著者

竹村 幸祐 佐藤 剛介

出版者

心理学評論刊行会

雑誌

心理学評論 (ISSN:03861058)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.55, no.1, pp.47-63, 2012

---

As reviewed in other articles in this special issue, many cross-cultural studies have revealed cultural variation in several aspects of happiness (e. g.. predictors of happiness). Although these studies have contributed greatly to revealing how processes of happiness differ across societies, why they differ remains a puzzle. The current paper is aimed at introducing an emerging perspective called the socio-ecological approach, which emphasizes environmental (physical and societal) factors, and attempts to identify underlying mechanisms of observed cultural differences. In previous studies based on the socio-ecological approach, the effects of environmental factors, including pathogen prevalence, relational mobility, urbanity , and climate, were examind through several methodologies such as cross-regional comparisons within a country and multilevel analysis. We review evidence that the socio-ecological environment affects how some psychological and behavioral tendencies influence happiness. We discuss how the socio-ecological approach helps to explain various cultural differences, and theorize the relationship between happiness and culture.