Set Point

Stability of Happiness and Well-Being

Empirical evidence that has been interpreted as supporting set point theories has largely focused on the stability of well-being. For example, early evidence in support of set point theories was obtained in the 1970s and showed that (a) lottery winners and (b) those with spinal cord injuries reported similar levels of happiness as control groups. From this, it had been concluded that even such very rare or devastating life events—that often result in tremendous change of everyday life routines—do not have lasting effects on well-being. Two mechanisms have been proposed to explain why happiness and well-being should be relatively stable across the life span. First, heritability studies examining well-being in individuals with different degrees of similarity of genetic make-up (e.g., monozygotic vs. dizygotic twins) and environmental experiences (e.g., twins reared together vs. apart) came to the conclusion that a substantial proportion of individual differences could be explained by genetic factors. Therefore, it is possible that set points are (partially) hereditary. Second, individuals’ set points might be based on their personalities. Within the five-factor framework of personality, extroversion (i.e., the tendency to be outgoing, active, and energetic) and neuroticism (i.e., emotional instability, the tendency to experience negative affect) are two personality traits that have been consistently related to individual differences in well-being.

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