a casual sample. Participants were approached and asked if they wouldnt mind filling in a questionnaire for a Psychology project.. Once they had agreed each participant was given an A4 questionnaire (see Appendix item 1) with 50 YES, MAYBE, or NO answers to be circled with instructions at the top and debriefing at the bottom. They were also given a pen. Once all the results had been collected back the results were scored using Eysencks scoring system (see Appendix item 2) and they were then analysed using the Spearmans Rank Order Correlation Coefficient (see Appendix item 6).R esults: (For table of results see Appendix Item 3)(For workings of results see Appendix Item 4)Mean for Happiness = 11.3Mean for Sociability = 7.7Median for Happiness = 12Median for Sociability = 7.5Mode for Happiness = 14Mode for Sociability = 5Range for Happiness = 14Range for Sociability = 12Statistical Analysis:The Spearmans Rank Order Correlation Coefficient calculated value of -0.0004 at the 0.05 significance level is less than the critical value of 0.377, therefore the results are not significant and the null hypothesis cannot be rejected. This means our correlation did not show a relationship between how happy a person is and how sociable they are. This is reflected in the results of the mean, median and mode, with there being fairly significant gaps between the results of happiness and sociability. This means that the middle points for the sociability scores, and the happiness scores were far apart in each of the descriptive statistics done for averages.Both the ranges for happiness and for sociability were very far apart, with the range for happiness being 14, and the range for sociability being 12. The range shows that the spread of each of the results for sociability and happiness were far apart, with their being 14 points between the highest score for sociability and the lowest score, and there being 12 points between the highest score for happiness and the lowest score.As can be seen from the scattergraph there is not a clear relationship between the scores for happiness and those for sociability. It can be seen that some results do support our hypothesis of a positive correlation between happiness and sociability, but most of the results do not. Trying to draw a line of best fit through this graph would be nearly impossible.Discussion:The evidence that is shown in the introduction all supports our experimental hypothesis. This includes the research conducted by Horowitz et al. (1982) and Weeks et al. (1980) that lonely people become depressed, b y Reich and Zautra (1981) that increases in social contact lead to increases in happiness, and also the research done by Wessman and Ricks (1966) that students who had the better relationships with other students were the happier . Our results do not support our experimental hypothesis, or the evidence shown in the introduction, therefore it is hard to draw a conclusion. The null hypothesis could not be rejected because the result for the Spearmans Rank Order Correlation Coefficient showed that our results were not significant. The mean, median and mode reflected this, as there were large gaps between the mean, median and mode for happiness and sociability. The range shows that there were big gaps between the scores in the happiness section, and in the sociability section. This clearly shows that there was skewed data.As can be seen from the scattergraph there is no clear relationship between happiness and sociability, although some of the results do show this, but there may be fact ors that affected our results.This data all shows that just because a person is sociable, it doesnt mean that they are happy as well.Summary:Our results did not support our experimental hypothesis, therefore the null hypothesis has not been rejected, meaning that there might well not be a correlation between happiness and sociability.To get a better idea as to whether our experimental hypothesis is correct a far more representative sample would have to be used.Limitations of the design and Modifications:One reason as to why our results may not have been significant may be due to the questionnaire. However much care is taken over the wording of the questions, even if they are seen to be reliable and valid (as Eysencks questions are), different respondents may interpret the questions differently, meaning we may not have got answers to the questions we intended to get. The questions we used were only a sample from Eysencks questions, and therefore this may have affected the results. Wh en using a questionnaire there is little opportunity for the researcher to quantify what the question actually means. It may also be the case the respondents may interpret the terms in the questions differently. For example people may have different ideas as to what happy or sociable actually means (as the definitions in the introduction were merely a guide).Respondents to the questionnaire may not have given full and accurate answers. They may answer the questions in a way that makes themselves look good, or in a way in which they think the researcher wishes them to answer.The layout of the questions and the answers on the questionnaire did not line up due to limited space, therefore the respondents may have possibly got confused as to which question went with which answer. This may have affected our results.It is hard to measure the degree of happiness from person to person from a simple questionnaire, such as the one we conducted. More detailed questions would have to be asked in which the respondent could give their own answers. Problems would also arise from this as it is hard to define happiness.This study was conducted using only a small amount of participants, therefore not being very valid. This could be a reason as to why the results for our study did not support our experimental hypothesis, despite all of the evidence in the introduction supporting the experimental hypothesis. The age of the participants in our sample may have differed from those that were used in the background research that I conducted and this may have affected the results.The environment in which the participant filled in the questionnaire may have affected the results. If the room was too warm, too cold, too noisy, or to crowded it may have meant that the participant rushed their answers, or misread the questions. If the participant didnt have much time they may have rushed because they needed to get somewhere else.Further Study:In this study an equal amount of males and female s were used, but a comparison of the two was not conducted. This could be done to see if there is a difference in the happiness and sociability of males and females.The sample size could be increased to see if the result found in this study would be the same, this could also then include many different ages to see if age affected the results. Samples could be taken from different areas from the country, and also from other countries to test if this would affect the results.Instead of using questionnaires, interviews could be conducted to collect the data, this way the questions could be clarified.People in solitude could be studied to see if they consider themselves to be happy.Different sources of happiness could be explored, for example the financial situation a person is in or their health.Implications:Implications of this study, from the results that we obtained from our questionnaire, could be that those who are in solitude, such as people in prison should not suffer from unhap piness. These results could well mean that happiness is just a state of mind, and not affect by your sociability, as some people enjoy being on their own. This is reflected in the quote happiness, happiness, the greatest gift that I possess taken from a well-known song.Our study did not show a correlation between happiness and sociability, but if we were to assume that the evidence shown in the introduction was correct, then those who suffer from unhappiness could be placed into more social situations to try and improve their happiness.References:Michael Argyle The Psychology of Happiness (1987) Methuen and Co. LtdCollins mini Gem English Dictionary (1986)H.J Eysenck Know Your own Personality (1975) Maurice Temple SmithRichard Gross et. al Psychology-A New Introduction-Study Guide (1999) Hodderand StoughtonArthur S. Reber The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology (1985) Penguin GroupVivian Shackleton and Clive Fletcher Individual differences Theories andApplications (1984) Methuen and Co. LtdPeter Stratton and Nicky Hayes A Students Dictionary of Psychology-secondedition (1993) Edward ArnoldReaders Digest Universal Dictionary (1987)Appendix:Item 1: Sample QuestionnaireItem 2: Score sheet for questionnaireItem 3: Explanation of score sheetItem 4: Table of resultsItem 5: Workings for mean, median and modeItem 6: Workings for Spearmans Rank OrderCorrelation CoefficientAppendix Item 4 Table of ResultsParticipant numberScore for happiness(out of 18)Score for sociability(out of 18)1234567891011121314151617181920161076398111414141212915617141712551055641432211121397811814Appendix item 5: workings for mean, median and modeMEAN:Happiness:= 3+6+6+7+8+9+9+10+11+12+12+12+14+14+14+14+15+16+17+1720= 11.3Sociability:= 2+2+3+4+5+5+5+5+6+7+8+8+9+10+11+11+12+13+14+1420= 7.7MEDIAN:Happiness:= 3, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10, 11, 12, 12, 12, 14, 14, 14, 14, 15, 16, 17, 17= 12Sociability:= 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 11, 11, 12, 13, 14, 14= 7.5MODE:Happiness:= 3, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10, 11, 12, 12, 12, 14, 14, 14, 14, 15, 16, 17, 17= 14Sociability:= 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 11, 11, 12, 13, 14, 14= 5Range:Happiness:= 17 3= 14Sociability:=14 2= 12ContentsAbstract..1Introduction1Method4Results5Discussion..7References.9Appendices10Is there aCorrelationbetween Happinessand Sociability?Appendix item 3: Explanation of score sheet for questionnaire.The questions highlighted in pink are questions relating to happiness.The questions highlighted in yellow are questions relating to sociability.The questions crossed out are unrelated questions.On the answers the YES , MAYBE , or NO answers that are circled are the desired answers, meaning a person is happy/sociable. If a participant circles one of these answers on their copy of the questionnaire they are awarded one point, to either happiness or sociability depending on what the question was (whether highlighted in pink or yellow) related to. For example, if a participant was to answer NO to Question 1 (Do you think that people really dont care what happens to you?) the participant would be awarded one point on their happiness tally.The scoring system has been done in accordance with Eysencks scoring system to ensure the results were as valid and reliable as possible.