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SUMMARY:Daily well-being is about thoughts as well as feelings:  Extending
  the day reconstruction method - Dr. Mathew White (University of Plymouth)
DTSTART:20091117T130000Z
DTEND:20091117T140000Z
UID:TALK20152@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr. Nicholas Gibson
DESCRIPTION:Serious consideration is being given to the impact of private 
 behaviour and public policies on people's subjective well-being (SWB). Kah
 neman and colleagues have proposed a new approach to measuring well-being\
 , the day reconstruction method (DRM). The DRM is a diary approach with th
 e novel twist that the affective component of daily activities is weighted
  by duration in order to construct temporal aggregates. However\, the DRM 
 neglects the potentially important role of thoughts. Using the DRM approac
 h with a heterogeneous sample (N= 625) we include thoughts in two ways: th
 oughts about activities and thoughts that intrude on those activities. We 
 show that some activities relatively low in pleasure (e.g. work and time w
 ith children) are nonetheless thought of as rewarding and therefore contri
 bute to overall SWB. In part this is because recalling these experiences p
 roduces positive emotions in the present. We also show that negative recur
 ring thoughts (e.g. financial worries) can significantly impact experience
 d utility as measured using the activity focused DRM. Such information may
  be important to policymakers wishing to promote behaviours and alleviate 
 concerns that are conducive to a broader conception of SWB.
LOCATION:Arts School Room B\, New Museums Site
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