While I do kinda-sorta believe that wealth increases the odds of happiness I -really- don't get the question. For all we know richer people are conditioned to say they are content because of the social stigma of being a depressed-rich individual.
I always thought that the trick to getting to the truth of the matter was to ask a question that couldn't have a negative consequence. The more neutral a question feels the more likely you are going to get an honest answer. "Are you happy" isn't as good as "What's the funniest movie you saw this year".
The ladder question, as I read it, says more about where you think others would see you. It isn't a question I'd answer honestly. I'd think about my wife, kids, house, and all my privileges before even thinking "am I actually happy".
When I used to work for a company that did personality inventory testing the neutral sounding questions (True|False I enjoy dressing up to work) were always the ones that carried weight, and the over-the-top questions (True|False I've thrown a punch at my boss) were just a coarse filter.
Honestly it depends on what the goals of the test are.
Ask 10,000 people in <x position> the same generic question. So ask 10,000 Sales Managers if they like dressing up for work , look for a correlation, compare the correlation to performance, get your answer.
Out of 10,000 sales managers, 3,000 said they enjoy dressing up for work. Of those three thousand managers 2,600 are top performers and get high marks from their coworkers. From this you can make a very slight up-tick towards someone answering true to them having the possibility of being a top performer. This would just be one question over hundreds of similar questions so it isn't going to be a deal-breaker.
Of course, ask 10,000 programmers and "false" might be the correct answer. That's what makes these questions powerful. There is no correct answer. There's only a relationship.
I always thought that the trick to getting to the truth of the matter was to ask a question that couldn't have a negative consequence. The more neutral a question feels the more likely you are going to get an honest answer. "Are you happy" isn't as good as "What's the funniest movie you saw this year".
The ladder question, as I read it, says more about where you think others would see you. It isn't a question I'd answer honestly. I'd think about my wife, kids, house, and all my privileges before even thinking "am I actually happy".
When I used to work for a company that did personality inventory testing the neutral sounding questions (True|False I enjoy dressing up to work) were always the ones that carried weight, and the over-the-top questions (True|False I've thrown a punch at my boss) were just a coarse filter.