The social contingency of momentary subjective well-being

Robb B. Rutledge (), Archy O. de Berker, Svenja Espenhahn, Peter Dayan and Raymond J. Dolan
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Robb B. Rutledge: Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research
Archy O. de Berker: Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research
Svenja Espenhahn: University College London
Peter Dayan: Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, University College London
Raymond J. Dolan: Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Although social comparison is a known determinant of overall life satisfaction, it is not clear how it affects moment-to-moment variation in subjective emotional state. Using a novel social decision task combined with computational modelling, we show that a participant’s subjective emotional state reflects not only the impact of rewards they themselves receive, but also the rewards received by a social partner. Unequal outcomes, whether advantageous or disadvantageous, reduce average momentary happiness. Furthermore, the relative impacts of advantageous and disadvantageous inequality on momentary happiness at the individual level predict a subject’s generosity in a separate dictator game. These findings demonstrate a powerful social influence upon subjective emotional state, where emotional reactivity to inequality is strongly predictive of altruism in an independent task domain.

Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms11825

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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11825

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