IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v131y2017i2d10.1007_s11205-016-1265-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The ‘10 Excess’ Phenomenon in Responses to Survey Questions on Happiness

Author

Listed:
  • Gaël Brulé

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

  • Ruut Veenhoven

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam
    North West University)

Abstract

Happiness in nations is typically measured in surveys using a single question. A common question is: ‘all things considered, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with your life as-a-whole these days on a scale from 0 to 10?’. The responses typically follow a uni-modal distribution with highest frequencies between 5 and 8. Yet in some nations, the percentage of 10 responses stands out and is higher than the percentage of 9 responses. This is particularly present in Latin America and in the Middle East. In this paper we explore the prevalence of the ‘10-excess’ pattern and check some possible explanations. We conclude that the 10-excess phenomenon is partly due to cultural influence.

Suggested Citation

  • Gaël Brulé & Ruut Veenhoven, 2017. "The ‘10 Excess’ Phenomenon in Responses to Survey Questions on Happiness," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 131(2), pages 853-870, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:131:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s11205-016-1265-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-016-1265-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11205-016-1265-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-016-1265-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Akay, Alpaslan & Martinsson, Peter, 2009. "Sundays Are Blue: Aren’t They? The Day-of-the-Week Effect on Subjective Well-Being and Socio-Economic Status," IZA Discussion Papers 4563, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Ed Diener & Ed Sandvik & William Pavot & Dennis Gallagher, 1991. "Response artifacts in the measurement of subjective well-being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 35-56, February.
    3. Amitava Krishna Dutt & Benjamin Radcliff (ed.), 2009. "Happiness, Economics and Politics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13280.
    4. Ed Diener & Christie Napa-Scollon & Shigehiro Oishi & Vivian Dzokoto & Eunkook Suh, 2000. "Positivity and the Construction of Life Satisfaction Judgments: Global Happiness is not the Sum of its Parts," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 159-176, June.
    5. Israel, Glenn D. & Taylor, C. L., 1990. "Can response order bias evaluations?," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 365-371, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Giacomo Degli Antoni & Chiara Franco, 2022. "The effect of technological behaviour and beliefs on subjective well-being: the role of technological infrastructure," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 553-590, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Violeta Misheva, 2016. "What Determines Emotional Well-Being? The Role of Adverse Experiences: Evidence Using Twin Data," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 17(5), pages 1921-1937, October.
    2. Edsel Beja & David Yap, 2013. "Counting Happiness from the Individual Level to the Group Level," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 114(2), pages 621-637, November.
    3. Hirata Johannes, 2010. "Glücksforschung: Stand der Dinge und Bedeutung für die Ökonomik," ORDO. Jahrbuch für die Ordnung von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, De Gruyter, vol. 61(1), pages 127-150, January.
    4. van Hoorn, André, 2018. "Is the happiness approach to measuring preferences valid?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 53-65.
    5. Alpaslan Akay & Amelie Constant & Corrado Giulietti & Martin Guzi, 2017. "Ethnic diversity and well-being," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(1), pages 265-306, January.
    6. Tim Klopries, 2018. "Discussion of “Working from Home—What is the Effect on Employees’ Effort?”," Schmalenbach Business Review, Springer;Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, vol. 70(1), pages 57-62, February.
    7. Simone Schneider, 2012. "Income Inequality and its Consequences for Life Satisfaction: What Role do Social Cognitions Play?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 106(3), pages 419-438, May.
    8. Sakari Kainulainen, 2020. "Flourishing within the Working-Aged Finnish Population," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 15(1), pages 187-205, March.
    9. Ekaterina Oparina & Sorawoot Srisuma, 2022. "Analyzing Subjective Well-Being Data with Misclassification," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(2), pages 730-743, April.
    10. Romina Boarini & Margherita Comola & Femke Keulenaer & Robert Manchin & Conal Smith, 2013. "Can Governments Boost People’s Sense of Well-Being? The Impact of Selected Labour Market and Health Policies on Life Satisfaction," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 114(1), pages 105-120, October.
    11. Ed Diener & Eunkook Suh, 1997. "Measuring Quality Of Life: Economic, Social, And Subjective Indicators," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 189-216, January.
    12. Ciorbagiu Ioana & Stoica Adrian, 2020. "The Importance Of Affective And Cognitive Dimensions Of Happiness - Analysis In European Countries," Annals - Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 6, pages 138-148, December.
    13. Claudia López-Madrigal & Jesús de la Fuente & Javier García-Manglano & José Manuel Martínez-Vicente & Francisco Javier Peralta-Sánchez & Jorge Amate-Romera, 2021. "The Role of Gender and Age in the Emotional Well-Being Outcomes of Young Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-20, January.
    14. Bruno S. Frey, 2011. "Subjective Well-Being, Politics and Political Economy," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 147(IV), pages 397-415, December.
    15. Jadie Allen & Mark Holder, 2014. "Marijuana Use and Well-Being in University Students," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 301-321, April.
    16. Gail Pacheco & Thomas Lange, 2010. "Political participation and life satisfaction: a cross‐European analysis," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 37(9), pages 686-702, August.
    17. Richters, Oliver, 2021. "Modeling the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of bounded rationality and economic constraints," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 846-866.
    18. Konow, James & Earley, Joseph, 2008. "The Hedonistic Paradox: Is homo economicus happier," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(1-2), pages 1-33, February.
    19. Ádám Stefkovics & Endre Sik, 2022. "What Drives Happiness? The Interviewer’s Happiness," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(6), pages 2745-2762, August.
    20. Chadi, Adrian, 2013. "Third Person Effects in Interview Responses on Life Satisfaction," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 133(2), pages 323-333.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:131:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s11205-016-1265-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.