PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE This article was downloaded by: [Honnold Mudd Library] On: 9 March 2011 Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 918420803] Publisher Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37- 41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK The Journal of Positive Psychology Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t724921263 Beyond brands: Happy adolescents see the good in people Lan Nguyen Chaplina Wilson Bastosb Tina M. Lowreyc a Department of Marketing and Business Law, Villanova University, Villanova, PA, USA b Department of Marketing, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA c Department of Marketing, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA Online publication date: 20 October 2010 To cite this Article Chaplin, Lan Nguyen , Bastos, Wilson and Lowrey, Tina M.(2010) 'Beyond brands: Happy adolescents see the good in people', The Journal of Positive Psychology, 5: 5, 342 ��� 354 To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2010.507471 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2010.507471 Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.

The Journal of Positive Psychology Vol. 5, No. 5, September 2010, 342���354 Beyond brands: Happy adolescents see the good in people Lan Nguyen Chaplina*, Wilson Bastosb and Tina M. Lowreyc aDepartment of Marketing and Business Law, Villanova University, Villanova, PA, USA bDepartment of Marketing, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA cDepartment of Marketing, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA (Final version received 8 July 2010) How does happiness affect adolescents��� stereotypes of other people? Using a collage methodology with 60 adolescents aged 12���18, we find that happier adolescents hold more positive stereotypes of others compared to those who are less happy. We also find that happier adolescents are less likely to form impressions of people based on surface level cues such as the products and brands that people own. Finally, our results show that happier adolescents have a more nuanced view of others, (e.g., some cool kids wear expensive brands, but some shop at thrift stores), compared to their less happy counterparts, who tend to oversimplify their view of others (e.g., all cool kids wear expensive brands, all doctors drive a BMW). Keywords: adolescents stereotypes happiness social roles impression formation Introduction Happiness is becoming an increasingly popular topic of discussion. Arguably, happiness is the only aspect of our lives with real universal value. In fact, the field of positive psychology is revealing strong evidence that happiness brings us highly desirable life benefits, such as better health, longer life, successful relationships, success in work, and better mental health (see Seligman, 2002a for a review). A growing body of research is demonstrating that as we become happier, we essentially become better people. For example, as we become happier, we become more compassionate (Neff, Rude, & Kirkpatrick, 2007), more creative (Veenhoven, 1988), more energetic (Brebner, Donaldson, Kirby, & Ward, 1995), and more emo- tionally and physically healthy (Stack & Eshleman, 1998). We are also more likely to marry (Harker & Keltner, 2001), to engage in more social interactions (Berry & Hansen, 1996), and to have stronger social activities (Okun, Stock, Haring, & Witter, 1984). Most of the research thus far has focused on adult populations. We know significantly less about if and how happiness might bring adolescents similar desir- able social and psychological benefits. Given that adolescence is a time when social awareness is height- ened and daily social pressures mount, the ideal starting place in understanding the benefits of adoles- cents��� happiness would be to investigate if and how their levels of happiness play a role in how they navigate through their social worlds ��� more specifically, how do adolescents view and stereotype others? Understanding how they form stereotypes is important because making sense of different social crowds and fitting into the ���right��� ones are pivotal during adolescence. We look to the adult social judgment literature to guide our work. We know from Forgas and Moylan (1987) that one of the most important factors that influences adults��� social judgments is how they feel at the time of making judgments. However, to our knowledge, researchers have not investigated the rela- tionship between adolescents��� feelings (e.g., happy or sad) and adolescents��� perceptions and stereotypes of others. The purpose of this research is to examine how happiness influences adolescents��� perceptions and stereotypes of others. Specifically, we ask the following three questions: Does happiness influence the degree to which adolescents hold positive stereotypes of others? Does happiness influence the degree to which adoles- cents use surface-level cues such as products and brands to form stereotypes? Does happiness influence the degree to which adolescents hold rigid stereotypes? Conceptual overview What is happiness? Researchers have defined happiness as an overall sense that life is good (Myers, 1992) and that life contains many positive situations and emotions (Ahuvia, 2008). *Corresponding author. Email: lan.chaplin@villanova.edu ISSN 1743���9760 print/ISSN 1743���9779 online �� 2010 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2010.507471 http://www.informaworld.com