Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS)
Lyubomirsky Global Happiness Assessment
How happy are you, really? Not how you feel right now, but whether you see yourself as a happy person overall. 4 items, about 2 minutes.
How happy are you, really?
Not how you feel right now, not whether you've had a good week. Strip that all away and ask yourself: am I, on the whole, a happy person?
The Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) gets at exactly that. Developed by Sonja Lyubomirsky and Heidi Lepper in 1999, it's just 4 items on a 7-point scale, averaged into a single score. Brief, but it doesn't try to inventory your moods — it asks you to make a global judgment about your life.
The scale has a single-factor structure validated across multiple cultures, with Cronbach's alpha typically between 0.80 and 0.90. Higher scores mean you see yourself as a happier person. It's freely available from the Lyubomirsky lab website.
One caveat: the SHS measures subjective happiness — your own take, not an outsider's evaluation. Useful as a reference point, but happiness doesn't really have a single right answer.
Scoring Guide
Mean of 4 items, range 1-7. Higher = happier. General population mean ~4.5-5.5. Item 4 reverse-scored.Result Interpretation
After completing the 4 questions, you'll receive an immediate, detailed report with:
- Your score — calculated automatically based on your responses
- Score interpretation — what your score means in practical terms
- Context — how your results compare to general population norms where available
All results are displayed on screen. No account or login needed.