Motivation and emotion/Book/2024/Subjective wellbeing heritability and changeability

Subjective wellbeing heritability and changeability:
To what extent is subjective well-being heritable or changeable?

Multimedia presentation (3 min)

Overview

Case Scenario Emily sits by herself in her room, flicking through pages on her family’s old photo album. Figure 1: Emily sitting in her room reminiscing and flicking through old photos of her and her family As she looks through old photos of herself with family and friends, she can’t help but notice how much happier she used to be - laughing and smiling with friends and family at different social events. However, recently, despite being in a supportive and consistently positive environment, Emily feels overwhelmed by a sense of anxiety and unease. To try and combat these negative feelings, Emily begins filling in her spare time with activities she's passionate about or enjoys. However, no matter how much she tries, her negative emotional state and feelings always seem one step ahead.

For centuries, psychology has sought to understand why and how happiness varies in some cases, like Emily's (see Case Scenario); Why in some cases, despite external and objective success, negative feelings and emotions are still overwhelmingly persistent. Is it possible subjective well-being (SWB) is rather caused by or at the hands of something bigger than environmental influences - something such as genetics? Or can SWB be shaped and intentionally manipulated through certain actions and explicit behaviours?

In recent years, studies have expanded upon the foundations of these initial studies and utilised relevant theoretical underpinnings to better investigate the relationship, or lack thereof, between SWB and genetics. To provide a better understanding of the current discussion, this chapter aims to explore and examine the complex interplay and specific dynamic shared between these two aspects of psychological research. This chapter aims to thoroughly inform and develop a comprehensive understanding of this relationship to provide an answer to the fundamental question of:

"To what extent is SWB heritable or changeable?"

To better facilitate learning endeavours throughout the chapter and a general understanding of the topic at hand, this question has been broken down into a series of focus questions. By the end of the chapter, thorough understanding should be developed regarding the main question and the smaller, sub-focus questions:

Focus Questions What does the research tell us about the role of genetics in subjective well-being? What are the components of subjective well-being? How can genetics be used to guide and support desired states of well-being? How can the influence of genetics on well-being be combatted?

Suggestions for this section: Engage the reader with a scenario, example, or case study, and an accompanying image Explain the problem and why it is important Outline how psychological science can help Present focus questions

Headings

• Aim for three to six main headings in between the Overview and Conclusion
• Sub-headings can also be used, but
  • avoid having sections with only one sub-heading
  • provide an introductory paragraph before breaking into sub-sections

Introduction

SWB:

According to Bartels (2015), the individual term 'well-being' is used to refer to and convey 'information regarding a broad range of behaviours' (p.138 ). This definition lays the basis for additional, context-specific definitions of well-being, where the meaning is applied to different fields of research, such as SWB. SWB is an umbrella term, used to discuss the differences in how quality of life is internally processed, evaluated and generally perceived (Dolan et al., 2008). This is then further broken down into three dimensions of SWB centred around variations between long and short-term periods, and positive and negative outcomes.

Three Dimensions of SWB

• Life Satisfaction (LS): Evaluation of one's life as a whole rather than specific aspects of such. Largely guided by an overall judgement about one's life compared against a personal perception of what suggests a 'good' life (Kozma, Stone and Stones, 2000).
• Positive Affect (PA): Similar to the focus of emotional well-being, PA relates to the presence and experience of positive emotions (happiness, joy, excitement, etc.) (Kozma, Stone and Stones, 2000).
• Negative Affect (NA): Conversely to PA, NA focuses on the frequency and experiences of negative emotions (sadness, anger, frustration, etc.) within and in relation to the perceived quality of one's life (Kozma, Stone and Stones, 2000).

Heritability

According to the National Cancer Institute (2024), 'heritability' refers to the 'proportion of variation in a population trait that can be attributed to inherited genetic factors (p. 1). Thus, it can be understood how heritability tests can make inferences about the relationship between certain genes and the presence or variability of associated traits. However, this should not be confused with the understanding that heritability infers the degree to which certain traits are genetically predetermined, but rather the extent to which the variance between certain traits can be attributed to genetics or environmental factors. To investigate this concept of passing down traits from one generation to another, scientists established a number of different methods to measure heritability. For decades, a growing body of research has suggested SWB may be influenced by greater factors than the environment. These studies refer to bodies of genetic research, wherein the findings reflect a potential link between SWB outcomes and genetic predispositions.

Test your knowledge What is meant by the term 'SWB' Subjective Well-being: an umbrella term used to discuss the differences in how quality of life is internally processed, evaluated and generally perceived Sentimental Well-being: a term that refers to the well-being of memory recall capacity Surrogate Well-being: a term that refers to the well-being of surrogate mothers during pregnancy

Research origins of SWB heritability

The Beginnings

The study of SWB and heritability is largely rooted in early psychological and genetic research. In the mid-late 1900s, scientists began applying specific genetic studies to disentangle and better understand the potential contributions of both environmental and genetic factors on SWB. First applications of genetic research began with behavioural genetics, integrating the focus of SWB into pre-existing genetic research focuses, such as twin studies.

Early Studies

• By the late 70s, scientists had acknowledged the presence of genetics in the Between 1980-1990, twin studies became a widely practiced method for investigating and uncovering the heritability of SWB. Research conducted by Tellegen, et al. (1988) provided significant contributions to understanding the genetic basis of personality traits in relation to SWB.
• From this, scientists like Turkheimer and Gottesman (1991) began to argue the notion that the behavioural traits of humans are entirely heritable, which at the time was a bold statement to make.
• As research continued throughout the early 2000s, advancements in research techniques allowed researchers to further their own investigations and expand upon the earlier research both directly and indirectly related to SWB heritability

Contemporary findings

• Recent genetic/psychology studies have continued to build upon and refine the findings of previous and early research.

Key points

• Provide at least three bullet-points per headingʔ and sub-heading, including for the Overview and Conclusion
• Include key citations

Figures

Figure 2. Example of an image with a descriptive caption.

• Use figures to illustrate concepts, add interest, and to serve as examples
• Figures can show photos, diagrams, graphs, video, audio, etcetera
• Embed figures throughout the chapter, including the Overview section
• Figures should be captioned (using Figure #. and a caption). Use captions to explain the relevance of the image to the text/
• Wikimedia Commons provides a library of embeddable images
• Images can also be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons if they are openly licensed
• Refer to each figure at least once in the main text (e.g., see Figure 2)

Learning features

Interactive learning features help to bring online book chapters to life and can be embedded throughout the chapter.

Scenarios

• Scenarios or case studies describe applied/real-world examples of concepts in action
• Case studies can be real or fictional
• A case study could be split into multiple boxes throughout a chapter (e.g., to illustrate different theories or stages)
• It is often helpful to present case studies using feature boxes.

Feature boxes

• Important content can be highlighted in a feature box. But don't overuse feature boxes, otherwise they lose their effect.
• Consider using feature boxes for:
  • Scenarios, case studies, or examples
  • Focus questions
  • Tips
  • Quiz questions
  • Take-home messages

Links

• Wikipedia link:
  • Subjective wellbeing
• Wikiversity link:
  • Gratitude and subjective wellbeing

Tables

• Use to organise and summarise information
• As with figures, tables should be captioned
• Refer to each table at least once in the main text (e.g., see Table 1)
• Example 3 x 3 tables which could be adapted

Table 1. Descriptive Caption Which Explains The Table and its Relevant to the Text - Johari Window Model

	Known to self	Not known to self
Known to others	Open area	Blind spot
Not known to others	Hidden area	Unknown

Quizzes

• Using one or two review questions per major section is usually better than a long quiz at the end
• Quiz conceptual understanding, rather than trivia
• Don't make quizzes too hard
• Different types of quiz questions are possible; see Quiz

Example simple quiz questions. Choose your answers and click "Submit":

1 Quizzes are an interactive learning feature:

	True
	False

2 Long quizzes are a good idea:

	True
	False

Conclusion

• The Conclusion is arguably the most important section
• Suggested word count: 150 to 330 words
• It should be possible for someone to only read the Overview and the Conclusion and still get a pretty good idea of the problem and what is known based on psychological science

Suggestions for this section: What is the answer to the sub-title question based on psychological theory and research? What are the answers to the focus questions? What are the practical, take-home messages? (Even for the topic development, have a go at the likely take-home message)

See also

Provide internal (wiki) links to the most relevant Wikiversity pages (esp. related motivation and emotion book chapters) and Wikipedia articles. Use these formats:

• Light triad (Book chapter, 2021)
• Collaborative authoring using wiki (Wikiversity)
• Self determination theory (Wikipedia)

Suggestions for this section: Present in alphabetical order Use sentence casing Include the source in parentheses

References

Bartels, M. (2015). 'Genetics of wellbeing and its components satisfaction with life, happiness, and quality of life: a review and meta-analysis of heritability studies', Behaviour Genetics, 45, 137-156.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-015-9713-y

Dolan, P., Peasgood, T., White, M. (2008). Do we really know what makes us happy? a review of the economic literature on the factors associated with subjective well-being', Journal of Economic Psychology, 29(1), 94-122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2007.09.001

Kozma, A., Stone, S., Stones, M. J. (2000). 'Stability in components and predictors of subjective well-being (SWB): implications for SWB structure.', Advances in Quality of Life Theory and Research, 4, 13-30. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4291-5_2

Miko, I. (2008). 'Gregor Mendel's principles of inheritance form the cornerstone of modern genetics. So just what are they?', Nature Education, 1(1), 134

Nes, R., Roysamb, E., Tambs, K., Harris, J., Reichborn-Kjennerud, T. (2006). 'Subjective well-being: genetic and environmental contributions to stability and change', Psychological Medicine, 36(7), 1033-1042. https://doi:10.1017/S0033291706007409

Tellegen, A., Lykken, D. T., Bouchard, T. J., Wilcox, K. J., Hertzog, C. (1988). 'Personality similarity in twins reared apart and together', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1031-1039. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1031

Turkheimer, E., Gottesman, I. (1991). 'is H2=0 a null hypothesis anymore', Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 14(3), 410-411. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X00070540

Suggestions for this section: Important aspects of APA style for references include: Wrap the set of references in the hanging indent template. Use "Edit source": {{Hanging indent|1= the full list of references}} Author surname, followed by a comma, then the author initials separated by full stops and spaces Year of publication in parentheses Title of work in lower case except first letter and proper names, ending in a full-stop Journal title in italics, volume number in italics, issue number in parentheses, first and last page numbers separated by an en-dash(–), followed by a full-stop Provide the full doi as a URL and working hyperlink The most common mistakes include: Incorrect capitalisation Incorrect italicisation Citing sources that weren't read or consulted

External links

• Australia's youth: Subjective wellbeing (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare - AIHW)
• Wellbeing: Health and subjective wellbeing (AIHW)

Suggestions for this section: Only select links to major external resources about the topic Present in alphabetical order Include the source in parentheses after the link