The Origins of Happiness

Chapter 1

Interpreting the Results

Throughout the analysis we start from the huge variation

in well- being in the population. This is large even within

one country, and wider still across the whole human race.^2

The graph above is based on the British Cohort Study and,

like the figures that follow, uses observations on the sam-

ple at both ages 34 and 42.^3 The standard deviation of life-

satisfaction in the sample is 1.9 (on the scale of 0– 10).

So what explains this variation? The method of explana-

tion is called multiple regression. This provides estimates of

an equation such as

Life- satisfaction = (∝ 1 × Income) + (∝ 2 × Education) + etc. (1)

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

0

Extremely

dissatised

Completely

satised

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Pe

rcen

t

Distribution of life- satisfaction (0– 10) at ages 34 and 42 (British Cohort Study)