Well-being

Well-being, wellbeing, or wellness is a general term for the condition of an individual or group. A high level of well-being means in some sense the individual or group's condition is positive.

Multiple factors

According to Naci and Ioannidis,

Wellness refers to diverse and interconnected dimensions of physical, mental, and social well-being that extend beyond the traditional definition of health. It includes choices and activities aimed at achieving physical vitality, mental alacrity, social satisfaction, a sense of accomplishment, and personal fulfillment.[1]

Approaches

Three subdisciplines in psychology are critical for the study of psychological well-being:[2]

  1. Developmental psychology, in which psychological well-being may be analyzed in terms of a pattern of growth across the lifespan.
  2. Personality psychology, in which it is possible to apply Maslow’s concept of self-actualization, Rogers’ concept of the fully functioning person, Jung’s concept of individuation, and Allport’s concept of maturity to account for psychological well-being.[3]
  3. Clinical psychology, in which it may be asserted that the absence of mental illness constitutes psychological well-being.

There are two approaches typically taken to understand psychological well-being:

  1. Distinguishing positive and negative effects, and defining optimal psychological well-being and happiness as a balance between the two.
  2. Emphasizes life-satisfaction as the key indicator of psychological well-being.[3]

According to Guttman and Levy (1982) well-being is “...a special case of attitude”.[4] This approach serves two purposes in the study of well-being: "developing and testing a [systematic] theory for the structure of [interrelationships] among varieties of well-being, and integration of well-being theory with the ongoing cumulative theory development in the fields of attitude of related research”.[4]

Models

Diener: tripartite model of subjective well-being

Diener's tripartite model of subjective well-being is one of the most comprehensive models of well-being in psychology. It was synthesized by Diener in 1984, positing "three distinct but often related components of wellbeing: frequent positive affect, infrequent negative affect, and cognitive evaluations such as life satisfaction."[5]

Cognitive, affective and contextual factors contribute to subjective well-being.[6] According to Diener and Suh, subjective well-being is "...based on the idea that how each person thinks and feels about his or her life is important."[7]

Carol Ryff: Six-factor Model of Psychological Well-being

Carol Ryff's multidimensional model of psychological well-being postlated six factors which are key for well-being:[web 1]

  1. Self-acceptance
  2. Personal growth
  3. Purpose in life
  4. Environmental mastery
  5. Autonomy
  6. Positive relations with others

Corey Keyes: flourishing

According to Corey Keyes, who collaborated with Carol Ryff, mental well-being has three components, namely emotional or subjective well-being (also called hedonic well-being),[8] psychological well-being, and social well-being (together also called eudaimonic well-being).[9] emotional well-being concerns subjective aspects of well-being, in concreto, feeling well, whereas psychological and social well-being concerns skills, abilities, and psychological and social functioning.[10]

Keyes model of mental well-being has received extensive empirical support across cultures.[10][8][11][12]

Seligmann: positive psychology

Well-being is a central concept in positive psychology. Positive psychology is concerned with eudaimonia, "the good life", reflection about what holds the greatest value in life – the factors that contribute the most to a well-lived and fulfilling life. While not attempting a strict definition of the good life, positive psychologists agree that one must live a happy, engaged, and meaningful life in order to experience "the good life". Martin Seligman referred to "the good life" as "using your signature strengths every day to produce authentic happiness and abundant gratification".[13]

Three paths to happiness

In Authentic Happiness (2002) Seligman proposed three kinds of a happy life which can be investigated:[14][15]

  1. Pleasant life: research into the Pleasant Life, or the "life of enjoyment", examines how people optimally experience, forecast, and savor the positive feelings and emotions that are part of normal and healthy living (e.g., relationships, hobbies, interests, entertainment, etc.). Despite the attention given, Martin Seligman says this most transient element of happiness may be the least important.[16]
  2. Good Life: investigation of the beneficial effects of immersion, absorption, and flow, felt by individuals when optimally engaged with their primary activities, is the study of the Good Life, or the "life of engagement". Flow is experienced when there is a positive match between a person's strength and their current task, i.e., when one feels confident of accomplishing a chosen or assigned task.[note 1]
  3. Meaningful Life: inquiry into the Meaningful Life, or "life of affiliation", questions how individuals derive a positive sense of well-being, belonging, meaning, and purpose from being part of and contributing back to something larger and more permanent than themselves (e.g., nature, social groups, organizations, movements, traditions, belief systems).

These categories appear neither widely disputed nor adopted by researchers across the 12 years that this academic area has been in existence.

PERMA-theory

Simple exercise, such as running, is cited as key to feeling happy.[17]

In Flourish (2011) Seligman argued that the last category, "meaningful life", can be considered as 3 different categories. The resulting acronym is PERMA: Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and purpose, and Accomplishments. It is a mnemonic for the five elements of Martin Seligman's well-being theory:[15][18]

Contributing factors and research-findings

Research on positive psychology, well-being, eudaimonia and happiness, and the theories of Diener, Ryff, Keyes and Seligmann covers a broad range of levels and topics, including "the biological, personal, relational, institutional, cultural, and global dimensions of life."[27]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ See related concepts: Self-efficacy and play.

References

  1. ↑ Huseyin Naci; John P. A. Ioannidis, (June 11, 2015). "Evaluation of Wellness Determinants and Interventions by Citizen Scientists". JAMA. 314: 121. PMID 26068643. doi:10.1001/jama.2015.6160.
  2. ↑ Ryff, Carol D. (1 January 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.
  3. 1 2 Ryff, C. D., & Keyes, C. M. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(4), 719–727.
  4. 1 2 Guttman, Levy, Louis, Shlomit (February 1982). "On the definition and varieties of attitude and wellbeing". Social Indicators Research. 10 (2): 159–174. doi:10.1007/bf00302508.
  5. ↑ Tov & Diener (2013), Subjective Well-Being. Research Collection School of Social Sciences. Paper 1395. http://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1395
  6. ↑ Iolanda Costa Galinha & José Luís Pais-Ribeiro (2011), Cognitive, affective and contextual predictors of subjective wellbeing. International Journal of Wellbeing, 2(1), 34–53. doi:10.5502/ijw.v2i1.3
  7. ↑ Diener, Suh, Ed, Eunkook (2000). Culture and Subjective Well-being. A Bradford Book. p. 4.
  8. 1 2 Robitschek, Christine; Keyes, Corey L. M. "Keyes's model of mental health with personal growth initiative as a parsimonious predictor.". Journal of Counseling Psychology. 56 (2): 321–329. doi:10.1037/a0013954.
  9. ↑ Keyes, Corey L. M. (2002-01-01). "The Mental Health Continuum: From Languishing to Flourishing in Life". Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 43 (2): 207–222. JSTOR 3090197. doi:10.2307/3090197.
  10. 1 2 Joshanloo 2015.
  11. ↑ Joshanloo, Mohsen; Lamers, Sanne M. A. (2016-07-01). "Reinvestigation of the factor structure of the MHC-SF in the Netherlands: Contributions of exploratory structural equation modeling". Personality and Individual Differences. 97: 8–12. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.02.089.
  12. ↑ Gallagher, Matthew W.; Lopez, Shane J.; Preacher, Kristopher J. (2009-08-01). "The Hierarchical Structure of Well-Being". Journal of Personality. 77 (4): 1025–1050. ISSN 1467-6494. PMC 3865980 Freely accessible. PMID 19558444. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2009.00573.x.
  13. ↑ Seligman, M.E.P. (2009). Authentic Happiness. New York: Free Press.
  14. ↑ Seligman 2002, p. 275.
  15. 1 2 David Sze (2015), The Father of Positive Psychology and His Two Theories of Happiness
  16. ↑ Wallis, Claudia (2005-01-09). "Science of Happiness: New Research on Mood, Satisfaction". TIME. Retrieved 2011-02-07.
  17. ↑ Best Benefit of Exercise? Happiness, Robin Loyd, Fox News, May 30, 2006.
  18. ↑ "THE WORLD QUESTION CENTER 2011— Page 2". Edge.org. Retrieved 2011-02-07.
  19. 1 2 3 Seligman, M. E. P. (2011). Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being. New York: Free Press. Ch 1
  20. ↑ "The Pursuit of Happiness".
  21. ↑ "Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi TED talk".
  22. ↑ "Other People Matter".
  23. ↑ "Using Positive Psychology in Your Relationships".
  24. ↑ "Start with Why".
  25. ↑ "Why do You do What You Do?".
  26. ↑ "The Science of a Happy Startup".
  27. ↑ Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi 2000.

Sources

Printed sources
Web-sources
  1. ↑ Carol Ryff’s Model of Psychological Well-being. The Six Criteria of Well-Being

Further reading

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