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The scientific value of numerical measures of human feelings
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Kaiser, Caspar and Oswald, Andrew J. (2022) The scientific value of numerical measures of human feelings. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119 (42). e2210412119. doi:10.1073/pnas.2210412119 ISSN 0027-8424.
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2210412119
Abstract
Human feelings measured in integers (my happiness is an 8 out of 10, my pain 2 out of 6) have no objective scientific basis. They are “made-up” numbers on a scale that does not exist. Yet such data are extensively collected—despite criticism from, especially, economists—by governments and international organizations. We examine this paradox. We draw upon longitudinal information on the feelings and decisions of tens of thousands of randomly sampled citizens followed through time over four decades in three countries (n = 700,000 approximately). First, we show that a single feelings integer has greater predictive power than does a combined set of economic and social variables. Second, there is a clear inverse relationship between feelings integers and subsequent get-me-out-of-here actions (in the domain of neighborhoods, partners, jobs, and hospital visits). Third, this feelings-to-actions relationship takes a generic form, is consistently replicable, and is fairly close to linear in structure. Therefore, it seems that human beings can successfully operationalize an integer scale for feelings even though there is no true scale. How individuals are able to achieve this is not currently known. The implied scientific puzzle—an inherently cross-disciplinary one—demands attention.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||||||
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Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Behavioural Science Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Emotions , Emotions -- Measurement, Well-being -- Economic aspects, Economic indicators | ||||||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | ||||||||||||
Publisher: | National Academy of Sciences | ||||||||||||
ISSN: | 0027-8424 | ||||||||||||
Official Date: | 3 October 2022 | ||||||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 119 | ||||||||||||
Number: | 42 | ||||||||||||
Number of Pages: | 7 | ||||||||||||
Article Number: | e2210412119 | ||||||||||||
DOI: | 10.1073/pnas.2210412119 | ||||||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 7 September 2022 | ||||||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 5 October 2022 | ||||||||||||
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
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