Happiness, Well-being and Goodlife (Part1)
Happiness
“Happiness is the meaning of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” – Aristotle.
“Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.” – Ernest Hemingway.
“Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” – Abraham Lincoln.
“For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Happiness, the main topic of positive psychology, is a subjective experience (one’s feeling) of a complex set of positive emotions (from contentment to intense joy) that affects our thoughts, moods, attitudes, performances and relationships with others.
One of the pioneers of positive psychology, Sonja Lyubomirsky, has described happiness as “the experience of joy, contentment or positive well-being, combined with a sense that one’s life is good, meaningful and worthwhile.”
Happiness is defined differently by different people and is used in the contexts of hedonic pleasures, eudemonic living (living a life of virtue), life satisfaction, subjective well-being and flourishing.
Hedonic and Eudemonic Happiness
Hedonistic (hedonic) is derived from the Greek word “hedone”, meaning pleasure, delight and enjoyment. Hedonism regards pleasure or enjoyment as a chief goal in life. Many of us have embraced the pursuit of pleasure (happiness) as a guiding motto of our lives and behaviours. George Carlin (American stand-up comedian, social critic and philosopher, 1937-2008) described it as “the delusion of the American Dream”. He criticised the pursuit of happiness: “It’s a focus on feeling good, seeking out experiences that provide us with positive sensations like pleasure, enjoyment and gratification through our physical senses and psychological state. It’s the purpose and meaning of life based on activities that produce those states, such as focusing on being entertained, having a good time, chasing adrenaline highs and constant adventures to provide personally pleasing experiences on the mild side, with partying, alcohol, drugs, sex, gluttony, etc. as an extreme.”
Eudaimonic (or eudaemonic) is derived from the Greek words eu and daimon, meaning good, well or right, plus guardian or the guiding spirit. It suggests activities or experiences that promote happiness. That’s much different from pursuing hedonic happiness, happiness as a goal or the focus of life. Many things in life create happiness or pleasure, but they don’t need to be our aim, where we remain attached to them just because we derive pleasure from them. The eudaimonic type of happiness is more fulfilling in the long term. We pursue things of meaning and value in our lives that produce happiness as a byproduct, rather than happiness and pleasure as the primary focus. Sometimes we experience unpleasant incidents and consequently feel devastated. Learning to bear with them temporarily and overcome our hardship can also lead to deeper positive emotional states of contentment or joy. We can learn and grow from the unpleasant aspects of our lives and gain great insight and value from them. A happy life is not about avoiding hard times, unpleasant feelings, or life's challenges; it’s about learning to deal with them and experiencing the happiness of facing them head-on.
Pleasant Life, Engaged Life and Meaningful Life
The proposed conceptual framework of positive psychology (Seligman, Authentic Happiness, 2002) divided happiness into three domains, or types of life: pleasant life (pleasure and gratification), engaged life (active and connected), and meaningful life (meaning and purpose).
A pleasant life is one in which we frequently engage in activities that give us pleasure, such as eating our favourite food, watching a movie or going for a walk at the seaside (hedonic pleasures). These activities all produce pleasure (endorphins) and offer us happy moments that can be the highlights of our day. They are indeed important; however, they are fleeting and may not give us deep satisfaction.
An engaged life is a step deeper and involves activities that help us cultivate virtues and strengths and use them to pursue a meaningful purpose. This type of life is more likely to bring a state of “flow”, which is crucial in fully absorbing what we do. Being passionately involved in something significant (a hobby, a scientific curiosity or a social activity) can be a great source of happiness and satisfaction. They deliver contentment, provide a sense of belonging (identity) and achievement in life, and foster a sense of purpose. Generally, an engaged life is much better than an empty one dominated by idle time. Of course, the more meaningful, cherished, and pleasant the activities of our lives are, the happier and the more contented we’ll be.
Meaningful life is marked by purpose and meaning. If you can think of a cause more significant than or more important than yourself that is truly worth fighting for (family, friends, freedom, social justice or environment), you’ve found your purpose in life. You put this cause at the top of your priority list, even above your happiness. Spending your life to achieve that aim is the most profound and enduring satisfaction. The happiness gained from being part of something bigger than ourselves and feeling that our actions matter can lead to a deep sense of fulfilment and happiness. We all like to think that our lives have significant meaning, and if we can find our “calling” or be part of a great team or organisation trying to make the world a better place, we’ll achieve ultimate satisfaction.
Subjective Well-Being
Scientists who work on positive psychology often use happiness as a synonym for subjective well-being (SWB), which they measure by asking people to report their satisfaction with life and the number of positive or negative emotions they experience. SWB tends to be stable over time and is strongly related to personality traits. There is evidence that health and SWB mutually influence each other, as good health tends to be associated with greater happiness.
SWB focuses on how people subjectively evaluate their lives (life satisfaction), including their positive and negative emotions. Ed Diener (American psychologist, 1946) developed a three-way model of subjective well-being (1984) that describes how people experience their quality of life. It includes emotional and cognitive appraisals and involves three distinct but often related components of well-being: frequent positive affects (emotions), infrequent adverse affects, and cognitive evaluations (life satisfaction). Diener argued that the components of SWB represent distinct concepts that need to be considered separately, even though they are closely related.
There are two facets to SWB, “Affective Balance” and “Life Satisfaction”. An individual’s scores on these two aspects are added to produce an overall SWB score. In some cases, these scores are kept separate. Affective balance refers to the emotions, moods and feelings of the individual. These can be positive, negative or a combination of both. The overall equilibrium between positive and negative components of SWB (pleasant and unpleasant moods and emotions) is usually measured as the difference between the two.
SWB is a self-reported measure of well-being (typically obtained by questionnaire). As it is a subjective assessment of well-being, it does not include objective elements such as health and wealth, although these can influence its evaluation. People’s levels of subjective well-being are influenced by internal factors such as attitudes, personality (inborn temperament), and points of view, as well as external factors such as their relationships, the societies they live in, and their ability to meet their basic needs.
Research has shown that people who express higher subjective well-being (overall happiness and life satisfaction) are more likely to be healthier and live longer. They also have better social relationships and are more productive at work. In other words, happy people seem to be healthier, live longer and function more effectively than people who are constantly miserable, depressed or angry. Therefore, happiness does not just feel good; it creates a better life for the person and those around them.
Life Satisfaction
Life satisfaction is how people feel about their lives and their prospects. It measures (subjective) well-being in terms of people’s emotional and cognitive assessment of their relationships, achievements and perceived ability to cope with life challenges. It’s about their attitude towards life in general rather than assessing current feelings. Moreover, it often reflects the positive emotions they have recently experienced.
Life satisfaction is an overall assessment of one’s life at a particular time (often measured on a scale from 0 to 10). In other words, it is the degree to which people positively evaluate the overall quality of their lives when they compare their aspirations and expectations to their actual achievements.
One perspective views life satisfaction as a reflection of the extent to which basic needs are met and of how various other goals are perceived as attainable. From this standpoint, it would be reasonable to assume that life satisfaction should increase when more aspirations are realised. Life satisfaction is a crucial part of subjective well-being. It has been measured with respect to people's attitudes and feelings about their lives, including economic standing, education, residence, and life experiences.
Well-Being
Carol Ryff (USA, University of Wisconsin-Madison) pioneered the Six-factor Model of Psychological Well-being. This model identifies six factors contributing to psychological well-being: self-acceptance, positive relationships, environmental mastery, autonomy, meaning in life, and personal growth. It is not based on just feeling happy but is grounded in Aristotle’s Ethics (Eudemian Ethics), where “the goal of life isn’t feeling good, but about living virtuously."
Ryff’s model was based on the Ideal Mental Health theory suggested by Marie Jahoda (Austrian-British social psychologist, 1907-2001) in 1958. In this theory, Jahoda identified five categories deemed vital to well-being. At the time, she criticised the exaggerated attention psychologists paid to psychopathological states (the study of abnormal mental experiences). She suggested that mental health and well-being deserved greater consideration (thirty years before Seligman).
Ryff’s Scale for measuring well-being is a psychometric inventory in which respondents rate statements on a scale of 1 to 6, with higher scores indicating greater psychological well-being. It’s a theoretically grounded instrument that measures multiple facets of psychological well-being. These facets include the following:
Autonomy: People who feel autonomous (having control) are self-determined (self-reliant), can resist social pressures to think and act in specific ways, regulate their behaviours from within and evaluate themselves by their principles and values. In short, having autonomy is about being independent (of social and external pressures) and being able to regulate one’s behaviour. For example, “I have confidence in my opinions, even if they contradict what others think”.
Environmental Mastery: This indicates that the individual effectively uses available opportunities and has a sense of mastery in managing ecological factors and activities, including managing everyday affairs and creating situations that benefit their personal needs. For example, “In general, I feel I am in charge of the situation in which I live”. The individual with environmental mastery has a sense of control and competence in managing various situations, can do a complex array of external activities, make effective use of available opportunities and choose or create contexts suitable to their personal needs and values.
Personal Growth: This idea represents individuals’ ongoing development, their willingness to embrace new experiences, and their recognition of self-improvement over time. For example, “I think it is important to have new experiences that challenge how I think about myself and the world.” Individuals who experience this feeling of continued growth see themselves as growing and expanding, are open to new experiences, feel a sense of achievement about their potential, see improvement in themselves and their behaviours, and change in ways that reflect more self-knowledge and effectiveness.
Positive Relationships: This indicates the individual’s engagement in meaningful relationships, including reciprocal responsiveness, understanding and closeness. For example, “People would describe me as a giving person, willing to share my time with others.” The individual has warm, satisfying, and trusting relationships with others, is concerned about others' welfare, is capable of intense empathy, affection, and intimacy, and understands the give-and-take of human relationships.
Purpose in Life: This shows that the individual has a robust goal-oriented attitude and a conviction that life holds meaning. For example, “Some people wander through life, but I am not one of them”. The person has goals and a sense of direction, feels there is meaning to their lives, holds beliefs that give their lives purpose and has aims and objectives for living.
Self-Acceptance: This represents the individual’s positive attitude toward themselves. For example, “I like most aspects of my personality." The individual acknowledges and accepts multiple aspects of self, including good and bad qualities and feels positive about their past life.
Some argue that a single questionnaire can measure six different criteria. Nonetheless, Jahoda-Ryff’s model has proved relatively robust, and researchers working across diverse population samples found that the data support it. Moreover, Fava and his colleagues developed a well-being therapy based on Jahoda-Ryff’s six elements.
Life Satisfaction Versus Subjective Well-being (SWB)
SWB has two main components: the emotional or affective component and the judgmental or cognitive component. Life satisfaction is considered the judgmental component of SWB. The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) measures life satisfaction. It measures how people view themselves, their well-being and overall happiness. Research has shown that people’s perception of their life experiences (life satisfaction) also relates to self-esteem. In short, people with high self-esteem often think more positively about their lives (and vice versa). SWLS was developed to assess satisfaction with life. The scale does not assess satisfaction with life in domains of health or finances. Typical ideas may include:
In most ways, my life is close to my ideal.
The conditions of my life are excellent.
I am satisfied with my life.
So far, I have achieved the critical things I want in life.
If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing.
Hope and optimism are linked to higher life satisfaction and influence how people perceive their lives. According to Seligman, hope and optimism correlate with higher satisfaction with life. The more hopeful people are, the less they focus on the negative aspects of their lives and the more they tend to enjoy the company of others, promoting a more productive environment. There are two main types of theories about life satisfaction:
Bottom-up theories or approaches suggest that people experience satisfaction in many domains of life, such as work, relationships, family, friends and health. Their satisfaction in all these areas combines to create their overall happiness or fulfilment.
Top-down theories hold that overall life satisfaction influences (or even determines) satisfaction in many domains. Nonetheless, for most people, overall life satisfaction and satisfaction in the multiple domains of life are closely related.
Based on extensive studies on satisfaction with life and happiness (since 1980), Ed Diener has identified four main features of a happy life:
Psychological wealth is more than money; it includes your attitude, goals and engagement at work.
Happiness not only feels good but also benefits relationships, work and health.
It is helpful to have realistic expectations about happiness. No one is completely happy all the time.
Contemplation and thought are essential to happiness. Boosting our cognition can increase happiness if done appropriately.
Quality of life has also been studied as an expression of SWB. Although its definition varies, it is usually measured as a build-up or aggregate of well-being across several life domains and may include subjective and objective components.
Personality and Well-being
Earlier studies using the Big Five model of personality found that openness was linked to personal growth, agreeableness to positive relationships, and extraversion, conscientiousness, and neuroticism to environmental mastery, purpose in life, and self-acceptance (Ryff, 2014). Similar results showed that personality traits strongly predict well-being (Joshanloo and Rastegar, 2007; Ryff, 2008).
For example, longitudinal studies have shown links between early personality profiles (teenhood) and midlife well-being. Teenage females who were more outgoing (extraverted) had higher well-being (on all dimensions) in midlife. Teenage neuroticism, in contrast, predicted lower well-being in all dimensions. Moreover, interactions between personality traits were used to predict changes in well-being, where, for instance, openness to experience was found to increase extraversion, predicting higher well-being, but it also amplified neuroticism, indicating higher distress (Bardi and Ryff, 2007).
A variety of other psychological variables have been linked with well-being. Optimism, for example, predicts higher well-being, with the effects mediated by a sense of control. Stable self-esteem predicts higher scores on autonomy, environmental mastery and purpose in life. Emotional regulation strategies positively predict well-being; however, suppressing emotions is a negative predictor of well-being.
Interpersonal well-being (positive relations with others) has been linked with self-reported empathy and emotional intelligence. Cross-cultural research has shown that high independence (personal control) predicted higher well-being in the US, whereas high interdependence predicted higher well-being in Japan (Lopes, 2003; Grühn, 2008; Kitayama, 2010).
Flourishing
Flourishing is a central concept in positive psychology. According to Fredrickson and Losada (2005), flourishing is about “living within an optimal range of human functioning, one that signifies goodness, growth and resilience." They believe that four main components characterise flourishing: a) goodness, marked by happiness, satisfaction and superior functioning; b) generativity, marked by broadened thought, action repertoires and behavioural flexibility; c) growth, marked by gains in enduring personal and social resources; and d) resilience, marked by survival and growth in the aftermath of adversity.
Flourishing has also been defined (partly based on Fredrickson’s broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions) as a state in which people experience positive social, emotional, and psychological functioning most of the time. In more philosophical terms, this means living a good life, an engaged life, and a meaningful life. It requires developing personal attributes that embody character strengths and virtues commonly agreed upon across cultures (Seligman, Steen, Park, and Peterson, 2005). On the other hand, languishing is a state in which people describe their lives as “hollow” or “empty” (Fredrickson & Losada, 2005).
Psychologists can study flourishing in relation to many other concepts in positive psychology. For example, they can measure the presence of positive affect, the absence of negative affect and perceived satisfaction with life. Flourishing can also be measured through self-report measures, in which people are asked about their emotions, fulfilment, and meaning in life.
Corey Keyes (2002) has identified the indicators of positive feelings and functioning by reviewing dimensions and scales of subjective well-being. He depicted flourishing as a state in which the individual has had no episodes of major depression in the past year and possesses a high level of well-being (as indicated by high positive affect, low negative affect, and life satisfaction). This shows increased psychological well-being, including self-acceptance, personal growth, purpose in life, environmental mastery, autonomy and positive relationships. Positive relationships depend on high social competencies, including social acceptance, social integration and social contributions.
The concept of flourishing has been criticised for lacking extensive research and having a weak theoretical basis.
Resources and Further Reading
Sousa, L., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2001). Life satisfaction. In J. Worell (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Women and gender: Sex Similarities and Differences and the Impact of Society on gender (Vol. 2, pp. 667-676). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Diener, E. D., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71-75.
Pavot, W., & Diener, E. (2008). The Satisfaction with Life Scale and the emerging construct of life satisfaction. The journal of positive psychology, 3(2), 137-152.
Diener, E., & Diener, M. (2009). Cross-cultural correlates of life satisfaction and self-esteem. In Culture and well-being (pp. 71-91). Springer, Dordrecht.
Delle Fave, A., Brdar, I., Freire, T., Vella-Brodrick, D., & Wissing, M. P. (2011). The eudaimonic and hedonic components of happiness: Qualitative and quantitative findings. Social Indicators Research, 100(2), 185-207.
Seligman, M. E. (2012). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. Simon and Schuster.
Peterson, C., Park, N., & Seligman, M. E. (2005). Orientations to happiness and life satisfaction: The full life versus the empty life. Journal of Happiness Studies, 6(1), 25-41.
Peterson, C., Ruch, W., Beermann, U., Park, N., & Seligman, M. E. (2007). Strengths of character, orientations to happiness, and life satisfaction. The journal of positive psychology, 2(3), 149-156.
Diener, E. (2009). Subjective well-being. In The Science of Well-Being (pp. 11-58). Springer, Dordrecht.
Diener, E., & Suh, E. M. (Eds.). (2003). Culture and subjective well-being. MIT Press.
Diener, E., Lucas, R. E., & Oishi, S. (2002). Subjective well-being: The science of happiness and life satisfaction. Handbook of positive psychology, 2, 63-73.
Ryff, C. D. (1989). “Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 57 (6): 1069–1081. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.57.6.1069.
Fava GA: Well-being therapy: conceptual and technical issues. Psychother Psychosom 1999;68: 171-179.
Ruini, C., & Fava, G. A. (2004). Clinical Applications of Well-Being Therapy. In P. A. Linley & S. Joseph (Eds.), Positive psychology in practice (p. 371–387). John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Guidi J, Fava GA, Bech P, Paykel ES: The Clinical Interview for Depression: a comprehensive review of studies and cliometrics properties. Psychother Psychosom 2011; 80: 10-27.
Ryff, C. D. (2014). Psychological well-being revisited: Advances in the science and practice of eudaimonia. Psychotherapy and psychosomatics, 83(1), 10-28.
Keyes, C. L. M. (2002). “The mental health continuum: From languishing to flourishing in life". Journal of Health and Social Behaviour. 43 (2): 207–222.
Seligman, M. E. (2012). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. Simon and Schuster.
Fredrickson, B. L., & Losada, M. F. (2005). Positive affect and the complex dynamics of human flourishing. American psychologist, 60(7), 678.
Fava GA: Well-Being Therapy. Treatment Manual and Clinical Applications. Basel, Karger, 2016.
Jahoda M: Current concepts of positive mental health. New York, Basic Books, 1958.
