No Evidence for Differential Relations of Hedonic Well-Being and Eudaimonic Well-Being to Gene Expression: A Comment on Statistical Problems in Fredrickson et al. (2013)
In a study of the relation between well-being and gene expression, Fredrickson et al. (2013, 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 110' (33), 13684–13689) concluded that hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being have similar affective correlates but different gene...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
University of California Press
2017-04-01
|
Series: | Collabra: Psychology |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://www.collabra.org/articles/81 |
id |
doaj-9580604c3baa4c618877062f910f6f1c |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-9580604c3baa4c618877062f910f6f1c2020-11-24T22:50:47ZengUniversity of California PressCollabra: Psychology2474-73942017-04-013110.1525/collabra.8146No Evidence for Differential Relations of Hedonic Well-Being and Eudaimonic Well-Being to Gene Expression: A Comment on Statistical Problems in Fredrickson et al. (2013)Carol A. Nickerson0203 North Lynn Street #35, Champaign, IL 61820-3969In a study of the relation between well-being and gene expression, Fredrickson et al. (2013, 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 110' (33), 13684–13689) concluded that hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being have similar affective correlates but different gene transcriptional correlates in human immune cells. This comment addresses four statistical problems in Fredrickson et al.’s (2013) analyses. First, an idiosyncratic two-factor scoring rather than the documented and well-validated three-factor scoring was used for the instrument assessing well-being. Second, the analyses relating hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being to affect did not include the same variables as the analyses relating these two well-being variables to gene expression, invalidating any comparison between them. Third, hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being were highly correlated, resulting in untheorized and unrecognized suppression effects that accounted for their supposed differential relations with gene expression. Fourth, the method of computing p values for the one-sample 't' tests discarded information and violated the assumption of independence for those tests. These problems cast considerable doubt on the validity of Fredrickson et al.’s (2013) conclusions.https://www.collabra.org/articles/81factor analysisgene regulationregression analysissocial genomicsstatistical modelssuppressionwell-being |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Carol A. Nickerson |
spellingShingle |
Carol A. Nickerson No Evidence for Differential Relations of Hedonic Well-Being and Eudaimonic Well-Being to Gene Expression: A Comment on Statistical Problems in Fredrickson et al. (2013) Collabra: Psychology factor analysis gene regulation regression analysis social genomics statistical models suppression well-being |
author_facet |
Carol A. Nickerson |
author_sort |
Carol A. Nickerson |
title |
No Evidence for Differential Relations of Hedonic Well-Being and Eudaimonic Well-Being to Gene Expression: A Comment on Statistical Problems in Fredrickson et al. (2013) |
title_short |
No Evidence for Differential Relations of Hedonic Well-Being and Eudaimonic Well-Being to Gene Expression: A Comment on Statistical Problems in Fredrickson et al. (2013) |
title_full |
No Evidence for Differential Relations of Hedonic Well-Being and Eudaimonic Well-Being to Gene Expression: A Comment on Statistical Problems in Fredrickson et al. (2013) |
title_fullStr |
No Evidence for Differential Relations of Hedonic Well-Being and Eudaimonic Well-Being to Gene Expression: A Comment on Statistical Problems in Fredrickson et al. (2013) |
title_full_unstemmed |
No Evidence for Differential Relations of Hedonic Well-Being and Eudaimonic Well-Being to Gene Expression: A Comment on Statistical Problems in Fredrickson et al. (2013) |
title_sort |
no evidence for differential relations of hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being to gene expression: a comment on statistical problems in fredrickson et al. (2013) |
publisher |
University of California Press |
series |
Collabra: Psychology |
issn |
2474-7394 |
publishDate |
2017-04-01 |
description |
In a study of the relation between well-being and gene expression, Fredrickson et al. (2013, 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 110' (33), 13684–13689) concluded that hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being have similar affective correlates but different gene transcriptional correlates in human immune cells. This comment addresses four statistical problems in Fredrickson et al.’s (2013) analyses. First, an idiosyncratic two-factor scoring rather than the documented and well-validated three-factor scoring was used for the instrument assessing well-being. Second, the analyses relating hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being to affect did not include the same variables as the analyses relating these two well-being variables to gene expression, invalidating any comparison between them. Third, hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being were highly correlated, resulting in untheorized and unrecognized suppression effects that accounted for their supposed differential relations with gene expression. Fourth, the method of computing p values for the one-sample 't' tests discarded information and violated the assumption of independence for those tests. These problems cast considerable doubt on the validity of Fredrickson et al.’s (2013) conclusions. |
topic |
factor analysis gene regulation regression analysis social genomics statistical models suppression well-being |
url |
https://www.collabra.org/articles/81 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT carolanickerson noevidencefordifferentialrelationsofhedonicwellbeingandeudaimonicwellbeingtogeneexpressionacommentonstatisticalproblemsinfredricksonetal2013 |
_version_ |
1725671440594763776 |