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Oxford Happiness Questionnaire

by Dr. Steve Wright

The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire was developed by

psychologists Michael Argyle and Peter Hills at Oxford
University. Take a few moments to take the survey.
This is a good way to get a snapshot of your current
level of happiness. You can even use your score to
compare to your happiness level at some point in the
future by taking the survey again. If you are using
some of the interventions presented on this site to
raise your happiness level, you can see whether your
score on the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire goes up
as a result.

Instructions
Below are a number of statements about happiness.
Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with
each by entering a number in the blank after each
statement, according to the following scale:

1 = strongly disagree
2 = moderately disagree
3 = slightly disagree
4 = slightly agree
5 = moderately agree
6 = strongly agree

Please read the statements carefully, because some are

phrased positively and others negatively. Don’t take
too long over individual questions; there are no “right”
or “wrong” answers (and no trick questions). The first
answer that comes into your head is probably the right
one for you. If you find some of the questions difficult,
please give the answer that is true for you in general or
for most of the time.

The Questionnaire

1. I don’t feel particularly pleased with the way I am.

(R) _____

2. I am intensely interested in other people. _____

3. I feel that life is very rewarding. _____

4. I have very warm feelings towards almost everyone.

_____

5. I rarely wake up feeling rested. (R) _____

6. I am not particularly optimistic about the future. (R)

_____
7. I find most things amusing. _____

8. I am always committed and involved. _____

9. Life is good. _____

10. I do not think that the world is a good place. (R)

_____

11. I laugh a lot. _____

12. I am well satisfied about everything in my life.

_____

13. I don’t think I look attractive. (R) _____

14. There is a gap between what I would like to do and

what I have done. (R) _____

15. I am very happy. _____

16. I find beauty in some things. _____

17. I always have a cheerful effect on others. _____

18. I can fit in (find time for) everything I want to.

_____

19. I feel that I am not especially in control of my life.

(R) _____

20. I feel able to take anything on. _____

21. I feel fully mentally alert. _____

22. I often experience joy and elation. _____

23. I don’t find it easy to make decisions. (R) _____

24. I don’t have a particular sense of meaning and
purpose in my life. (R) _____

25. I feel I have a great deal of energy. _____

26. I usually have a good influence on events. _____

27. I don’t have fun with other people. (R) _____

28. I don’t feel particularly healthy. (R) _____

29. I don’t have particularly happy memories of the

past. (R) _____

Calculate your score

Step 1. Items marked (R) should be scored in reverse:

If you gave yourself a “1,” cross it out and change it to

a “6.”
Change “2” to a “5”
Change “3” to a “4”
Change “4” to a “3”
Change “5” to a “2”
Change “6” to a “1”

Step 2. Add the numbers for all 29 questions. (Use the

converted numbers for the 12 items that are reverse
scored.)

Step 3. Divide by 29. So your happiness score = the

total (from step 2) divided by 29.

I recommend you record your score and the date. Then

you’ll have the option to compare your score now with
your score at a later date. This can be especially helpful
if you are trying some of the exercises, and actively
working on increasing your happiness.
UPDATE: A lot of people have been asking for some
kind of interpretation of the raw number “happiness
score” you get in step 3 above. What follows is just off
the top of my head, but it’s based in part on the fact
that the average person gets a score of about 4.

INTERPRETATION OF SCORE

I suggest you read all the entries below regardless of

what score you got, because I think there’s valuable
information here for everyone.

1-2 : Not happy. If you answered honestly and got a

very low score, you’re probably seeing yourself and
your situation as worse than it really is. I recommend
taking the Depression Symptoms test (CES-D Questionnaire)
at the University of Pennsylvania’s “Authentic
Happiness” Testing Center. You’ll have to register, but
this is beneficial because there are a lot of good tests
there and you can re-take them later and compare
your scores.

2-3 : Somewhat unhappy. Try some of the exercises on

this site like the Gratitude Journal & Gratitude Lists, or
the Gratitude Visit; or take a look at the “Authentic
Happiness” site mentioned immediately above.

3-4 : Not particularly happy or unhappy. A score of 3.5

would be an exact numerical average of happy and
unhappy responses. Some of the exercises mentioned
just above have been tested in scientific studies and
have been shown to make people lastingly happier.
4 : Somewhat happy or moderately happy. Satisfied.
This is what the average person scores.

4-5 : Rather happy; pretty happy. Check other score

ranges for some of my suggestions.

5-6 : Very happy. Being happy has more benefits than

just feeling good. It’s correlated with benefits like
health, better marriages, and attaining your goals.
Check back – I’ll be writing a post about this topic
soon.

6 : Too happy. Yes, you read that right. Recent

research seems to show that there’s an optimal level of
happiness for things like doing well at work or school,
or for being healthy, and that being “too happy” may
be associated with lower levels of such things.

Reference

Hills, P., & Argyle, M. (2002). The Oxford Happiness

Questionnaire: a compact scale for the measurement of
psychological well-being. Personality and Individual
Differences, 33, 1073–1082.
I’ve used “don’t” rather than the more staid and formal “do not” in the
phrasing of the questions above; I decided to give preference to my own
sense of what is more natural and conversational in American English.
(Remember that the questionnaire was developed in England.) I’ve also
added the phrase “(find time for),” which psychology researcher Sonja
Lyubomirsky uses for clarification in question 18.

Note: Michael Argyle died in 2002. If you would like to

contact Peter Hills, you can email him at p_r_hills “AT”
hotmail “DOT” com (seems to be outdated) or contact
him by telephone/fax in the UK: Tel.: +44-1235-521-
077; fax: +44-1235-520-067.
—

There is a problem with the comments below. None of

the early comments are showing up since an upgrade a
few days ago. Here’s one example, a comment from
me:
Dr. Steve Wright says:

The highest score you can get on an item is a 6, and the lowest a 1. If you add up all your scores
and divide by the number of questions (29 questions), you’d get an average score for all the
questions. The highest possible average would be 6, the lowest possible would be 1. Right in the
middle would be 3.5, so you might think that’s what the average person would get, but this is just
a raw score. In fact, other studies show that people are generally somewhat happy on average. So
it may not be surprising to hear that the average score on the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire is
right around a 4, which is essentially what you got (since you got 3.9 out of 6).

Rather than compare yourself to other people, it’s probably more meaningful to compare your
score now to your score later, and see if there’s a change. Some of the exercises on this site have
been shown in scientific studies to make a lasting, positive impact on happiness. You might want
to try some of them (I’ll be adding more), and see if they work for you. A few gratitude exercises
are already on the site:

*Gratitude Journal & Gratitude Lists

*Gratitude Visit

Written by Dr. Steve Wright on October 17th, 2008

Related Articles:

 Sonja Lyubomirsky and the How of Happiness

 First step: What do you really want?
 Life Satisfaction – measure yours
 Three components of meaningful work

Posted in Perspective

Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own
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32 Comments so far ↓

1. Arvind Ramanujam says:

October 12, 2009 at 3:59 pm

Hello Dr.Steve,

Thanks for the questionnaire. I scored 3.8 and I

guess it means I’m as happy as an average person.
Presently, I’m recovering from depression. The result
matches my own experiential perception of my
happiness state. I intend to keep track of my
progress with the help of the questionnaire. Thanks
once again for the free service.

2. Yiasemina Ioannidou says:

October 18, 2009 at 12:32 pm

Hi,

I tried to e-mail Peter Hills in order to get a

permission to use the questionnaire but the e-mail
delivery failed. Is there an alternative address I could
use?

3. Dr. Steve Wright says:

October 20, 2009 at 1:18 pm

Yes, I had the same experience when I tried to email

Peter Hills. I’m afraid I don’t have any other contact
information. I will try a couple other avenues and will
post the results here, but please check back because
I may not be able to do it (or get results) right away.

4. Mississauga says:
October 24, 2009 at 12:47 am

I am from Mississauga, Ontario (right next to

Toronto)and I got 2.5. Funny, multiply that by ten
and you have my age. I would have scored lower
 except for some strange reason I can laugh at things
even when I feel bad. I have borderline personality
disorder and an eating disorder. I will have to take
this test again, I am going to the hospital soon for
my ED and would like to see how it changes when I
am done.

5. Simon says:
October 24, 2009 at 7:26 pm

OK I got 3.86

But the question has got to be, what made me search

for such a test, something is surely not right if I’m
asking myself if I’m happy or not?

But at least I’ve found out I’m happier than I

thought, and when I’m not considering the level of
my happiness, I’m sure it will be higher!

Good times are coming, and for you too, if you give it
time, even if you got a low score 🙂

6. Janhavi says:
October 26, 2009 at 6:26 am

Hello Babar,

I just read your comment. I’m also studying the

influence of Locus of Control on Happiness. I was
wondering if you could tell me a little more about
your research, the scales you used, etc.

Thanks,

Janhavi

7. Christian says:
November 1, 2009 at 2:45 pm
 Hmm, I scored 1.5, but I’m absolutely not surprised
about this outcome.
And I’m also aware that I have to do something
about it. So, just another affirmation, but
nevertheless thanks for publishing this short
questionnaire.
Cheers,
Chris

8. Connie says:
November 9, 2009 at 4:55 pm

I got a 5.34 and I think that fits for me, I am a super

happy person. My motto is to Live a more balanced
and joyful life. Whenever I am feeling a little down, I
make myself a gratitude list to see what wonderful
things I actually have going for me and that puts
everything else into perspective (a positive one!).

9. lou says:
November 10, 2009 at 9:58 am

Well I got a 2.89 so I guess It could be worse. The

main question is, HOW do you become happier?
There’s loads of books on the subject that harp on
and on but none tell actually answer the question you
really want answered, HOW.

10. Dr. Steve Wright says:

November 13, 2009 at 12:11 am

There are a lot of books, and many of the ones

written in recent years are by experts who back up
their ideas with empirical research. Naturally they
want to give some background on how we know what
we know, and most of them are good at making that
part interesting. But most of them also make a point
of telling you HOW to be happier.
 Tal Ben-Shahar, professor for the most popular class
at Harvard, wrote the book Happier, and subtitled it
“Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting
Fulfillment.” There are exercises throughout the book
that tell you exactly what to do.

University of California professor Sonja

Lyubomirsky wrote her book, The How of Happiness:
A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want,
specifically as a how-to guide to becoming happier.
Check out my blog entry about it.

And Martin Seligman, founder of the modern positive

psychology movement, gives you lots of tools to
improve your approach to your life satisfaction,
including specific interventions like the gratitude
visit in his book, Authentic Happiness: Using the New
Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for
Lasting Fulfillment.

11. Angelia2041 says:

November 13, 2009 at 2:24 pm

Hi Dr. Steve, Thanks for the questionnaire and

explanation. I got 4.1.

And i know i can change my old habits and i hope to

be a more open and sociable, happy and confident
person. Certainly, life is sometimes out of control. It’s
not easy to find my targeted career, and a more
stable and meaningful life. I guess that’s why the
aged person can be happier than the young according
to Wikipedia info. From this list, i got to know how to
change in some ways — healthier, happier. Thank
you.

12. Ingrid says:

November 16, 2009 at 4:40 pm

I’m curious, Dr. Steve ~ what is your score?

13. Dkross says:
November 16, 2009 at 10:49 pm

I scored 2.2Θ. Sad but true.:-D

14. Dr. Steve Wright says:

November 28, 2009 at 8:07 pm

Ingrid,

I took the questionnaire myself and scored pretty

high on happiness, but I don’t remember the exact
number. I looked for it since you asked, but
apparently I didn’t write it down. I plan to take it
again when I have a chance, and I’ll post my score
here after I do.

15. siva says:

December 3, 2009 at 12:21 pm

dear doc…
I’m impressed with this kind questionnaire… am
searching for something to help my friends be
happier in the workplace… it would be appreciated if
you can give me any ideas on it as an eye opener.
regards, siva.

16. anthony says:

December 23, 2009 at 10:12 am

Aristotle writes about happiness in the nichomachaen

ethics i think; jill, you might be interested.

17. Debra says:

December 28, 2009 at 10:18 pm

THAT GAVE ME A LOT TO THINK ABOUT. ALSO HAPPY

THAT MY 3.72 MEANS (FOR ME) THAT I’M ABOUT
 AVERAGE. EVEN THAT IS ENCOURAGING AT THIS
MOMENT!

18. Betim says:

January 3, 2010 at 4:47 pm

The results that I got from this questionnaire

matched with my state of happiness that I believe I
currently have, which is good.

One thing that I noticed is that individual questions

are highly correlated with the overall happiness, so
the answers may be biased towards achieving the
state of happiness that he/she believes he/she has.

I am not sure if there are questionnaires that are

more complex, so that the subject can’t predict how
individual answers affect the overall result. A
pessimistic or optimistic subject can predict the
target result based on individual questions, and in
this way the answers may be tweaked so that the
target result is achieved.

19. Dr. Steve Wright says:

January 8, 2010 at 11:10 pm

Betim, you raise a couple of good points.

Can people’s actual level of happiness be different

from the level of happiness they think they have? Or
is the person him/herself the best judge of his/her
own internal state of happiness? Is happiness the
same as subjective well-being? I think most
psychologists are not ready to try to draw these
distinctions. At the very least, they would be hesitant
at this point to assert that we had the means to do so
with any scientific rigor at present. So currently a
questionnaire like this that asks questions
straightforwardly and somewhat transparently (and
 expects that people will just answer simply and
honestly) serves its purpose.

I have conducted research using questionnaires that

took a more complex and indirect approach, just as
you suggest, i.e., the Sense of Community Index
based on Hogge’s lens model. But in that case the
underlying theoretical model was explicitly more
complex, Sense of Community being theorized as
consisting of four discrete elements. When the
questions are intended simply to combine to get at a
single scalar construct without such complications,
each question’s being highly correlated with that
construct is not inappropriate.

20. MIC THO says:

January 15, 2010 at 8:32 pm

A friend asked me to send him some comments on

how to be happy. To do this I needed two things: 1)
his definition of happiness, and 2) to see if my idea of
how happy I am would match this test score. Thank
you for sharing your knowledge with all of us. Mickey

21. hanna says:

January 17, 2010 at 3:06 am

hello sir,

your response was very appreciated by me….

its ok if u don’t have an interpretation,
but i want to thank you for the efforts you made in
responding to my mail and comment.

i had already consulted my adviser about that

problem, and fortunately we found a way to interpret
the scores.
thanks also for the info of validity and reliability.
these are all appreciated by us sir.
 thank you very much,,,
more power to you sir…

hanna

22. Yesim Jensen says:

February 6, 2010 at 3:37 am

Dear Sir Wright,

I found your test very interesting, for today I got

3.1379 🙂
I have intention to follow your page.

Thanks.

Yesim

23. Rachael White says:

February 13, 2010 at 8:13 pm

I got 4.65 🙂 yaaaay!! I guess my life is going pretty

well lol, Love and Hugs Xx

24. Kerry says:

February 24, 2010 at 12:32 am

Came here through Wikipedia. I usually feel pretty

“content” or unhappy, but I actually felt myself being
kind of proud of myself while going through your
questions… like it was dawning on me that I’m really
not all that unhappy. Your test actually made me feel
happier.

I didn’t score extremely high, but I’m pretty happy

that I’m not a depressed “loser” that sometimes I
think I am. Really weird how this self-image can be
proven wrong when one actually thinks about the
actual circumstances.
 Anyway, I’m in a dark period of my life right now. I
know full well in the past I wouldn’t even be on this
page (I’ve been unquestionably happy in the past…
then again, maybe I wasn’t!).

25. Em says:
March 28, 2010 at 4:28 pm

I got a 2.3 which is better than a one I suppose.

I thought you were my professor because his name is
Dr. Steve Wright as well. Eerie.

26. Dr. Steve Wright says:

April 9, 2010 at 3:35 pm

[Here’s another early comment I made (on August

17, 2009) which isn’t being displayed above right
now because of a glitch:]

Jill, you’ve raise some important issues. Right in the

middle of them is the basic question “What is
happiness?”

After thinking about it awhile, I’ve realized this is a

better topic for its own blog entry (or even a journal
article) than a quick response here.

But let me mention one point. There seem to be two

main meanings of happiness. One is happiness as a
transitory emotion, a feeling. There are researchers
who seem to think this is all there is, and would
define a happy life as nothing more than a series of
emotionally “up” moments.

Another meaning has a stronger cognitive

component, and involves memory and evaluation.
When a mother says her children have been her joy
in life, or when a guy with a melancholy or crabby
disposition looks back with great satisfaction and
 says his life was wonderful and that he’s happy, do
we disbelieve them?

Researchers have not yet come to an agreement

about this dichotomy. They’re still quite a ways from
being able to shed much light on most of the big
questions. What’s really known scientifically advances
slowly.

In the meantime, reflect, meditate, be mindful,

search your heart for what’s really important, and
live life to the fullest.

27. Jessica says:

April 19, 2010 at 11:37 am

This was very interesting. I scored a 4.9 which I feel

is about accurate for me. And I’m happy with the
results, actually. I do feel that I’m a happy person.
Not too happy, but overall happy and content.

28. Daisy says:

April 20, 2010 at 7:11 am

Like a few other people I found through my scores

that I wasn’t as unhappy as I perceived (I scored 3.6,
pretty average), which amazed me because I have
felt so down in the dumps for months, that I was
worried I was depressed (but of course too down to
be diagnosed).
This rather simple questionnaire has shown me that
there is still a bit of the happy old me still in there.
Now that I feel it still there, I can use the suggested
techniques to be that happy, fulfilled person again.
Thank you Dr Steve Wright

29. Robyn Bebop says:

May 26, 2010 at 1:27 am
 I scored 4.034 which made me a little happy ; ) but
did not surprise me. I have had lots of ups and
downs, death, divorce, depression, dependence,
disease (that last one was actually pretty good – a
large brain tumor which, once dug out of my cranium
– made me feel MUCH better and also proved how
many people cared about me! heh!) I had a whole
new outlook on life too. Bad things can be good in
the end y’know. I have a loving family – that is very
important. I also get anger out of my system, not let
it linger and fester..I just have my own little freak out
and vent like mad and expel the bad feelings. My
hubby listens & helps with advice and still loves me. I
also LOVE to have a huge laugh (usually at my own
expense) and that is better than anything! I was very
down at a few points but there is a way out and hang
in there if you feel bummed out, people. Get some
help…it’s true you can be happy again. Love, Robyn

30. monik says:

May 27, 2010 at 4:28 am

I got 3.62. That means I am a little bit more happy

than I believed until now. Thanks for this quiz.

31. ward says:

July 13, 2010 at 8:50 pm

Dr. Steve,
I felt “unsatisfied” in general. I googled “happiness”
expecting to see the usual dribble of the web. I was
pleasantly surprised by your little test and my
resulting score of 3.37. Actually made me “feel”
better. Your site does not seem to be copyrighted.
Would you grant me permission to add a link and/or
banner from my site to your site?
Ward

32. Dr. Steve Wright says:

July 15, 2010 at 3:43 pm
 I’m happy this page was beneficial to you.

1. There is a copyright notice in the bottom right

corner of each page (in small print). It of course
doesn’t apply to the questionnaire itself (which was
designed by Michael Argyle and Peter Hills) or to
other material I’m quoting on other pages throughout
the site.

2. I would like to make this material available to, and

helpful to, as many people as possible, so I’m happy
to approve – and would appreciate – your adding a
link and/or banner from your site to my site.

3. Another good resource besides this test and some

of the other material on this site is another site run
by the people at the Positive Psychology Center at
the University of Pennsylvania. They have quite a few
related psychological tests you can take
online: http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.ed
u/questionnaires.aspx

 SELECTED ARTICLES
o List of personal strengths
o Three strategies for being happier at work or school
o "In the zone": enjoyment, creativity, and the nine
elements of "flow"
o Positive Psychology courses
o Gratitude leads to psychological and physical well-
being
o Eight ways gratitude boosts happiness
o Life Satisfaction - measure yours
o Oxford Happiness Questionnaire
o How to be rich and happy
o Can money buy happiness?
 o Sense of community
o Risk and resilience in adolescent development:
online simulation
o Positive Psychology Center, University of
Pennsylvania (link)


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