FAQ > About Subjective Well-Being (Happiness and Life Satisfaction), by Dr. Diener > Q: What is the most interesting group you have studied?
A: My son, Robert Biswas-Diener, is collecting data among the Amish, and they are very different from most western respondents. We have collected data among prostitues and the homeless in the slums of Calcutta, as well as among the homeless in California. We have some data from the Masai in Africa, and are planning a larger project among the Masai. We are planning to collect data from the Greenlanders, the indigenous people from Northern Greenland, in 2002. We also have data on less "exotic" samples from a larger number of nations.
We have learned many interesting things from the "small cultures." For instance, the Masai (in contrast to Americans) are extremely satisfied with their physical appearance. The thing that the California homeless miss most is not physical things such as good housing, but close and trusting friendships. Even though the Calcutta homeless are worse off physically than the California homeless (e.g., have less food), they are not as dissatisfied with life because they are more likely to have a strong social network. The Amish appear to be busy people who are rarely bored. For the Amish, satisfaction is in part a statement about their relationship to God. And so forth; from each of these groups we have learned important new things.
Last updated on September 14, 2007 by Dr. Walt