Positive emotions broaden individuals’ momentary thought-action repertoires, and builds their personal resources.

Why Contentment?

Poorly-defined and under-researched

Emotion induced/released in relaxation, meditation, happiness/ flow-states

Useful in positive-emotion studies

Self-regulation studies

What is contentment?

State of happiness and satisfaction: he found contentment in living a simple life in the country (Oxford dictionary)Instead of judging or second-guessing yourself, you are satisfied to just beContentment feels peaceful as the moonlight at the bottom of a stream, tranquil amid constant change (Johnson & Ruhl, 1999).

•William James (1840 – 1910)

“...the bodily changes follow directly the perception of the exciting fact and that our feeling of the same changes as they occur is the emotion” (James, 1890).

•Frederickson (2010)

Serenity/Contentment

Context: safe, certain, low effort Tendency: savour & integrate Outcome: modify self- & world-views

Inspires more of a mental state rather than an action state.

Proposed autonomic and cognitive correlates of contentmentPhysical correlates of contentment:

Cognitive correlates of contentment

Body relaxesHeart rateBody-tensionMuscles relaxationBlood flow TemperatureImmunes system strengthensEEG synchronisation/changesphysiological equilibrium

Emotion- changesStress decreases (coping)Can “hear” body symptoms (awareness increases)Feel content to be in this moment

Current Contentment Measures

The Contentment with Life Assessment (Lavallee, Hatch, Michalos, & Mckinley, 2006).

The Generalised Contentment Scale (Hudson, 1986)

physiological correlates

State contentment

Measuring Contentment

Create and statistically validate a contentment measure

The Measure

38 initial questions

Life satisfaction + Current cognitive/emotional satisfaction + Physiological state of contentment

Contentment with Life Assessment, Generalised Contentment Scale

10 X UoA colleagues

Participants

352 ppt’s UoA

Between 17 and 59 (M = 21.96 SD = 6.60)

78.3% females /21.7% males

Euro (n = 188), Asian (n = 78); Indian (n = 21); Maori (n = 18); P.I. (n = 9), other ethnicity (n = 46)

Table 1. Summary of exploratory factor analysis results for the Contentment Scale questionnaire (N =302)Varimax Rotated Component Matrix Rotated Factor Loadings

I am calm 0.26 0.74I feel love towards myself 0.71 0.31My shoulders are relaxed 0.15 0.75At this time I feel in control of my life 0.75 0.3All of my needs for contentment have been taken care of 0.69 0.26I feel content 0.77 0.38My body feels tense 0.80I feel stressed out 0.32 0.73I feel unfulfilled with what I am achieving in life 0.80 0.14I feel unhappy because there are other things I would like to be doing in my life

0.80 0.10

Eigenvalues 3.64 2.72

% of variance 36.36 27.15

α 0.88 0.80

Note. Primary factor loadings above .40 are in bold

Table 1. Summary of exploratory factor analysis results for the Contentment Scale questionnaire (N =302)Varimax Rotated Component Matrix Rotated Factor Loadings

I am calm 0.74I feel love towards myself 0.71My shoulders are relaxed 0.75At this time I feel in control of my life 0.75All of my needs for contentment have been taken care of 0.69I feel content 0.77My body feels tense 0.80I feel stressed out 0.73I feel unfulfilled with what I am achieving in life 0.80I feel unhappy because there are other things I would like to be doing in my life

0.80

Eigenvalues 3.64 2.72

% of variance 36.36 27.15

α 0.88 0.80

Note. Primary factor loadings above .40 are in bold

Table 1. Summary of exploratory factor analysis results for the Contentment Scale questionnaire (N =302)Varimax Rotated Component Matrix Rotated Factor Loadings

General Cognitive Appraisal

State Tension Appraisal

I am calm 0.74I feel love towards myself 0.71My shoulders are relaxed 0.75At this time I feel in control of my life 0.75All of my needs for contentment have been taken care of

0.69

I feel content 0.77My body feels tense 0.80I feel stressed out 0.73I am unfulfilled with what I am achieving in life 0.80I feel unhappy because there are other things I would like to be doing in my life

0.80

Eigenvalues 3.64 2.72

% of variance 36.36 27.15

Α 0.88 0.80

Note. Primary factor loadings above .40 are in bold

Final 10 Questions for State Contentment Measure

General Cognitive Appraisal State Tension Appraisal

1. I feel content

2. At this time I feel in control of my life

3. I feel unhappy because there are other things I would like to be doing in my life

4. I feel love towards myself

5. All of my needs for contentment have been taken care of

6. I feel unfulfilled with what I am achieving in my life

1. My shoulders are relaxed

2. My body feels tense

3. I feel stressed out

4. I am calm

Table 1

Correlation Between Contentment Measure Subscales After Controlling For Social Desirability

     

Subscale General Cognitive Appraisal

State Tension Appraisal 0.535**    

Note **p <.001

Testing the Contentment Measure

Convergent and Discriminant validity of the State Contentment Measure

83 ppts (UoA) Between19 and 61 (M = 27.79 SD = 7.41) 80.7% female/16.9% male

Scales correlated with CM

Depression, Anxiety, Stress ScaleOxford Happiness QuestionnaireMindfulness Awareness Attention ScaleSatisfaction with Life ScaleContentment with Life Assessment scaleGeneral Contentment Scale

Correlations Between Measures after controlling for Social Desirability

Measures

Depression, Anxiety, Stress Survey

Oxford Happiness Questionnaire

Mindfulness Awareness Attention Scale

Satisfaction With Life Scale

Contentment Measure

-0.637* 0.706* 0.497* 0.652*

General Cognitive Appraisal Subscale

-0.655* 0.709* 0.444* 0.706*

State Tension Appraisal Subscale

-0.435* 0.530* 0.449* 0.416*

Note. *p < .001

Correlations Between Measures after controlling for Social Desirability

MeasuresContentment with Life Assessment scale General Contentment Scale

Contentment Measure 0.834* 0.865*

General Cognitive Appraisal Subscale

0.891* 0.848*

State Tension Appraisal Subscale

0.440* 0.592*

Note. *p < .001

Discussion

A 10-item contentment measure (CM) was created with two distinct subscales

Reliable validated Short (easily add it to larger questionnaire

packages) State Physiological

Add it to...

Positive emotions studies

Mindful eating studies

Meditation studies

Flow and well-being studies

Limitations

Limited specific populationFurther testing needed on other populations

Questions

Can the measure predict physiological markers

Can the measure predict psychological well-being markers

A Potential Definition of Contentment?

Contentment is an active state of cognitive and physiological equilibrium

The State Contentment Measure (SCM; Taylor, 2013).

For permission to access the SCM (at no cost) please email either:g.owens@auckland.ac.nzt.taylor@auckland.ac.nz