Happiness in the World · Episode 2 of 8 · 22 min
The Cantril Ladder: How One Question Measures Global Happiness
One survey question, asked of about a thousand people in more than 140 countries each year, decides which nation is called happiest. The episode traces the Cantril Ladder to Hadley Cantril, the Princeton psychologist behind the War of the Worlds panic study and wartime opinion research, through Gallup's World Poll, Bhutan's UN resolution, and the first World Happiness Report in 2012.
Who's who
- Hadley Cantril+3 more episodesPrinceton psychologist who invented the self-anchoring ladder scale
- F. P. KilpatrickCollaborator on the 1960 self-anchoring scaling method
- Lloyd A. FreeCantril's partner at the Institute for International Social Research
- George GallupFounder of the American Institute of Public Opinion
- Jim CliftonGallup chairman who launched the World Poll in 2005
- Jigmi Y. Thinley+1 more episodeBhutan's prime minister, sponsor of the 2011 UN happiness resolution
- Franklin D. Roosevelt+28 more episodesPresident served by Cantril's wartime opinion research
- John Helliwell+4 more episodesFounding editor of the World Happiness Report
Where it happens
- Princeton, New Jersey+2 more episodesWhere Cantril taught and Gallup founded his polling institute
- Bhutan+1 more episodeSponsor of the UN happiness resolution, absent from rankings since 2015
- United Nations, New YorkHosted the April 2012 wellbeing meeting
Timeline
- October 1938Orson Welles's War of the Worlds broadcast
- 1957-1963Cantril's fourteen-nation ladder surveys are fielded
- 1965The Pattern of Human Concerns published
- 2005Gallup World Poll launches
- July 2011UN adopts the Bhutan-sponsored happiness resolution
- April 2012First World Happiness Report presented at the UN
Still debated
Scholars argue the 1938 mass panic was largely a newspaper-made myth. The ladder may prime thoughts of money and status, and cultural response styles may shift scores. Single-place rank differences often fall within overlapping confidence intervals.
← PreviousWhy Mexico Ranks Happier Than the United StatesNext →The Six Factors Behind the World Happiness Report, Explained
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