Happiness in India

Robert Biswas-Diener, Louis Tay, and Ed Diener

Over the past four decades, there has been a growing academic interest in
happiness.1 Researchers have paid increasing attention to the causes and conse-
quences of wellbeing (see Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith 1999, for an overview of
the findings from the first three decades of research). In the early stages of this sci-
entific undertaking, they were primarily concerned with establishing the validity of
happiness measures and with exploring demographic correlates of happiness. Later
studies focused on the outcomes of happiness as well as on the creation of happiness
interventions. One of the most important recent set of findings emerging from the
research on happiness concerns the benefits of experiencing happiness. Although,
traditionally, happiness was thought to simply feel good, modern research is increas-
ingly revealing that happiness is associated with a wide range of desirable outcomes
in health (Diener & Chan 2011; Pressman & Cohen 2005), in relationships (Myers &
Diener 1995), and at work (Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener 2005).
The idea that happiness is beneficial not only to the individual but also to fami-
lies, work groups, and societies has caught the attention of government officials and
policy makers. There is a new field of “happiness economics” (Frey 2008) as well
as recommendations for national accounts of wellbeing (Diener & Seligman 2006)
and happiness-related policies (Diener, Lucas, Schimmack, & Helliwell 2009).
Policies that produce wellbeing without disproportionate costs to the environment
are given particular attention (Marks, Simms, Thompson, & Abdallah 2006) as well
as policies that preserve cultural values (Burns 2010).

1 In this chapter we tend to use “happiness” and “wellbeing” as interchangeable concepts espe-
cially when describing the abstract concept of happiness. When we discuss research on specific
aspects of wellbeing, such as life satisfaction or positive emotions, we clearly identify the exact
concept under scrutiny.
R. Biswas-Diener (B)
Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA
The Centre of Applied Positive Psychology, Coventry, UK
e-mail: jayajedi@comcast.net

H. Selin, G. Davey (eds.), Happiness Across Cultures, Science Across Cultures: 13

The History of Non-Western Science 6, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-2700-7_2,

C Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012
14 R. Biswas-Diener et al.

India represents a particularly interesting case study of national and individual

happiness. In many ways India is a unique country with a society, history and
cultural traditions unlike anywhere else in the world. India is currently the second
most populous nation on the planet, after China, with more than one billion inhabi-
tants. Because of its geographic location and natural resources, India has a history of
being invaded and colonized by other cultures including the Mongols (13th century
A.C.E.), Mughals (16th century A.C.E.) and the British (18th century A.C.E.), as
well as being a major trading destination. India is a diverse society, with the largest
concentration of Hindus in the world, as well as sizable Muslim and Christian popu-
lations. There are 14 official languages, largely unique to specific states and regions,
in addition to the widely used Hindi and English.
India also has a noteworthy economy. Although the annual per capita income
is the equivalent of slightly more than 1,000 US dollars, India has the 11th largest
economy in the world as ranked by Gross Domestic Product (GDP; International
Monetary Fund 2010) and a 9% annual GDP growth rate during 2007–2008
(World Bank 2010). This rapid economic development has led to large gains in the
treatment—and in some cases the eradication—of tuberculosis, leprosy and other
health problems, and to the development of a distinct Indian “middle class”. India
can be described as a country at an economic, technological, societal, and cultural
crossroad. The nation is on the brink of rapid change and increasing in overall
wealth, but it is also a relatively poor country with the majority of its citizens living
in rural non-industrialized areas and participating in a traditional lifestyle.
India is, in many ways, an ideal test case for one of the most interesting questions
related to happiness: Is happiness an “outside-in” or an “inside-out” phenomenon?
That is, how much of an individual’s happiness is a matter of personal attitude versus
how much it might be influenced by the external and material conditions of that
person’s life. To the extent that outside-in factors, such as income, contribute to
happiness (see Diener & Biswas-Diener 2002 for a detailed discussion of this issue)
the Indian government would do well to maximize the happiness of its citizens by
promoting economic, labor and healthcare policies that are the most likely to create
collective wellbeing. On the other hand, to the extent to which happiness may be a
matter of personal attention and interpretation of daily events, it would make sense
to establish happiness interventions by providing educational programs that instruct
citizens in how to train their aspirations, set goals, and savor positive moments.

The Wellbeing of India

Veenhoven and Ouweneel (1995) suggest that the “livability” of a nation—the
extent to which the state provides services and infrastructure that make for a soci-
ety in which people can flourish—is an important element of collective wellbeing
at the national level. Thus, the wellbeing of the citizenry will be determined, in
part, by national wealth and the ability of the government and private sector to
leverage material resources into infrastructure, jobs, and other societal institutions
Happiness in India 15

that promote happiness. This is an “outside-in” approach to happiness and it is

interesting to gauge the collective wellbeing of Indians in this way. Although
India has one of the fastest growing economies in the world, it has long struggled
with challenges such as poverty, agricultural droughts and other weather-related
problems, religious sectarian violence, and armed conflict with neighboring states.
Despite the rapid economic growth in India, Easterlin and Sawangfa (2010) report
that, according to the World Values Survey (a large international survey of social,
economic and psychological indicators administered in waves across many years),
Indian happiness has stayed relatively level over the past decade and a half. India
typically ranks in the middle of nations in international surveys of happiness. In
an analysis of the World Values Surveys, for instance, Inglehart and Klingemann
(2000) reported that India placed 43 of 69 nations, with 77% of those sampled
reporting happiness and 67% of those sampled reporting life satisfaction. In an
in-depth survey of nations, Prescott-Allen (2001) reported that India ranked 172
out of 180 countries. This relatively low score, according to Prescott-Allen, can be
explained, in part, by low levels of education, health, and high levels of ecologi-
cal destruction and other societal ills that take a psychological toll on the citizenry.
According to Veenhoven (2010), reporting on several surveys across time, the cit-
izens of India who have been sampled on a wide range of happiness measures
including those of affect, affect balance and life satisfaction typically score just
above average.
Unfortunately, much of the data on the happiness of Indians was collected before
its rapid economic growth. To get a better sense of the current overall wellbeing of
Indians, we can turn to recent survey data from the Gallup World Poll. The Gallup
World Poll was undertaken by The Gallup Organization with the mission to collect
ongoing data on “key indicators that range from basic survival requirements to feel-
ings about general health, job satisfaction, financial security, personal enjoyment
and hopes for the future” (Gallup 2007, p. 5). This poll now includes representa-
tive samples from more than 150 countries. The data were collected by telephone
interviews in industrialized countries and by face-to-face interviews in less indus-
trialized places. In India, the sample consisted of 10,296 individuals, comprised of
52.9% males and 47.1% females, with a mean age of 35.8 (SD 15.1). Locality infor-
mation was available for 8,170 individuals within the sample: 53.8% respondents
were from rural areas, 28.4% from small towns, 13% from large cities, and 4.7%
from suburban areas near large cities.
In the first wave of the Gallup World Poll data collection, Indians answered ques-
tions relating to a variety of aspects of life ranging from having running water at
home to being satisfied with personal health (Gallup 2007). In this initial sampling
Indians ranked just below the overall world average on the Food and Shelter Index
(India: 64; World Average: 75) and the Work Index (India: 24; World Average: 30).
These relatively low scores do not represent the whole story of life quality how-
ever. Indians also ranked exactly at the world average for the Health Index (India:
76; World Average: 76) and above average on the Law and Order Index (India: 75;
World Average: 70). Taken together, these Index scores suggest that Indians suf-
fer from inadequate food, shelter, and access to non-subsistence agricultural jobs
16 R. Biswas-Diener et al.

but also enjoy surprisingly high levels of quality of life in other areas. Reports of
crime victimization are low compared to world averages, and the number of Indians
reporting that they feel safe walking alone at night is high (73%). This is especially
high given the overall population, the size of major urban centers and the diversity
of Indian society.
Among the wellbeing items specific to happiness used in this survey were mea-
sures of overall life quality (a proxy for life satisfaction), positive emotions and
negative emotions. Relative to respondents in some other nations, Indian respon-
dents reported fewer positive emotions and more negative emotions, with a relatively
low Feelings Balance score (Table 1).
On a 0–10 scale of overall life evaluation the respondents scored just above
average with a mean score of 5.2 (SD 1.77), although average scores varied by
urban-rural living (Table 2).
The recent data in the Gallup World Poll shows that happiness in India is a mixed
story. It ranks among the middle and lower middle nations on international indices
of happiness, but respondents reported absolute levels of happiness in the positive
range. Thus, it is not that India is unhappy—indeed, its citizens appear to experience
mild satisfaction and appreciably more positive than negative emotions—but rather,
that Indians are generally happier than their GDP per capita might suggest. This

Table 1 The happiness of

India and 3 other countries Subjective well-being India USA China Brazil

Life evaluation 5.20 7.35 5.06 7.14

Positive emotions 0.70 0.83 0.82 0.82
Negative emotions 0.25 0.22 0.14 0.24
Feelings balance 0.46 0.62 0.68 0.59

Note: Life evaluation is represented on a range of 0–10. Emotion

scores reflect a range of 0–1. Feelings Balance scores are com-
puted by subtracting Negative Emotion from Positive Emotions
scores

Table 2 Happiness within India

Rural Urban
India overall (N = 3065) (N = 5105) Rural-Urban difference

Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD p-value

Life evaluation 5.20 1.77 4.98 1.71 5.24 1.80 0.00

Positive emotions 0.70 0.40 0.68 0.41 0.73 0.37 0.00
Negative emotions 0.25 0.32 0.27 0.33 0.25 0.32 0.00
Feelings balance 0.46 0.60 0.41 0.62 0.48 0.57 0.00

Note: Life evaluation is represented on a range of 0–10. Emotion scores reflect a range of 0–1.
Feelings Balance scores are computed by subtracting Negative Emotion from Positive Emotions
scores. Rural includes “rural area” or “on a farm”; urban includes “small towns”, “suburb of a
large city” and “large cities”
Happiness in India 17

is consistent with past findings that most people are mildly happy (Biswas-Diener,
Vitterso, & Diener 2005) and that mild pleasantness may be an evolutionarily adap-
tive set point that helps people function (Fredrickson 2001). The data presented here
(Tables 1 and 2) suggest that people in more industrialized countries are relatively
happier than Indians, and that people in urban areas—presumably those with greater
access to jobs, education, goods and services—are happier even within India.

A Finer Look

The conclusions presented above are, by their nature, limited. Aggregated happi-
ness data paint a broad picture of average happiness levels but tell us little about
individuals or sub-groups. National polls are important for understanding the large-
scale effects of development, the job market and other macroeconomic and societal
conditions, but data from smaller samples can be helpful to elucidate the actual day-
to-day experiences of people. There are currently two sources of information about
the happiness of individuals in India: (1) samples from people living in a similar
way in other places, such as people from Bangladesh (who are culturally similar to
citizens of the Indian state of West Bengal), and (2) small samples of sections of
Indian society. To date, relatively few studies have focused specifically on the hap-
piness of Indian samples or samples from neighboring societies. Here we present
several such studies to expand on the nation level data presented above.
There are several studies of the wellbeing of people living in Bangladesh, Tibet
and Thailand. Camfield, Choudhury, and Devine (2009), for instance, examined
happiness in the context of poverty using samples from Bangladesh. They found
that material needs were a factor in overall happiness but that other factors, such as
social relationships, were also important correlates of happiness. A qualitative anal-
ysis by Camfield and colleagues yielded interesting insights into the social world
of Bangladeshis: Young women reported that their marriage was their most impor-
tant relationship, whereas older women reported experiencing happiness when their
children treated them with affection. The researchers conclude that it is possible
to parse the aspects of the marital relationship into intimacy, familial (the relation-
ship between the two families), and societal (cultural expectations of the marriage).
This finding—that social relationships are important to happiness—is consistent
with other research on this topic (e.g. Diener & Seligman 2002). Camfield and col-
leagues’ study is important in that it provides an examination of wellbeing beyond
the satisfaction of material needs and includes an emphasis on social fulfillment.
Webb (2009) conducted an exploratory study of wellbeing on the Tibetan
Plateau. He found that the Tibetans in his study scored an average 67.3 out of a
possible 100 on life satisfaction. This implies that despite cultural change and eco-
nomic hardships, the Tibetans in this sample were satisfied with some, if not many,
aspects of their lives. Webb also found that women reported significantly higher
satisfaction than did men, and that—surprisingly—non-educated people were more
satisfied than those who were formally educated, perhaps because of higher material
18 R. Biswas-Diener et al.

aspirations or being separated from family due to the geographic mobility required
by professional work. Although the samples represented in these studies bear strik-
ing resemblances to societal and cultural conditions in India it is still prudent to
exercise caution in generalizing the results to contemporary India. [Ed. note: See
the chapter “Happiness on the Tibetan Plateau” by Dave Webb, in this book.]
There are also several studies of the happiness of smaller Indian samples.
Brinkerhoff and colleagues (1997), for example, conducted a study of Indian vil-
lagers to examine the relation between the fulfillment of basic needs and happiness.
Through a series of interviews with hundreds of respondents from two Himalayan
villages they concluded that more than half of the people in the study were satisfied
with their lives (55% in one village and 62% in the other). In addition, relatively
few of the people reported being actively dissatisfied (4% in the first village and
9% in the second). This suggests that, despite the hardships of village life, there is
much that functions for people at the social and psychological levels. Interestingly,
the researchers conclude that it is difficult to establish criteria for basic minimum
needs as these needs change from location to location. The idea that social needs
must be fulfilled simultaneously with material needs is receiving empirical support
(Tay & Diener 2011) and is becoming an increasingly important idea in develop-
ment work (Linley, Bhaduri, Sen Sharma, & Govindji 2010). In a series of studies
examining the happiness of Indians in an urban setting, Biswas-Diener and Diener
(2001; 2006) conducted two studies with pavement dwellers, slum dwellers, and
sex workers living in Kolkata. In the first study they found that slum dwellers were
mildly satisfied with their lives and with the specific domains of their lives, such as
their morality, their food, and their families, despite the dire economic conditions
in which they live. When looking at possible causes of happiness the researchers
found that objective housing indicators such as crowding and quality of housing
construction, as well as income levels were important indicators of life satisfaction,
but so was family satisfaction. In their second study, Biswas-Diener et al. (2005)
compared samples of homeless people living in Kolkata to those living in Oregon
and California. They found that the Indians were mildly satisfied with their lives
and were significantly more satisfied than their counterparts in the American sam-
ples. This suggests that there may be some locally protective factor that helps buffer
the Indians from the dire effects of poverty. Subsequent analyses revealed that the
Indians were also significantly more satisfied with their social lives and with them-
selves than the Americans. It may be that some societal factor such as attitudes
toward poverty or the value of close family relationships helps the Indians enjoy
surprising levels of happiness.
Our own analysis of the recent Gallup World Poll data suggests that the social
fabric of Indian life is, indeed, a source of happiness. Indians reported similar lev-
els of trust in local police, feeling safe walking at night, and safety from assaults
and property thefts as did respondents from Brazil, China and the United States.
Perhaps more interesting is our analysis of social capital variables examining Indian
urban and rural samples separately (see Table 3). Rural dwellers reported compa-
rable levels of all social capital variables as their urban counterparts. This suggests
a reassuring note to those who believe that economic growth favors those living in
Happiness in India 19

Table 3 Social capital

within India Overall Urban Rural

Count on to help 0.64 0.61 0.65

Donated money 0.17 0.18 0.16
Volunteered time 0.12 0.13 0.12
Helped a stranger 0.31 0.32 0.30
Voiced opinion to official 0.11 0.14 0.09
Trust local police 0.72 0.74 0.75
Feel safe walking home 0.72 0.71 0.73
Money/Property stolen 0.06 0.05 0.06
Assaulted in past year 0.04 0.04 0.04
Important purpose 0.91 0.96 0.91

Note: Rural includes “rural area” or “on a farm”; urban includes

“small towns”, “suburb of a large city” and “large cities”

cities and who, presumably, have better access to jobs, health services and other fac-
tors that might raise their quality of life. It appears that people living in rural areas
have not been “left behind” in terms of feeling safe or supported by others.
The studies discussed above suggest that macroeconomic factors and national
policies may be helpful for promoting a livable society, but they do not necessarily
address all psychological needs at the local level. Brinkerhoff and colleagues (1997)
suggest that family and community needs must be weighed in concert with individ-
ual needs, and that this might best be accomplished locally, rather than through
national programs. Tay and Diener (2011) offer evidence that social needs are
important for positive emotion while material needs—along with household con-
veniences (Diener, Ng, Harter, & Arora 2010)—are important for life satisfaction.
It is on this last point, perhaps, that programs and policies with greater psychological
benefit, such as women’s empowerment programs, might be utilized.

Cultural Issues

Thus far, we have principally discussed happiness as an “outside-in” process in

which income, satisfaction of needs and other material conveniences affect an
individual’s happiness. There are also possible “inside-out” factors through which
people interpret and make sense of their daily events, and these might influence hap-
piness. Because we are discussing India—a nation state—rather than individuals, it
makes sense to address the inside-out factor that is most relevant to groups: culture.
There has been a surge in research on culture and happiness in the last decade and
a half, and we now understand much more about the ways in which culture subtly
(and not so subtly) influences emotion.
Although there are many definitions of culture we use this term to mean a set
of socially transmitted attitudes, feelings and behaviors that can be used to dis-
tinguish one group from another. Culture is, by definition, a learned phenomenon.
Tsai (2008) argues that affective states can be actual (what people actually feel in
20 R. Biswas-Diener et al.

response to a specific event) or idealized (the state people strive to feel) and that
cultural factors more heavily influence idealized affect. One common way of dis-
tinguishing cultures is through the dimension of individualism and collectivism.
Individualists, such as people raised in the United States, tend to view themselves
as unique and look for opportunities to pursue their own goals and distinguish them-
selves from the group. Collectivists, such as people raised in Taiwan, on the other
hand, tend to look for opportunities to fit in and tend to subjugate personal goals
when they come into conflict with those of the wider group. In a series of studies
sampling people from individualist cultures and collectivist cultures Tsai concluded
that collectivists strive for an idealized affective state that can best be described
as “low-arousal positive” (calm, relaxed, peaceful), in contrast to the “high-arousal
positive” (enthusiastic, excited, elated) states sought after by their individualistic
counterparts. Tsai argues that idealized affect has behavioral consequences. She
reviews a series of studies suggesting that members of individualistic cultures are
more likely to want to exert themselves in leisure pursuits, view fun and thrills as
important, and to engage in individual recreational activities such as jogging and
hiking. Similarly, there is evidence that cultural factors influence preferences for
slow versus up-tempo music.
Cultural norms also influence cognitive judgments of life satisfaction. In one
study Suh, Diener, Oishi and Triandis (1998) found that among more than 62,000
respondents from 61 nations, norms were a stronger predictor of life satisfaction in
collectivist cultures relative to individualistic ones. That is, individualists appear to
weigh personal achievements and experiences when arriving at satisfaction judg-
ments, whereas collectivists are more likely to use both personal experiences and
contextual cues about how they should feel. Suh (2007) suggests that collectivists
are more sensitive than individualists to context (see Nisbett 2003, for further dis-
cussion), including social and cultural norms. It is even possible, according to
Suh, that this cultural context-sensitivity is associated with psychological down-
sides: constantly scanning the environment for useful contextual information leads
to an external view of the self; that is, a tendency to view the self from the per-
spective of outsiders and to habitually monitor self-presentation accordingly. At its
extreme, according to Suh, external “outside-in views” of the self are associated
with excessive need for approval and belonging that, in turn, lead people to become
more materialistic and less happy. Evidence for this can be found in samples of
Koreans (Diener, Suh, Kim-Prieto, Biswas-Diener, & Tay 2010) and Singaporeans
(Napa-Scollon & King 2010).
While the studies mentioned above deal with collectivists broadly, there is also
research pertaining specifically to Indian samples. A study by Menon and Shweder
(1994), for example, examines local cultural emotions such as lajya (acute shame).
[Ed. note: Please see the chapter “Hinduism, Happiness and Wellbeing: A Case
Study of Adulthood in an Oriya Hindu Temple Town” by Usha Menon, in this book.]
In a cross-cultural study by Scollon, Diener, Oishi, & Biswas-Diener (2004) that
included an Indian sample, the researchers examined whether indigenous emotions
unique to the local culture formed separate clusters distinct from the western and
English emotion clusters found in the study. In both Indian and Japanese samples,
Happiness in India 21

the indigenous emotions clustered into predictable “pleasant” and “unpleasant”

clusters. Interestingly, in the Indian sample, the English word “pride,” which is typ-
ically a positive emotion for Westerners, clustered with the negative emotion words,
including the indigenous word aviman (prideful loving anger). In other languages,
pride is often identified with being haughty.
It appears, at a cursory glance, that Indians and other collectivists are more prone
to inside-out interpretations of daily events that would suppress rather than boost
happiness. They are more likely to strive for low arousal positive emotions, more
likely to be at the mercy of contextual cues for how they should feel, and more likely
to sacrifice personal goals if they come into conflict with group goals. This is not,
however, the only interpretation of the findings on research and wellbeing. When
understood from their own point of view it is easy to see that Indian “inside-out”
phenomena can promote happiness. Perhaps the most important aspect of “inside-
out” happiness in the Indian context is related to fatalistic thinking. Indian culture
is well known for the concept of karma, which can be thought of as an individ-
ual’s fate as dictated by actions from a former life. Westerners, by contrast, often
have a “disjoint agency” view of the world in which a person’s control over her
environment and freedom to choose are viewed as causes for celebration (Markus,
Uchida, Omoregie, Townsend, & Kitayama 2006). To the extent that Indians feel
life is a series of fated circumstances rather than under immediate and direct per-
sonal control this could have consequences for happiness. In a study by Chaturvedi,
Chiu, and Viswanathan (2009) the researchers examined the thinking styles of low-
income Tamil Indian women living in urban areas. The researchers found a high
rate of endorsement of “negotiable fate” beliefs, especially among women who were
non-literate. Negotiable fate is not the same as fatalism; it refers to the belief that an
individual may not have direct control over her environment but can negotiate with
fate for a bounded form of indirect agency. The fact that this form of thinking is
particularly high among the least educated may indicate that negotiable fate beliefs
serve as a psychological buffer against the dire effects of poverty by blending the
acceptance and personal control dimensions that are found in fatalism and agency
beliefs.

Policy Issues and Conclusion

Should Indian policy makers focus on happiness? When we compare subjective

wellbeing in the Scandinavian nations to that in most African nations, the dif-
ferences are huge (Diener et al. 2010). These large societal differences are not
likely due to innate temperament differences between people living in different
nations. There are longitudinal data of individuals that show that people’s long-
term SWB can change in response to events such as unemployment (Luca 2007;
Lucas, Clark, Georgellis, & Diener 2003). There is now no doubt that the “outside-
in” circumstances of people’s lives matter for SWB, and many of these are societal
circumstances that can be influenced by business and government policies and
practices. To the extent that happiness is an outside-in phenomenon, we argue
22 R. Biswas-Diener et al.

that Indian policy makers should carefully consider how transportation, economic,
health, education, and social policies will affect the happiness of the citizenry.
Policies that promote public cooperation and equality are likely to be particularly
helpful in increasing not only objective indicators of wellbeing such as longevity
but also subjective indicators of quality of life such as happiness (Tov, Diener, Ng,
Kesebir, & Harter 2009). In Table 4 we report correlations between four happiness
variables (positive and negative emotions, feelings balance and life satisfaction)
and a variety of public trust and cooperation related variables. As can be seen in
the table, cooperation and trust are generally positively related to higher levels of
happiness and negatively related to negative emotions. Regardless of the specific
policies, we advocate adding subjective indicators to existing economic indica-
tors. In addition, prioritizing cultural policy, such as has been done in the case of
Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness policy, can lead to better environmental policy
that might be in the long-term happiness interests of all citizens (Burns 2010). The
British government have recently initiated similar programs (BBC November 15th,
2010).
Outside-in influences are not the only factors influencing an individual’s happi-
ness. Inside-out factors also influence wellbeing. Indians do not need to wait for
a “post-materialistic” society where basic material needs are fully met to attend to
their happiness. In fact, the evidence from impoverished groups suggest that non-
material aspects of life such as high quality social relations and a positive view of
the self are instrumental to a person’s happiness (Biswas-Diener & Diener 2001;
Biswas-Diener et al. 2005). There are several reasons why inside-out processes
might not have received more attention from policy makers. First, liberal critics
might fear that enhancing happiness in poor individuals is synonymous with fos-
tering complacency and an acceptance of sub-standard living conditions. Second,
because inside-out phenomena are abstract and psychological in nature they are less

Table 4 Correlations between any of the public trust/helping behavior variables and the 4
happiness outcome measures, for sample as a whole

Life evaluation Positive emotions Negative emotions Balance

Life evaluation 1 0.225∗∗ −0.236∗∗ 0.274∗∗

Positive emotions 0.225∗∗ 1 −0.400∗∗ 0.872∗∗
Negative emotions −0.236∗∗ −0.400∗∗ 1 −0.798∗∗
Feelings balance 0.274∗∗ 0.872∗∗ −0.798∗∗ 1
Count on to help 0.203∗∗ 0.159∗∗ −0.152∗∗ 0.186∗∗
Donated money 0.133∗∗ 0.091∗∗ −0.004 0.061∗∗
Volunteered time 0.122∗∗ 0.081∗∗ 0.037∗∗ 0.033∗∗
Helped a stranger 0.114∗∗ 0.108∗∗ −0.004 0.072∗∗
Voiced opinion to official 0.129∗∗ 0.103∗∗ 0.027 0.053∗∗
Trust local police 0.083∗∗ 0.077∗∗ −0.088∗∗ 0.098∗∗
Feel safe walking home 0.058∗∗ 0.075∗∗ −0.077∗∗ 0.090∗∗

Note: ∗∗ p < 0.01

Happiness in India 23

popular among policy makers and interventionists who want to emphasis objec-
tive aspects of happiness. The relatively recent trends in “empowerment” programs
in economically developing nations such as India are one example of intervention
programs that address not only external circumstances but also the types of psycho-
logical inside-out influences on happiness, including personal feelings of control
over fate and cultural norms.
Indians, both as individuals and as a nation, strive for lives full of meaning, peace,
and positive emotion. Results from a variety of studies suggest that Indians expe-
rience a preponderance of positive states and might, on average, be described as
“mildly happy”. It is likely that poor conditions in which many Indians live take a
psychological toll, and the research evidence suggests that wealthier individuals, and
wealthier Indians specifically, experience significantly more happiness and lower
rates of negative emotions. Thus, policies that help improve the material standards
of life in India will likely be accompanied by some gain in aggregate happiness. It
is imperative for Indian policy makers to keep in mind that material gains not lead
to large sacrifices in other important areas such as social relationships, public trust
or the quality of the environment.
Material fulfillment is not in itself a sufficient goal where Indian happiness is
concerned. Indians also experience happiness that is constructed from within and
defined by local standards for emotions and individual perceptions of the world.
India presents an interesting case of people with a fate negotiation perspective that
may help buffer them from the dire effects of poverty by helping them accept
their circumstances even as it propels them to affect change by giving them hope
that change—within limits—is possible. Those seeking to intervene in the happi-
ness of Indians—whether at the individual or national level—must understand these
indigenous ways of constructing happiness.

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