The tenth annual Stoic Week took place in October 2022. This year’s theme was: Stoicism and Wellbeing.  Stoic Week 2022 was written and facilitated by Tim LeBon and Eve Riches, with support from the Modern Stoicism team and a group of volunteers. This report summarises the findings from Stoic Week 2022 in terms of its contribution to Stoic research.

This year we made a deliberate decision to largely retain the materials from 2021. Stoic Week is intended primarily as an introduction to Stoicism for newcomers, so it made sense to fine-tune the improved and well-received 2021 Handbook, rather “reinvent the wheel.” At the same time Stoic Week also functions as a refresher to seasoned Stoics, so we were interested in learning whether doing Stoic Week for a second time would still  be beneficial.

This year there were 3 main questions we looked to answer.

• How beneficial is Stoic Week to people who have done Stoic Week before compared to those who have not done so?
• Do age or gender play a large part in determining how helpful Stoic Week is?

Modern Stoicism is also very interested in developing and testing scales to measure a person’s degree of Stoicism.  Our main instrument of choice is the Stoic Attitude and Behaviours Scale (SABS), a 60 item scale developed by the Modern Stoicism team. The SABS 5.0 was once again used in Stoic Week 2022. In the past we have used other, shorter scales, to gain another perspective on someone’s level of Stoicism and also to test these scales – in 2020 we used the Three Disciplines Stoic Scale). This  year we introduced a new scale, The “Stoic Elevator Scale”, reproduced with permission from Tim LeBon’s 365 Ways to be More Stoic, which is intended as a short 10-item measure, as well as proposing 5 dimensions of Stoicism. This led to the third research question.

• Is the Stoic Elevator Scale a good scale? Are the 5 dimensions proposed a useful idea?

The first part of this report provides some general information about Stoic Week 2022 – whether it helped people, completion rates etc. It then focuses on the three research questions. Details of the course contents, measures used, and further statistical findings are provided in the appendices.

 

 

Stoic Week   Measure	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014
Increase in Flourishing	9%	11.5%	11%	7.5%	8%	10%	10%	10%	10%
Increase in Satisfaction with Life	12%	14.5%	13%	11.5%	12%	14%	15%	15%	16%
Increase in Positive Emotions	12%	13%	11%	9.5%	9.5%	11%	10%	10%	11%
Reduction in Negative Emotions	20%	21%	19%	17%	14%	14%	14%	14%	16%
Increase In Stoic Attitudes and Behaviours	10%	11%	9%	8%	10%	9%	11%	13%	12%

                       

Table 1 Overall Findings Stoic Week 2022 –  Impact of taking part in Stoic Week

 

Table 1 above shows the comparative increases in wellbeing and other measures for the last 9 Stoic Weeks.  Once again, participants experienced  a significant increase in every measure of wellbeing measures, compared to the start of Stoic Week.

Stoic Week	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014
No of participants at start (valid questionnaires)	1327	1369	1608	1725	3702	2870	1803	2503	1953
Valid questionnaires completed at end	372	459	527	416	852	689	270	726	566
Completion Rate	27%	33%	30%	24%	23%	24%	15%	29%	29%

 

Table 2  Comparison of completion rates in Stoic Weeks over time

 

Table 2 above shows the completion rate for Stoic Weeks. Although completion rates are relatively high for on-line learning courses, we would like to increase it further. In 2021 we had introduced a variety of innovations (such as providing an audio recording of the materials) and the rate increased to 33%. One of the questions that needed answering after this result in 2021  was whether the innovations or the Covid pandemic and lockdowns helped us have such a high completion rate.  Whilst the completion rate was still relatively high in 2022 (27%) and higher than the 24% of 2019 (pre-Covid)  the 6% reduction suggests that Covid and lockdowns were a contributory factor to the high completion rate in 2021.

 The qualitative feedback given at the end of Stoic Week was once again  very positive.

Sample comments from Participants at end of Stoic Week 2022

It was a very good experience and I think I learned a lot.

 I liked the videos, additional resources, audio, suggested further reading and participant comments. I think those involved with Stoic week do a fantastic job in producing information that explains Stoic principles in a way which can be understood, practiced and appreciated for participants in different stages of the Stoic journey. Thank you.

 Stoic Week was excellent and extremely rewarding. It has provided lessons that can be carried forward well after the course has finished.

 I absolutely loved it. Thank you so much. I feel I will follow this for the rest of my life. I wish I had come across it when I was younger.

 I particularly enjoyed the different focus each day, breaking it down.

 Opened up for nice discussions with friends/family. Realized that I already adhere to many of the stoic principles.

 Good practice and excellent materials

 I liked the easy lay out and how digestible the lessons were

 I would like to say thank you to all the facilitators and contributors to Stoic Week. I am extremely grateful to their generous, caring and supportive efforts in creating something so well put together, valuable and practical and making it free for all to take part. Thank you for giving me the tools and the hope, to take this into the rest of my life and help me to get unstuck and make my positive contribution to the people I care about, the world and to be my best self. It is up to me now to continue the practice and truly work towards becoming more Stoic.

 I found the availability of the daily audio to be helpful as I was able to listen while working. I love that multiple great resources (links to podcasts, YouTube videos, etc.) were made available.

 

 The average satisfaction rating was  high – 8.0 – but this was lower than 8.6 in 2021.

 

Research question 1 –  How beneficial is Stoic Week to people who have done it before compared to those who have never done it?

 

Category	Life satisfaction	Positive Emotions	Negative Emotions	Flourishing	Stoic Elevator	SABS 5.0
Did not take part in 2021 -% change during Stoic Week	11.8%	12.5%	-21.0%	9.1%	15.8%	10.7%
Did take part in 2021 -% change during Stoic Week	10.1%	9.0%	-13.2%	7.5%	7.7%	6.0%
Start score (not a 2021 participant ) N=265	23	20.4	-16.1	41.7	45.4	286.9
Start score (2021 participants) N=45	25.9	22.5	-13.2	45.2	53.2	327.5

 

Table 3 – Impact of Stoic week according to whether a participant took part in the previous Stoic Week (2021) or not.

 

Table 3 shows the relative benefits of those who completed Stoic week, separating them into those who took part in Stoic Week in 2021 and those who did not.  Both groups benefited – those who did not take part in 2021  benefited somewhat more, though this may be because this group started with a lower score (for example for Life Satisfaction 23 compared with 25.9)  so there was less scope for change.

 

 

Research question 2: What else determines how helpful Stoic week is (age and gender)

 

There was no significant difference in levels of Stoicism or in how beneficial Stoic Week was related to gender.

With regards to age, it appeared that the 36-55 year age group benefited slightly more then other groups.

 

Research question 3: Is the Stoic Elevator Scale a good scale?   Are the 5 dimensions proposed a useful idea?

The Stoic Elevator scale is a short scale aimed at providing a rapid way to measure someone’s degree of Stoicism, and also to attempt to identify various dimensions of Stoicism.

One way of testing whether it is a good scale is to discover the degree of correlation between it and the most accepted Stoic scale, the SABS 5.0,  and also the correlation of specific items to the SABS 5.0 as a whole.  Table 4 provides this information.

 

Item	SABS correlation
Total Stoic Elevator Score	0.79
I control the controllables	0.44
I let go of those things I can’t control.	0.53
I cultivate the virtues of wisdom, courage,  self-control and justice	0.59
I think about the virtues when deciding what to do	0.56
I am good at dealing with negative and unhelpful thoughts	0.57
I am good at managing my emotions	0.53
When deciding what to do, I prioritise preserving my character over gaining external things like money, pleasure and status.	0.50
I extend my concern beyond myself to others and aim for the common good	0.45
The cosmos is rational, orderly and benevolent	0.45
We are made for co-operation with each other like the rows of upper and lower teeth.	0.45

 

Table 4 – Stoic Elevator correlation with SABS 5.0 Scale

 

As shown in table 4, the Stoic Elevator scale has a very high (.79) correlation with the SABS 5.0. Additionally, each of the 10 items has a reasonably high correlation with the SABS scale.  This lends support to the idea that the Stoic Elevator scale could be considered as an alternative to the SABS 5.0 if a short scale to measure someone’s level of Stoicism was required.

 

We were also interested in investigating whether the findings lend support to positing these 5 dimensions. Of course, this is a much larger question, and would benefit from more discussion amongst the Stoic community. Statistically, one would expect items on the same dimension to have a relatively high degree of correlation with each other. Table 5 provides this information

 

Stoic Elevator scale item	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
1	1.0	0.4	0.4	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.2
2	0.4	1.0	0.5	0.4	0.6	0.6	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.2
3	0.4	0.5	1.0	0.6	0.5	0.5	0.4	0.4	0.3	0.3
4	0.3	0.4	0.6	1.0	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.3	0.3	0.2
5	0.4	0.6	0.5	0.4	1.0	0.7	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.2
6	0.4	0.6	0.5	0.4	0.7	1.0	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.2
7	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.3	0.3	1.0	0.5	0.2	0.3
8	0.2	0.2	0.4	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.5	1.0	0.2	0.3
9	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	1.0	0.4
10	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.4	1.0

 

Table 5 Correlation of Stoic Elevator Scale Items

Table 5 shows the degree of Stoic Elevator Scale items at the start of Stoic Week (n=1325).  For a dimension to cohere, one would expect that the correlation between items in the same  dimension to be high. This is certainly the case in dimension 3 (managing emotions) where there is a .7 correlation between the two items (items 5 and 6). It’s also the case in dimension 2 (the virtues) where there is a .6 correlation between the two items (3 and 4). To  a lesser extent, dimension 4 and 5 also cohere reasonably well, the items in that scale having a higher correlation with the other items in that dimension than other items. However it is clear that the two items in the suggested “dichotomy of control” dimension do not correlate highly. Specifically, item 1, “I control the controllables” does not correlate particularly highly with item 2 “I let go of those things I cannot control” (0.4). Item 2 correlates more highly with items 3 and 5 (connected with virtues and managing emotions respectively). This implies that the dichotomy of control contains two constructs – Stoic acceptance and Stoic commitment to action – which are not especially associated with each other, at least not in a group before they have been trained in Stoicism. This could prove to be a valuable finding.

 

Conclusions

Stoic Week 2022 once again illustrated the benefits of “Living like a Stoic” for a week. People who repeated Stoic Week, having taken part in 2021, started with a higher level of wellbeing than those who did not take part and still benefited from the experience. Participants new to Stoic Week benefited even more.  Gender and age do not appear to play a very significant role in how much people benefit from Stoic Week. The Stoic Elevator Scale, piloted for the first time during Stoic Week, provides a promising short measure of Stoicism. The two elements of the dichotomy of control – acceptance and change – do not appear very highly correlated with each other.

 

 

Appendix A Course Content

 

Stoic Week is an e-learning programme developed by the Modern Stoicism team.  In 2022 the training consisted of a booklet, available on-line  and also in pdf form and also  short instructional videos  and a discussion groups on Teachable. It was facilitated by Tim LeBon and Eve Riches.

Participants are invited to “live like a Stoic” for a week,  undertaking an e-learning course and potentially interacting with other students through on-line forums. As well as providing a useful resource for participants who wish to learn about how to practice Stoicism, this and other Modern Stoicism programmes are aimed at increasing what we know about the potential benefits of Stoicism.  To this end, participants were asked to fill in a set of questionnaires at the beginning and end of the course. These included the SABS 5.0, a questionnaire designed by the Modern Stoicism team to measure someone’s degree of Stoicism, and 3 standard well-being questionnaires we have used in previous Stoic Weeks. One questionnaire was used for the first time by us in Stoic Week 2022 – the  Stoic Elevator scale. The innovations from 2021 , such as short daily videos, editable pdfs and simplified language were retained. The theme for each day was as follows:-

Monday – Control

Tuesday – Emotions

Wednesday – Character and Virtues

Thursday – Caring for Ourselves and Others

Friday – Seeing the Big Picture

Saturday – Stoic It Up!

Sunday – Creating Your Stoic Toolkit

 

 

 

Appendix B  Demographics

 

Gender

Gender        Year	2022 &	2021 %	2020 %
Male	54	60	57
Female	44	39	42
Other	<1	<1	.6
Decline to state	<1	<1	.6

Why did people take part in Stoic Week?

Practice – life – learn – principles – improve – understanding – knowledge – hope – ideas – practices – learning – gain

The WordCloud results from Stoic Week 2022 indicate that people wanted to learn about Stoicism so they understood it and could practice it in their daily life. Other key terms included “hope”, “philosophy” and “knowledge”.

 

Where  did Stoic Week  2022 participants live?

Country	2022	%		2021
United States	409	31%		429
United Kingdom	234	18%		282
Canada	118	9%		163
Australia	79	6%		52
Belgium	62	5%		7
Germany	50	4%		74
Netherlands	37	3%		24
Spain	33	2%		31
Mexico	30	2%		29
Ireland {Republic}	26	2%		17
Sweden	16	1%		18
Poland	15	1%		12

 

Table B2 –  Countries taking part in Stoic Week with 15 or more participants, 2022

Following patterns observed in  previous years, most participants came from USA, UK and Canada. Notably, 62 participants were located in Belgium, compared to only 7 in 2021.  Participants were located in a total of 66 countries.

 

Knowledge of Stoicism

Participants were asked to rate their knowledge of Stoicism at the start and end of Stoic week from 0 (none) 1(Novice), 2 (I know a bit) 3 (I know quite a lot but am not an expert) 4 expert)

At the start of Stoic Week they rated themselves as follows, with an average score of  1.8 (between Novice and “I know a bit”).

As many as 25% of participants described themselves as novices.  46% of participants stated they “know a bit” about Stoicism whilst less than 1% were experts.  In comparison with 2021, more people stated they knew nothing about  nothing about Stoicism  at the start of Stoic Week (7.55% compared to 5% in 2021) Fewer people said that  they “know quite a lot” about Stoicism  (20%  in 2022 compared with 29% in 2021). The average score at the start of Stoic Week was 1.8, compared to  was 2.0 in 2021.

At the end of Stoic Week participants rated themselves  with an average score of 2.3, the same as at the end of Stoic Week 2021, an increase of 20%. So although participants began with a little less knowledge of Stoicism than in 2021, they ended up with a similar knowledge by the end!

 

How much did participants identify with being a Stoic?

Participants were asked “To what extent do you consider yourself to be a Stoic?” at the start and end of Stoic Week.

At the start of Stoic Week 2022 the scores were:

1385 Responses

‘Definitely not a Stoic’- count 76, 5.80%

‘More not a Stoic than a Stoic’ – count 158, 12.05%

Neutral or ‘I don’t know’ – count 506, 38.60%

‘I am more a Stoic than not a Stoic’ – count 477, 36.8%

‘I consider myself to be a Stoic’ – count 94, 7.17%

In comparison with 2021, more people were neutral in 2022 (38.6% compared with 30.9%) and fewer people considered themselves more Stoic than not Stoic in 2022 (36% compared to 42%). The average score at the start of Stoic Week was 2.3 compared to 2.4  in 2021. The average score at the end of the Stoic Week was 2.7 compared to  2.8 in 2021, the increase in ‘more Stoic’ being 15% in 2022 (16% in 2021).

 

How long did people spend each day doing Stoic Week?

Participants were asked how long on average they spent on Stoic Week – the average was 40.5 minutes, compared to 42 minutes in 2021 and just under 30 minutes a day in 2020.

On average, the people who completed questionnaires at the end of Stoic Week completed  6.4 days out of 7.

 

How highly did participants rate Stoic Week 2022?

People were asked to rate Stoic Week on a rating 0-10. The average rating was 8 compared to 8.6 in 2021 and 8.3 in 2020.

Appendix C  The Stoic Elevator Scale

The Stoic Elevator is a short scale designed by Tim LeBon and first published in 365 Ways to be More Stoic (John Murray 2022). It is designed both to provide a short measure of a person’s overall degree of Stoicism, and to identify which elements of Stoicism (levels of the Elevator) are active.

It is presented as follows:-

Below are ten statements that you may agree or disagree with. Using the scale below, indicate your agreement with each item. Please answer according to how you actually behave or what you actually believe – not what you think you should do or what you should believe.

– Strongly agree
– Agree
– Slightly agree
– Neither agree nor disagree
– Slightly disagree
– Disagree
– Strongly disagree

Item	Wording
1	I control the controllables
2	I let go of those things I can’t control.
3	I cultivate the virtues of wisdom, courage, self-control and justice
4	I think about the virtues when deciding what to do.
5	I am good at dealing with negative and unhelpful thoughts
6	I am good at managing my emotions
7	When deciding what to do, I prioritise preserving my character over gaining external things like money, pleasure, and status.
8	I extend my concern beyond myself to others and aim for the common good
9	The cosmos is rational, orderly, and benevolent
10	We are made for co-operation with each other like the rows of upper and lower teeth.

Table C1 –  Stoic Elevator Scale

5 dimensions (“levels on the Stoic Elevator”) are proposed

Level	Meaning	Items
1	Dichotomy of Control	1-2
2	Virtues	3-4
3	Managing Emotions	5-6
4	The dichotomy of value	7-8
5	Stoic worldview and physics	9-10

 

Table C2 – Stoic Elevator Dimensions

 

Item	Wording	Start average score	End average score	% Increase
1	I control the controllables	4.8	5.6	14.1%
2	I let go of those things I can’t control	4.1	5.2	22.1%
3	I cultivate the virtues of wisdom, courage,  self-control and justice	4.7	5.7	17.9%
4	I think about the virtues when deciding what to do	4.3	5.5	20.2%
5	I am good at dealing with negative and unhelpful thoughts	4.0	5.0	21.0%
6	I am good at managing my emotions	4.2	5.2	19.0%
7	When deciding what to do, I prioritise preserving my character over gaining external things like money, pleasure and status	4.9	5.7	12.9%
8	I extend my concern beyond myself to others and aim for the common good	5.3	5.8	9.1%
9	The cosmos is rational, orderly, and benevolent	4.0	4.5	12.7%
10	We are made for co-operation with each other like the rows of upper and lower teeth.	5.3	5.9	9.1%

 

 

Table C3 –  Stoic Elevator Item scores and change during Stoic Week

 

 

Level	Meaning	Items	Start average score	End average score	% Increase
1	Dichotomy of Control	1-2	8.9	10.9	18.0%
2	Virtues	3-4	9.0	11.1	19.1%
3	Managing Emotions	5-6	8.1	10.2	20.0%
4	The dichotomy of value	7-8	10.2	11.5	11.1%
5	Stoic worldview and physics	9-10	9.3	10.4	10.7%

 

Table C4 –  Stoic Elevator Levels scores and change during Stoic Week

 

 

Appendix E Stoic Attitudes and Behaviour Scale 5.0 (SABS 5.0)

 

#	Item	Reversed?	Average score start of Stoic Week 2022 7=totally Stoic)	% Increase by end of Stoic Week 2022	% Increase by end of Stoic Week 2021	% Increase by end of Stoic Week 2020
1	I think about my life as an ongoing project to become a better person.	No	6.0	6.2%	6%	4%
2	It can sometimes be a good thing to become angry at people.	Yes	4.0	12.4%	10%	11%
3	If bad things happen to you, you are bound to feel distressed.	Yes	3.3	20.1%	21%	21%
4	Having good understanding and good character is all that is required in order to be happy.	No	4.1	22.6%	19%	17%
5	Viewing other people as fellow-members of the brother/sisterhood of humankind helps me to avoid feeling angry and resentful.	No	5.1	11.3%	14%	9%
6	The universe is benevolent in its overall plan.	No	3.9	12.3%	15%	13%
7	I regularly spend time reflecting on what is most important to enable me to live a good and happy life.	No	5.1	11.8%	13%	12%
8	Bad luck could stop me being happy.	Yes	4.1	15.6%	19%	17%
9	I do the right thing even when I feel afraid.	No	5.0	8.0%	13%	10%
10	It is my duty to help others.	No	5.6	5.8%	6%	6%
11	Sometimes a controlled experience of anger can be helpful in resolving conflicts with others	Yes	3.5	10.2%	14%	10%
12	I usually do the right thing.	No	5.4	5.5%	7%	7%
13	I do not act on urges when it would be unwise to act on them	No	4.5	13.3%	15%	11%
14	I am committed to helping humanity in general.	No	5.5	6.4%	8%	7%
15	I treat everyone fairly.	No	5.3	9.9%	10%	8%
16	To flourish as a human being all you need is good character and understanding of what really matters in life	No	5.0	13.6%	14%	11%
17	If things don’t go well for my friends, I can’t lead a good life.	Yes	5.0	3.4%	3%	2%
18	I take active steps to reduce the suffering of others.	No	5.1	7.9%	10%	10%
19	I spend quite a lot of time dwelling on what has gone wrong in the past.	Yes	3.7	20.8%	24%	20%
20	It is possible to lead a happy life even after the death of someone we love.	No	5.9	2.8%	3%	5%
21	The universe embodies wisdom.	No	4.4	10.2%	11%	8%
22	When making an important decision I ask myself “What really matters here?”	No	5.3	10.3%	10%	9%
23	I cannot really be harmed by what other people say.	No	4.5	18.6%	23%	19%
24	The universe is a living thing.	No	4.8	5.5%	6%	5%
25	I need quite a lot of money in order to be happy.	Yes	4.9	9.8%	7%	8%
26	When I have a problem, I am good at taking constructive action in a timely manner.	No	4.9	10.9%	12%	10%
27	We can’t really control other people.	No	6.2	3.4%	4%	4%
28	There is a rational and orderly plan in the universe and in the causes of events.	No	3.7	16.0%	17%	16%
29	When making a significant decision I reflect on what a good role model would do.	No	4.5	13.3%	17%	12%
30	Nothing except our judgements and voluntary actions are truly under our control in life.	No	5.9	7.3%	6%	6%
31	I pay attention to my judgements about good or bad things or people as I am making them.	No	5.0	10.9%	13%	11%
32	I need to be well thought of by others in order to be happy.	Yes	4.2	16.1%	15%	16%
33	I spend quite a lot of time worrying about the future.	Yes	3.4	20.5%	22%	23%
34	It is good to think about life as an ongoing journey towards becoming a better person.	No	6.1	4.9%	5%	3%
35	I am committed to helping my friends.	No	5.7	4.5%	5%	5%
36	I pay attention to my thoughts about what I intend to do before I act on them.	No	5.0	11.2%	13%	10%
37	I want to become a better person ethically.	No	6.3	3.1%	3%	2%
38	When a negative thought enters my mind, I remind myself that it is just an interpretation of the situation.	No	4.3	21.1%	22%	17%
39	It is right to feel intense and overwhelming grief after a significant loss	No	2.6	11.5%	17%	17%
40	I view other people as fellow-members of the brother/sisterhood of humankind.	No	5.3	7.1%	8%	6%
41	If things don’t go well for me, I can’t lead a good life.	Yes	4.7	10.9%	12%	8%
42	I can’t control how I feel.	Yes	4.8	11.7%	14%	10%
43	I need to be in good health in order to be happy.	Yes	3.8	15.1%	20%	14%
44	I am committed to helping my family.	No	6.0	3.6%	3%	3%
45	Every day I spend some time thinking about how I can best face challenges in the day ahead.	No	4.5	17.5%	22%	18%
46	Our voluntary actions are among the only things truly under our control in life.	No	5.8	8.2%	6%	6%
47	As long as you have the right attitude, you can lead a good life even in the most difficult circumstances.	No	5.6	7.6%	8%	7%
48	Even when I can’t do anything more about a problem, I still worry about it a lot.	Yes	3.4	23.3%	28%	28%
49	I care about the suffering of others	No	5.8	2.9%	4%	4%
50	I often do what I feel like doing rather than doing what I believe to be the right thing.	Yes	4.6	9.9%	10%	13%
51	Our judgements are amongst the only things truly under our control in life.	No	5.6	9.2%	8%	7%
52	I see my happiness as fully compatible with caring for other people.	No	5.5	6.3%	8%	7%
53	The best idea is to give up trying to control people and instead focus on our own actions and our judgements and character.	No	6.1	4.7%	5%	3%
54	There is no overall plan to the universe.	Yes	3.5	9.3%	12%	14%
55	I think about what the ideal wise and good person would do when faced with misfortunes in life.	No	4.4	15.9%	15%	12%
56	If things don’t go well for my family, I can’t lead a good life.	Yes	4.4	10.5%	11%	13%
57	I am committed to helping in my local community.	No	4.7	10.8%	12%	11%
58	It does not help me to get angry	No	5.5	5.9%	5%	5%
59	It is possible to lead a happy life even when we have lost success or wealth.	No	5.6	6.4%	6%	7%
60	We can sometimes influence how others behave, but we can’t completely control other people.	No	6.3	2.3%	3%	2%
	Total Score			10.9%	11%	9%

 

Table E1 –  Stoic Week participant scores for  SABS 5.0 comparisons

 

Instructions to Stoic Week participants

For each of the above items, please mark on a 7-point Likert scale whether you agree with it from Strongly Agree (7) to Strongly disagree (1) as follows:

Strongly Agree 7

Agree 6

Slightly Agree 5

Neither agree or disagree 4

Slightly disagree 3

Disagree 2

Strongly Disagree 1

 

Please respond according to what you yourself think, not what you think the answer ought to be or what you ought to think.

SCORING

To obtain the scores for reverse-coded items, subtract the score from 8 (e.g., a score of 7 becomes 1).

The higher the score, the more Stoic your attitudes and beliefs are. The possible scores range from 60 (minimum Stoic) to 480 (maximum Stoic).

The Average SABS score for participants at the start of Stoic Week was 288.

From the data at the start of Stoic Week, a  score of:

336 or above would place someone in the top 10%

313 or above would place someone in the top 25%

288 or above would place someone in the top 50%

263 or below would place someone in the bottom 25%

242 or below would place someone in the bottom 10% in terms of your degree of Stoicism

 

 

 

Appendix F: The Satisfaction with Life scale

 

The SWLS is a short 5-item instrument designed to measure global cognitive judgments of satisfaction with one’s life. This scale is widely used as part of the measure of Subjective Well-being (also known as happiness).

Question                                                     Theme

Q1. In most ways my life is close to my ideal                  Life is ideal

Q2. The conditions of my life are excellent                       Externals met

Q3. So far, I have got the important things I want in life.        Needs met

Q4. I am satisfied with my life                                            Satisfaction

Q5. If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing        Acceptance

 

Using a 1-7 Likert scale, users score between 35 (extremely satisfied) and 5 (extremely dissatisfied)

 

#	Item	Average score start of Stoic Week 2022	% change Stoic Week 2022	% change Stoic Week 2021
1	In most ways my life is close to my ideal.	4.5	13.8%	16
2	The conditions of my life are excellent	5.0	10.8%	12
3	So far, I have got the important things I want in life	5.1	9.9%	13
4	I am satisfied with my life	4.9	13.1%	15
5	If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing	3.8	15.7%	17
	All Items		13%	14.5

 

Table F1 –  Stoic Week 2022 participant scores for  Satisfaction with Life

 

The average score at the start of Stoic Week 2022 was 23.3

From data at the start of Stoic week 2022:-
A score of 13 or lower places someone in the bottom 10% of respondents.
A score of between 1 and 19 places someone in the 10-25% range of respondents
A score between 19 and 23.3 places someone in the 25-50% range of respondents

A score of between 23.3 and 28 places someone in the 50-75% range of respondents.
A score of 30 or above places someone in the top 10% of respondents.

 

The SWL scale was developed by Ed Diener, Robert A. Emmons, Randy J. Larsen, and Sharon Griffin as noted in the 1985 article in the Journal of Personality Assessment. See http://internal.psychology.illinois.edu/~ediener/SWLS.html

 

Appendix G:  The Flourishing Scale

 

The Flourishing Scale is a brief 8-item summary measure of the respondent’s self-perceived success in important areas such as relationships, self-esteem, purpose, and optimism. The scale provides a single psychological well-being score.  This scale was developed by Ed Diener and associates to measure a broader conception of well-being than purely subjective life satisfaction and the presence of positive and absence of negative emotions.

 

 

#	Flourishing Scale Item	Average score start Stoic Week 2022	% change Stoic Week 2022	% change Stoic Week 2021
1	I lead a purposeful and meaningful life.	4.9	13.3%	15
2	My social relationships are supportive and rewarding.	5.0	11.5%	12
3	I am engaged and interested in my daily activities.	5.2	11.1%	11
4	I actively contribute to the happiness and well-being of others.	5.2	9.1%	11
5	I am competent and capable in the activities that are important to me	5.5	7.6%	11
6	I am a good person and live a good life.	5.5	7.5%	10
7	I am optimistic about my future.	5.2	9.9%	14
8	People respect me.	5.3	7.3%	7
	All Items		9.7%	11.5

 

Table G1 –  Stoic Week 2022  participant scores for  Flourishing

 

Reference: Diener, E., Wirtz, D., Tov, W., Kim-Prieto, C., Choi, D., Oishi, S., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2009). New measures of well-being: Flourishing and positive and negative feelings. Social Indicators Research, 39, 247-266.  http://internal.psychology.illinois.edu/~ediener/FS.html

 

The average score at the start of Stoic Week 2022 was 41.7

From our Stoic Week data at the start of Stoic week 2022
A score of 32 or lower places someone in the bottom 10% of respondents.
A score of between 32 and 37 places someone in the 10-25% range of respondents
A score between 37 and 41.7 places someone in the 25-50% range of respondents

A score of between 41.7 and 47 places someone in the 50-75% range of respondents.
A score of 50 or above places someone in the top 10% of respondents.

 

 

Appendix H:  The Scale of Positive and Negative Emotions (SPANE)

 

The SPANE is a 12-item questionnaire that includes six items to assess positive feelings and six questions to assess negative emotions. For both the positive and negative items, three of the items are general (e.g., positive, negative) and three per subscale are more specific (e.g., joyful, sad). Along with the Life Satisfaction Scale, the presence of positive and absence of negative emotions forms the other part of Subjective Well-being.  Users are asked to select a number between 1 (very rarely or never) and 5 (very often or always) to indicate how often they have experienced the emotion in the last 4 weeks.

 

#	SPANE Scale Item	Average start score 2022	% change 2022	% change 2021
1	Positive	3.6	11.1%	12
2	Negative	-3.0	-21.9%	-22
3	Good	3.6	10.9%	11
4	Bad	-2.7	-25.6%	-23
5	Pleasant	3.6	11.8%	11
6	Unpleasant	-2.7	-22.9%	-19.5
7	Happy	3.4	11.4%	12
8	Sad	-2.7	-23.4%	-20
9	Afraid	-2.4	-19.8%	-20
10	Joyful	3.1	11.2%	17
11	Angry	-2.5	-21.4%	-21
12	Contented	3.4	15.7%	16
	SPANE POSITIVE ITEMS	20.7	12%	13
	SPANE NEGATIVE ITEMS	-15.6	-19.8%	-21

 

Table H1 –  Stoic Week participant scores for SPANE

 

Reference: Diener, E., Wirtz, D., Tov, W., Kim-Prieto, C., Choi. D., Oishi, S., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2009). New measures of well-being: Flourishing and positive and negative feelings. Social Indicators Research, 39, 247-266.  http://internal.psychology.illinois.edu/~ediener/SPANE.html

The average score at the start of  Stoic Week was 4.6 in 2022

From data at the start of Stoic week 2021:-
A score of -5 or lower places someone in the bottom 10% of respondents.
A score of between -5 and 0 places someone in the 10-25% range of respondents
A score between 0  and 4.6 places someone in the 25-50% range of respondents

A score of between 4.6 and 10 places someone in the 50-75% range of respondents.
A score of 14 or above places someone in the top 10% of respondents.

 

Appendix I:  Correlations between items and scales at the start of Stoic Week 2022

 

	Satisfaction with Life	SPANE	Flourish	Stoic Elevator Scale	SABS 5.0
SABS 5.0	0.4	0.5	0.6	0.8	1.0
Stoic Elevator Scale	0.5	0.6	0.7	1.0	0.8
Flourish	0.7	0.6	1.0	0.7	0.6
SPANE	0.6	1.0	0.6	0.6	0.5
Satisfaction with Life	1.0	0.6	0.7	0.5	0.4
SABS 5.0	0.4	0.5	0.6	0.8	1.0

 

Table I1 –  Correlations between items and scales at the start of Stoic Week 2022

Tim LeBon  is a founder member of Modern Stoicism, for which he is director of research. Tim is an accredited CBT therapist working in the NHS and private practice in the UK. His latest book is 365 Ways to be More Stoic (John  Murray , 2022). He is the author of two previous books, Wise Therapy and Achieve Your Potential with Positive Psychology. You can contact Tim via his  website at www.timlebon.com and watch his new series of short Stoic video lessons at https://www.youtube.com/@StoicLifeCoaching