Life Satisfaction and Affect: Why Do these SWB Measures Correlate Differently with Material Goods and Freedom?

Review of Philosophy and Psychology:1-16 (forthcoming)
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Abstract

Two different types of subjective well-being (SWB) measures exhibit a remarkable difference in their correlations with people’s circumstances. The life satisfaction method shows relatively a strong correlation with income and material conveniences while affective measures are more tightly linked with freedom. Why is this so? To explain this difference I examine the cognitive mechanisms underlying these measures by means of dual process theory. This theory identifies two broad categories of cognition. One is Type 1: fast, intuitive, automatic and autonomous. The other is Type 2: slow, deliberate and under conscious control. (They are also known as System 1 and System 2). I argue that in our normal decision making there is a division of labor between these mechanisms. Type 2 is more focused on making choices, comparing material goods and tradeoffs between them, while Type 1 is more oriented at the freedom that is necessary to make those choices.

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Dual-Process Theories of Higher Cognition Advancing the Debate.Jonathan Evans & Keith E. Stanovich - 2013 - Perspectives on Psychological Science 8 (3):223-241.
Homeostasis, species, and higher taxa.Richard Boyd - 1999 - In Robert Andrew Wilson, Species: New Interdisciplinary Essays. MIT Press. pp. 141-85.
Happiness.Dan Haybron - forthcoming - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
How to Define Emotions Scientifically.Andrea Scarantino - 2012 - Emotion Review 4 (4):358-368.

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