An exploration of the well-being benefits of hedonic and eudaimonic behaviour

Hedonia and eudaimonia have both been proposed as pathways to well-being. Past research in this area has predominantly focused on global cognitive evaluations of how one typically lives. Findings from such research lack practical relevance, and hence, this study aimed to investigate how actual hedonic and eudaimonic behaviour related to well-being and psychopathology. Participants (N?=?105) completed an array of well-being outcomes prior to completing an online diary, reporting actual instances of hedonic and eudaimonic behaviour. Participants spent more time engaged in hedonic activity than eudaimonic activity. Hedonic activity served an emotion regulation function, predicting positive affect, carefreeness, vitality, and life satisfaction. Hedonic behaviour also predicted reduced negative affect, depression, and stress. Eudaimonic behaviour predicted meaning in life and elevating experience. Both hedonic and eudaimonic behaviours predicted flourishing. These findings suggest that increasing hedonic and eudaimonic behaviours may be an effective way to increase well-being and reduce psychological distress.     

Life satisfaction goes with pleasure and personal growth goes with interest: Further arguments for separating hedonic and eudaimonic well-being

Some theories suggest that pleasure and interest are separable emotions, with distinct functions and phenomenology. This study proposes a functional model of well-being that draws on these insights. It argues that both pleasure and satisfaction are elements of hedonic well-being and that their main function is to reward goal achievement and to mentally signalize that the body is in homeostatic stability. In contrast, the main function of interest is to promote mental and physical growth, and to suppress hedonic tendencies of premature returns to a homeostatic balance during difficult strivings. The feeling of interest facilitates personal growth, and is thus an indicator of eudaimonic well-being. A follow-up study (N?=?145 Norwegian students) gave empirical support to these assumptions. Life satisfaction predicted feelings of pleasantness while personal growth predicted feelings of interest. With a projective technique, it was further demonstrated that satisfaction produces pleasant stories, but not interesting stories.     

Happiness,Rationality, Autonomy and the Good Life

The paper starts with a general discussion of the concepts of happiness and the good life. I argue that there is a conceptual core of happiness which has to do with one’s life as a whole. I discuss affective and attitude or life satisfaction views of happiness and indicate problems faced by those views. I introduce my own view, the life plan view, which sees happiness as the ongoing realizing of global desires of the person. I argue that on such a view one’s life could be happy without a high level of rationality or a high level of autonomy; such rationality and autonomy are not built into the concept of happiness. So while happiness is a final value, and good for the person, it is not the only final value. Rationality and autonomy are also final values and, where they exist, are good as ends for the person, part of the good life.     

Effects of positive interventions and orientations to happiness on subjective well-being

This study examined the effects of positive interventions and orientations to happiness on well-being. Participants were 218 self-selected adults randomly assigned to one of four positive interventions (pleasure, engagement, meaning or a combination), or daily events or no intervention control groups. Participants completed the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form and Orientations to Happiness Questionnaire. Analysis of variance results supported the hypothesis that well-being would significantly increase for participants in all intervention groups with those in the meaning, engagement, pleasure and combination groups showing larger increases than those in the control groups. Contrary to expectations, the control group also showed an increase in well-being. The prediction that participants’ dominant orientation to happiness would influence the success of the positive interventions in increasing well-being was supported at post-intervention but not at follow-up. Findings support the effectiveness of positive interventions in increasing well-being and underscore the importance of including individual difference factors such as Orientations to Happiness.     

Positive work experiences and life satisfaction: the moderating role of gender

This study investigated the effects of work engagement and psychological meaningfulness on life satisfaction taking into account the moderating effect of gender. A cross-sectional research design was used to capture data on satisfaction with life, work engagement and psychological meaningfulness. The sample consisted of 796 employees from various companies in South Africa (women?=?65.9%; aged between 18 and 67). The results showed work engagement and psychological meaningfulness to significantly predict life satisfaction. A significant interaction effect for gender was found on the relationships between work engagement on life satisfaction and psychological meaningfulness on work engagement respectively. The results indicated that men showed a higher level of life satisfaction when work engagement was high. Women showed lower levels of life satisfaction the more they engage in their work. Women further experienced a higher level of work engagement compared to men; however, the relationship between psychological meaningfulness and work engagement was stronger for men. The more psychological meaningfulness men experience, the more they will engage-unlike women, who tend to experience work engagement irrespective of psychological meaningfulness.     

Beyond self-report in the study of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being: Correlations with acquaintance reports, clinician judgments and directly observed social behavior

Surprisingly little is known about how well-being is related to social reputation, clinician judgments, and directly observed social behaviors. This study presents data that bear directly on these issues, along with comparing the personality and behavioral correlates of subjective happiness, a measurement based on a hedonic conceptualization of well-being, with psychological well-being, a eudaimonic conceptualization. The findings demonstrate remarkable consistency in the pattern of correlates of the two measures across acquaintance ratings, clinician judgments, and directly observed social behaviors. By either conceptualization, people high in well-being enjoy positive social reputations (e.g., cheerful, sociable, satisfied with life), are rated as well-adjusted by clinicians (e.g., consistent, resilient), and can be observed to exhibit adaptive social behaviors (e.g., social skill, expressiveness).     

Sex role orientation and its relationship to the development of identity and moral thought

This paper examined the links among sex role orientation, ego identity development and moral reasoning. 76 female and 58 male students were assessed on Bern's sex role inventory, ego identity, care-based and justice-based moral thought. For women, identity was negatively related to femininity and positively related to androgyny. Also, high levels of care-based moral reasoning, i.e., a balanced concern for the welfare of self and others, was related to androgyny for women. There were no significant findings for men. No significant relationships were found between sex role orientation and justice-based moral reasoning. Thus, the results suggested that for women in particular, relinquishing the stereotyped sex role definition and becoming more androgynous is important for their ego identity as well as care-based moral development.     

The Sources of Meaning and Meaning in Life Questionnaire (SoMe): Relations to demographics and well-being

Shortfalls of widely used measures of meaning in life are described. Their use results in biased correlations and restriction of the complexity inherent in experiences of meaning. To qualify results, the Sources of Meaning and Meaning in Life Questionnaire (SoMe) is employed. It offers separate scales to measure a positive and a negative dimension of meaning: meaningfulness–a fundamental sense of meaning and belonging, and crisis of meaning–the evaluation of life as frustratingly empty and lacking meaning. Both intercorrelate moderately (?.38/?.35). Additionally, the SoMe assesses 26 sources of meaning. Based on a representative sample, relationships between meaningfulness, crisis of meaning, and sources of meaning with demographics are reported (Study 1). In Study 2, SoMe scales are correlated with positive (mood, satisfaction with life) and negative (neuroticism, anxiety, depression) indicators of well-being. SEM reveals that meaningfulness predicts positive well-being, but is not predictive of negative well-being. Crisis of meaning is a strong predictor for both positive and negative well-being.     

Themes of Self‐Regulation and Self‐Exploration in the Life Stories of Religious American Conservatives and Liberals

A sample of 128 highly religious (Christian) midlife American adults completed a series of attitudinal and personality trait measures and narrated 12 important autobiographical scenes in their life stories. Individuals high on self‐reported political conservatism tended to accentuate the theme of self‐regulation in their life stories, repeatedly describing important autobiographical scenes wherein they struggled to control, discipline, manage, restrain, protect, or preserve the self. By contrast, individuals high on political liberalism tended to emphasize the theme of self‐exploration, telling stories about expanding, discovering, articulating, or fulfilling the self. Demographics and dispositional traits (especially openness to experience) showed significant associations with conservatism‐liberalism, as well, but these variables did not mitigate the robust relationship between life‐narrative themes and political orientation. The results are discussed in terms of a broadened understanding of personality that conceives of dispositional traits and narrative identity as comprising distinct layers and complementary features of psychological individuality, both implicated in political lives.     

Happiness is a warm abstract thought: Self-construal abstractness and subjective well-being

Research investigating the relationship between self-construals and subjective well-being has traditionally focused on understanding how dimensions such as positivity–negativity and internality–externality relate to well-being. This paper presents two studies that investigate how a potentially important yet unexamined dimension, the abstractness versus concreteness of people's self-construals, is related to life satisfaction. Study 1 showed that happier people tend to think about themselves with higher level of abstraction than less happy people, even after controlling for the overall valence and internality of their construals. Study 2 found that people randomly assigned to think about themselves in abstract rather than concrete terms reported greater pre- to post-manipulation increases in reports of life satisfaction. Implications of these findings for understanding individual differences in well-being are discussed, and directions for future research are presented.     

A feasibility study of psychological strengths and well-being assessment in individuals living with recurrent depression

Current conceptualizations of mental illness focus on assessing psychopathology. A balanced approach would assess strengths that individuals bring to coping with illness. This study measures psychological strengths in individuals with recurrent depression, their coping strategies, and their perceptions of the usefulness of strengths assessment as a component of psychological assessment. Individuals (N?=?112) with recurrent depression completed an online questionnaire measuring several psychological strengths, including gratitude, forgiveness, spirituality, and hope. Participants also described their use of coping strategies and their reaction to the utility of the two-continua model of mental health. A subset (n?=?10) completed a follow-up telephone interview. Higher levels of gratitude, self-forgiveness, hope, and spirituality and lower levels of optimism were indicative of higher life satisfaction. Self-forgiveness, spirituality, and gratitude were predictors of happiness. Higher levels of hope and self-forgiveness predicted positive affect whereas lower levels of self-forgiveness predicted negative affect. Participants reported using a range of coping resources and indicated that they valued strengths assessment, perceiving the two-continua model of mental health as empowering. The researcher discusses implications for clinical practice.     

The relations of generative concern and generative action to personality traits,satisfaction/happiness with life,and ego development

This research examined the relations that generative concern and generative action have to personality traits, satisfaction/happiness with life, and ego development. Generative concern is a general personality tendency or interest in caring for younger and anticipated individuals, while generative action addresses actual physical behaviors that promote the well-being of future generations. Two samples (79 and 152 adults) were employed. Generative concern scores were significantly related to scores for extraversion, openness, emotional stability (non-neuroticism), and agreeableness as well as to two agentic traits (achievement, dominance) and two communal traits (affiliation, nurturance). Generative action was significantly related to extraversion and openness. Generative concern but not generative action was found, as predicted, to be positively related to one's life satisfaction/happiness. Further, one's level of ego development determined, in part, the relation that generative concern had to satisfaction/happiness with life. Given that a subject scored high in ego development, his or her level of satisfaction/happiness varied as a function of generative concern such that those who scored low on generative concern were significantly less satisfied/happy than those that scored high on generative concern. The results are discussed within the context of the recently proposed theory of generativity.     

Living well: a self-determination theory perspective on eudaimonia

This article distinguishes between hedonic and eudaimonic approaches to wellness, with the former focusing on the outcome of happiness or pleasure and the latter focusing not so much on outcomes as on the process of living well. We present a model of eudaimonia that is based in self-determination theory, arguing that eudaimonic living can be characterized in terms of four motivational concepts: (1) pursuing intrinsic goals and values for their own sake, including personal growth, relationships, community, and health, rather than extrinsic goals and values, such as wealth, fame, image, and power; (2) behaving in autonomous, volitional, or consensual ways, rather than heteronomous or controlled ways; (3) being mindful and acting with a sense of awareness; and (4) behaving in ways that satisfy basic psychological needs for competence, relatedness, and autonomy. In fact, we theorize that the first three of these aspects of eudaimonic living have their positive effects of psychological and physical wellness because they facilitate satisfaction of these basic, universal psychological needs. Studies indicate that people high in eudaimonic living tend to behave in more prosocial ways, thus benefiting the collective as well as themselves, and that conditions both within the family and in society more generally contribute toward strengthening versus diminishing the degree to which people live eudaimonic lives.     

Religiosity and its association with subjective well-being and depression among Kuwaiti and Palestinian Muslim children and adolescents

The present study sought to investigate the association of religiosity and the self-ratings of happiness, satisfaction with life, mental health, physical health, and depression among Kuwaiti (N?=?1937) and Palestinian (N?=?1009) Muslim children and adolescents (M _age?=?14.1, SD?=?1.4). They responded to five self-rating scales and the Multidimensional Child and Adolescent Depression Scale. It was found that Palestinian males were significantly less religious than all other groups, while Kuwaiti males and females had significantly higher mean scores on happiness and satisfaction than Palestinians. Kuwaiti males had significantly higher mental health and less depression than all other groups. Among all the four groups, the correlations between religiosity and well-being rating scales were positively significant, but negatively significant with depression. The principal components analysis yielded a single salient factor for all groups and labelled “Religiosity and well-being vs. depression.” It was concluded that clinicians treating depression will probably make use of its negative association with religiosity mainly among Muslim clients.     

生命需要心理学理论与生命教育方法

＂生命需要心理学理论与生命教育方法＂是研究者开展了为期五年的生命发展研究后获得的心理学与教育学的研究成果。五年中,研究者以0～6岁正常学前儿童为对象,对其实行生命发展教育,获取了大量的生命发展事实,证明了：1）人类生命具有人人可遵循的生长发展规律——＂需要＂的生长发展规律;2）＂需要＂的生物性基础的早期建构是＂需要＂生长发展规律的核心内容;3）马斯洛的＂需要层次＂中心理需要的低级阶段——＂安全需要＂之前还存在一个生命的原始需要——以＂新奇、探索、操作＂为对象的＂需要＂,其贯穿在0～6岁的儿童早期生命阶段;4）0～6岁时期,＂儿童需要＂不是恒定的、稳定的、成熟的心理机能,而是处在生长过程中。＂需要＂强度的提升是0～6岁时期以＂需要＂为核心的心理整体建构的鲜为人知的生命法则;5）0～6岁时期＂需要＂的良好建构,使＂需要＂水平达到推动生命走向＂需要＂的最高层次——＂自我实现需要＂的强度;6）＂需要层次＂与生命质量存在着内在关联;7）儿童＂原始需要＂满足的方法为：在儿童＂原始需要＂机能强度与寓含＂新奇、探索、操作＂属性的＂原始需要＂对象即外部刺激之间建立起犹如昆虫与花类般默契的真正联系。     

Narrative identity in female patients with remitted bipolar disorder: a negative past and a foreshortened future

The present study examined narrative identity and subjective well-being in outpatients with remitted bipolar disorder (BD) and a healthy control group. Fifteen female outpatients with remitted BD and 15 healthy control participants identified past and future chapters in their life stories, gave their age for the beginning and end of each chapter, rated emotional tone as well as positive and negative self-event connections associated with the chapters, and for future chapters rated the probability of the chapter. The BD patients reported less positive emotional tone and self-event connections for past chapters, but not for future chapters. However, the patients did describe fewer future chapters with shorter temporal projection into the future, and reported lower probability of future chapters. These characteristics of chapters were related to lower subjective well-being. The study suggests that a more negative narrative identity with a foreshortened future perspective may contribute to lower subjective well-being in patients with BD.     

Rising High or Falling Deep? Pathways of Self‐Esteem in a Representative German Sample

In many longitudinal studies, self‐esteem has been shown to increase up until around age 50 or 60 and to decrease thereafter. These studies have also found substantial inter‐individual differences in the intra‐individual development of self‐esteem. In the current study, we examined whether this variation in change could be attributed to underlying latent classes of individuals following different trajectories of self‐esteem development over time. By applying general growth mixture modelling to data from the representative German pairfam study (N = 12 377), four latent classes of self‐esteem development across five years were extracted. Based on their mean levels, trajectories, and variability, individuals in the latent classes could be described as having (a) constant and stable high self‐esteem (29.00% of the sample), (b) constant but variable moderate self‐esteem (31.69%), (c) increasing and stabilizing self‐esteem (15.13%), and (d) decreasing and variable self‐esteem (24.18%). Furthermore, these latent classes differed in accordance with findings of prior research on self‐rated, partner‐rated, and objective correlates of the domains of health and well‐being, partner relationships, and occupational status. Thus, the current study shows that inter‐individual variation in intra‐individual change in self‐esteem is not random but reflects specific individual trajectories, or pathways, of self‐esteem. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology     

意义疗法的理论、方法与技术:基于存在积极心理学的视角

意义疗法是以存在积极心理学为理论基础,以构建个体生命意义为目的,实现生活正负两极性的动态平衡,从而解决其心理困扰获得心理治愈与成长的一种整合性心理咨询与治疗方法。起源于Frankl意义学说的意义疗法是通往人类美好生活的路径,它源于对苦难生活所隐含意义的本质认识。在理论上,意义疗法以意义定向看世界为中心,以意义管理理论和双系统模型为支架; 在方法上,为保障意义获得,应遵循8个基本问题和12条原则,充分发挥意义源的作用,实现意义获得的双路径统一; 在技术上,灵活采用趋向性(PURE)策略、回避性(ABCDE)策略、以及双视角双通道策略或其它策略的整合。意义疗法因包含了精神成分而超越了心理动力学和个体心理学等传统心理治疗方式。未来研究还需明确意义疗法整合了哪些流派的具体方法和技术,细化意义疗法主要的技术与策略的操作步骤,考察成熟幸福感量表在中国文化下的适用性,以及充分整合质性与量化研究方法检验意义疗法在中国的适用性     

Quality of Life in the European Union and the United States of America: Evidence from Comprehensive Indices

The main question of this article is about the quality of life in the European Union and the United States measured by different comprehensive indicators (HDI, WBI, WISP, OLS, PWI, ABS, HLE). On the world scale moderately different levels of quality of life characterize the European Area and the US. In objective terms, the US is more at the top level regarding economy and science, whereas Europe is more at the top level regarding social concerns in a broad sense. In subjective terms, which means to rely on the usual subjective measures, the average of US population seems to be slightly better off than the average of the EU population. That said, the differences inside the EU are often more significant than those between the EU and the US. Many EU countries in Northern and Western Europe show higher satisfaction levels than the US, and Eastern Europe is especially low in respect to the satisfaction of its population. It is rather obvious that the choice of criteria and values influences the results of the comparisons of nations and supranational unions to a considerable degree.     

Meaning in life across the life span: Levels and correlates of meaning in life from emerging adulthood to older adulthood

Meaning in life is thought to be important to well-being throughout the human life span. We assessed the structure, levels, and correlates of the presence of meaning in life, and the search for meaning, within four life stage groups: emerging adulthood, young adulthood, middle-age adulthood, and older adulthood. Results from a sample of Internet users (N = 8756) demonstrated the structural invariance of the meaning measure used across life stages. Those at later life stages generally reported a greater presence of meaning in their lives, whereas those at earlier life stages reported higher levels of searching for meaning. Correlations revealed that the presence of meaning has similar relations to well-being across life stages, whereas searching for meaning is more strongly associated with well-being deficits at later life stages.