Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Influence of Environment and Personality on the Affective and Cognitive Component of Subjective Well-being

  • Published:
Social Indicators Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Subjective well-being (SWB) has two components: affective well-being (AWB) and cognitive well-being (CWB). The present study demonstrated that AWB and CWB have are influenced by different factors in a nationally representative sample in Germany (N = 1053). Neuroticism was a stronger predictor of AWB than CWB. Unemployment and regional differences between the East and West of Germany were stronger predictors of CWB than AWB. In addition, the study demonstrated that shared evaluative biases in personality and SWB ratings inflate estimates of the effect size of personality. After controlling for this bias, the effects of environmental factors (unemployment, regional differences) on CWB were stronger than the effects of personality (neuroticism). The results demonstrate that AWB and CWB are distinct components of SWB and that research findings for one component may not generalize to the other component. The results also raise important questions about the weighing of the two components in the creation of subjective social indicators.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Andrews, F. M., & Withey, S. B. (1976). Social indicators of well-being. New York: Plenum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anusic, I., & Schimmack, U. (2007). The nature and structure of correlations among the Big Five personality traits (Manuscript in preparation).

  • Biesanz, J. C., & West, S. G. (2004). Towards understanding assessments of the Big Five: Multitrait-multimethod analyses of convergent and discriminant validity across measurement occasion and type of observer. Journal of Personality, 72(4), 845–876.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bobko, P., Roth, P. L., & Bobko, C. (2001). Correcting the effect size of d for range restriction and unreliability. Organizational Research Methods, 4(1), 46–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, A. (1976). Subjective measures of well-being. American Psychologist, 31(2), 117–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cantril, H. (1965). The pattern of human concerns. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2 ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conley, J. J. (1984). The hierarchy of consistency: A review and model of longitudinal findings on adult individual differences in intelligence, personality and self-opinion. Personality and Individual Differences, 5(1), 11–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1980). Influence of extraversion and neuroticism on subjective well-being: Happy and unhappy people. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 38(4), 668–678.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1988). Personality in adulthood: A six-year longitudinal study of self-reports and spouse ratings on the NEO personality inventory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(5), 853–863.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Costa, J. P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Revised NEO personality inventory (NEOPI-R) and five factor inventory (NEO-FFI) professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeNeve, K. M., & Cooper, H. (1998). The happy personality: A meta-analysis of 137 personality traits and subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 124(2), 197–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeYoung, C. G. (2006). Higher-order factors of the Big Five in a multi-informant sample. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(6), 1138–1151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95(3), 542–575.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., & Lucas, R. E. (1999). Personality and subjective well-being. In D. Kahneman, E. Diener, & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology (pp. 213–229). New York, NY, US: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Lucas, R. E., & Scollon, C. N. (2006). Beyond the hedonic treadmill: Revising the adaptation theory of well-being. American Psychologist, 61(4), 305–314.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125(2), 276–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Digman, J. M. (1997). Higher-order factors of the Big Five. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(6), 1246–1256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ehrhardt, J. J., Saris, W. E., & Veenhoven, R. (2000). Stability of life-satisfaction over time: Analysis of change in ranks in a national population. Journal of Happiness Studies, 1(2), 177–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frey, B. S., & Stutzer, A. (2002). What can economists learn from happiness research? Journal of Economic Literature, 40(2), 402–435.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frijters, P., Haisken-DeNew, J. P., & Shields, M. A. (2004). Money does matter! Evidence from increasing real income and life satisfaction in East Germany following reunification. American Economic Review, 94(3), 730–740.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fujita, F., & Diener, E. (2005). Life satisfaction set point: Stability and change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88(1), 158–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Headey, B., & Wearing, A. (1989). Personality, life events, and subjective well-being: Toward a dynamic equilibrium model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(4), 731–739.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heller, D., Watson, D., & Ilies, R. (2004). The role of person versus situation in life satisfaction: A critical examination. Psychological Bulletin, 130(4), 574–600.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Izard, C. E., Libero, D. Z., Putnam, P., & Haynes, O. M. (1993). Stability of emotion experiences and their relations to traits of personality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64(5), 847–860.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D. (1999). Objective happiness. In D. Kahneman, E. Diener, & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology (pp. 3–25). New York, NY, US: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D., Krueger, A. B., Schkade, D., Schwarz, N., & Stone, A. A. (2006). Would you be happier if you were richer? A focusing illusion. Science, 312(5782), 1908–1910.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Killeen, P. R. (2005). An alternative to null-hypothesis significance tests. Psychological Science, 16(5), 345–353.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lang, F. R., Baltes, P. B., & Wagner, G. G. (2007). Desired lifetime and end-of-life desires across adulthood from 20 to 90: A dual-source information model on aging, Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences (series b), 62B, 268–276.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larsen, R. J., & Buss, D. M. (2008). Personality psychology: Domains of knowledge about human nature. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hilll.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, R. E., Clark, A. E., Georgellis, Y., & Diener, E. (2004). Unemployment alters the set point for life satisfaction. Psychological Science, 15(1), 8–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, R. E., Diener, E., Grob, A., Suh, E. M., & Shao, L. (2000). Cross-cultural evidence for the fundamental features of extraversion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(3), 452–468.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, R. E., Diener, E., & Suh, E. (1996). Discriminant validity of well-being measures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71(3), 616–628.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lykken, D., & Tellegen, A. (1996). Happiness is a stochastic phenomenon. Psychological Science, 7(3), 186–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCrae, R. R. (2002). The maturation of personality psychology: Adult personality development and psychological well-being. Journal of Research in Personality, 36(4), 307–317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. (1991). Adding Liebe und Arbeit: The full five-factor model and well-being. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17(2), 227–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michalos, A. C. (1985). Multiple discrepancies theory (Mdt). Social Indicators Research, 16(4), 347–413.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, G. C., & Athanasou, J. A. (1999). The effect of unemployment on mental health. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 72, 83–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paulhus, D. L., & John, O. P. (1998). Egoistic and moralistic biases in self-perception: The interplay of self-deceptive styles with basic traits and motives. Journal of Personality Special Issue: Defense Mechanisms in Contemporary Personality Research, 66(6), 1025–1060.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rammstedt, B. (2007). Who worries and who is happy? Explaining individual differences in worries and satisfaction by personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 43, 1626–1634.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schermelleh-Engel, K., Moosbrugger, H., & Müller, H. (2003). Evaluating the fit of structural equation models: Tests of significance and descriptive goodness-of-fit measures. Methods of Psychological Research, 8(2), 23–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schilling, O. (2006). Development of life satisfaction in old age: Another view on the “Paradox’’. Social Indicators Research, 75(2), 241–271.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schimmack, U. (2007). The structure of subjective well-being. In R. J. Larsen, & M. Eid (Eds.), Subjective well-being. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schimmack, U., & Diener, E. (2003). Predictive validity of explicit and implicit self-esteem for subjective well-being. Journal of Research in Personality, 37, 100–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schimmack, U., Diener, E., & Oishi, S. (2002a). Life-satisfaction is a momentary judgment and a stable personality characteristic: The use of chronically accessible and stable sources. Journal of Personality, 70(3), 345–384.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schimmack, U., & Lucas, R. E. (2007). Marriage matters: Spousal similarity in life satisfaction. Journal of Applied Social Science Studies, 127, 1–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schimmack, U., & Oishi, S. (2005). The influence of chronically and temporarily accessible information on life satisfaction judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89(3), 395–406.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schimmack, U., Oishi, S., Furr, R. M., & Funder, D. C. (2004). Personality and life satisfaction: A facet-level analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30(8), 1062–1075.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schimmack, U., Radhakrishnan, P., Oishi, S., Dzokoto, V., & Ahadi, S. (2002b). Culture, personality, and subjective well-being: Integrating process models of life satisfaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(4), 582–593.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schimmack, U., Wagner, G. G., Krause, P., & Schupp, J. (2007). An experimental panel study of the short-term stability of well-being indicators (submitted manuscript).

  • Schupp, J., & Wagner, G. G. (2007). Theory-based special cross-sectional samples within the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP). DIW Data Documentation. Berlin.

  • Schwarz, N., & Strack, F. (1999). Reports of subjective well-being: Judgmental processes and their methodological implications. In D. Kahneman, E. Diener, & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology (pp. 61–84). New York, NY, US: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Statistisches Bundesamt (Ed.). Datenreport 2006. Bonn.

  • Suh, E., Diener, E., Oishi, S., & Triandis, H. C. (1998). The shifting basis of life satisfaction judgments across cultures: Emotions versus norms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(2), 482–493.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sumner, W. (1996). Welfare, happiness, and ethics. Oxford: Claredon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thorndike, E. L. (1920). A constant error in psychological ratings. Journal of Applied Psychology, 4(1), 25–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, S. K. (2006). Targeted random walk designs. In: Survey Methodology 32(1): 11–24.

  • Veenhoven, R. (1994). Is happiness a trait—Tests of the theory that a better society does not make people any happier. Social Indicators Research, 32(2), 101–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vitterso, J. (2001). Personality traits and subjective well-being: Emotional stability, not extraversion, is probably the important predictor. Personality and Individual Differences, 31(6), 903–914.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, G. G. (2007). Wie die 11er-Skala in das SOEP kam—Ein Beitrag zu den Problemen und Möglichkeiten multidisziplinärer Forschung und zugleich eine Fußnote zum Design der SOEP-Stichprobe. [On the inclusion of the 11-point scale in the SOEP] In J. Schwarze , J. Raebiger, & R. Thiede (Eds.), Arbeitsmarkt- und Sozialpolitikforschung im Wandel—Festschrift für Christof Helberger zum 65. Geburtstag (pp. 40–62). Verlag Dr. Kovac: Hamburg.

  • Wagner, G. G., Frick, J. R., & Schupp, J. (2007). The German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP)—Evolution, scope, and enhancements. Schmollers Jahrbuch, 127(1), 139–169.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, S., & Schimmack, U. (in press). Validity of a happiness implicit association test as an implicit measure of well being. Journal of Research in Personality.

  • Winkelmann, L., & Winkelmann, R. (1998). Why are the unemployed so unhappy? Evidence from panel data. Economica, 65(257), 1–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Mississauga (UTM), 3359 Mississauga Road North, Mississauga, ON, Canada, L5L 1C6

    Ulrich Schimmack

  2. German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) and Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Jürgen Schupp

  3. Berlin University of Technology and German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), Berlin, Germany

    Gert G. Wagner

Authors
  1. Ulrich Schimmack
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jürgen Schupp
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Gert G. Wagner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ulrich Schimmack.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Schimmack, U., Schupp, J. & Wagner, G.G. The Influence of Environment and Personality on the Affective and Cognitive Component of Subjective Well-being. Soc Indic Res 89, 41–60 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-007-9230-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-007-9230-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation