The Cantril’s Ladder Makes Individuals Focus on Wealth more than Well-Being
(2022) PSYP01 20221Department of Psychology
- Abstract
- The Cantril Ladder is one of the dominant cross-cultural well-being instruments, in which respondents evaluate their overall life by seeing a ladder that represents their worst (bottom) to best (top) possible life. Evidence suggests that the Cantril Ladder relates more to income than to (emotional) well-being, but its structure has rarely been validated. Over two studies, I tested the impact of Cantril’s ladder symbol and focus, by comparing the impact of including versus excluding the ladder symbol (Study 1, N = 692), and comparing the focus on “best/worst possible life” with the “happiest/unhappiest possible life” and “most/least harmonious life” (Study 2, N = 890). In both studies, adult participants from the UK described their views of... (More)
- The Cantril Ladder is one of the dominant cross-cultural well-being instruments, in which respondents evaluate their overall life by seeing a ladder that represents their worst (bottom) to best (top) possible life. Evidence suggests that the Cantril Ladder relates more to income than to (emotional) well-being, but its structure has rarely been validated. Over two studies, I tested the impact of Cantril’s ladder symbol and focus, by comparing the impact of including versus excluding the ladder symbol (Study 1, N = 692), and comparing the focus on “best/worst possible life” with the “happiest/unhappiest possible life” and “most/least harmonious life” (Study 2, N = 890). In both studies, adult participants from the UK described their views of the scales and reported their preferred scale score. The preferred Cantril Ladder score was significantly lower than the preferred scores of the three versions without a ladder (Wilcoxon tests, all p < .001, r = .18 - .19). Data-driven word plots based on Natural Language Processing techniques suggest that individuals' descriptions of the top of the ladder relate more to wealth (including words like “owning” and “wealthy”) compared to when the ladder was excluded, or when the scale described harmony or happiness. Individuals' descriptions of the most harmonious life relate more to well-being and relationships than the other scales (including words like “contentment”, “happiness”, “community” and “relationships”). I conclude with suggesting caution when interpreting the Cantril Ladder as a well-being measure. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9091265
- author
- Nilsson, August LU
- supervisor
-
- Oscar Kjell LU
- organization
- course
- PSYP01 20221
- year
- 2022
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- cantril ladder, well-being, wealth, harmony, natural language processing
- language
- English
- id
- 9091265
- date added to LUP
- 2022-07-04 10:16:57
- date last changed
- 2022-07-04 10:16:57
@misc{9091265, abstract = {{The Cantril Ladder is one of the dominant cross-cultural well-being instruments, in which respondents evaluate their overall life by seeing a ladder that represents their worst (bottom) to best (top) possible life. Evidence suggests that the Cantril Ladder relates more to income than to (emotional) well-being, but its structure has rarely been validated. Over two studies, I tested the impact of Cantril’s ladder symbol and focus, by comparing the impact of including versus excluding the ladder symbol (Study 1, N = 692), and comparing the focus on “best/worst possible life” with the “happiest/unhappiest possible life” and “most/least harmonious life” (Study 2, N = 890). In both studies, adult participants from the UK described their views of the scales and reported their preferred scale score. The preferred Cantril Ladder score was significantly lower than the preferred scores of the three versions without a ladder (Wilcoxon tests, all p < .001, r = .18 - .19). Data-driven word plots based on Natural Language Processing techniques suggest that individuals' descriptions of the top of the ladder relate more to wealth (including words like “owning” and “wealthy”) compared to when the ladder was excluded, or when the scale described harmony or happiness. Individuals' descriptions of the most harmonious life relate more to well-being and relationships than the other scales (including words like “contentment”, “happiness”, “community” and “relationships”). I conclude with suggesting caution when interpreting the Cantril Ladder as a well-being measure.}}, author = {{Nilsson, August}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{The Cantril’s Ladder Makes Individuals Focus on Wealth more than Well-Being}}, year = {{2022}}, }