2.1: Measurements and Concepts of Happiness and Well-being
- Page ID
- 204966
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Upon reading this chapter, the reader should be able to:
- Familiarize yourself with the measurement of positive emotion and its role in the field of Positive Psychology, as well as several positive emotion theories
- Understand the value of positive emotions (e.g., what they are associated with, their function)
A Journey into Well-Being and Happiness
Dr. Barbara Fredrickson, a leading scholar in the field of positive psychology, explains simple ways that you can enhance positive emotions in your life in her video, 2-Minute Tips: How to be more positive¹.
Also, watch Dr. Fredrickson discuss how positive emotions open our minds² and broadens our awareness of the world, allowing us to become more in tune with the needs of others.
Here you can watch Sonja Lyubomirsky, a happiness researcher, shedding light on how much of our happiness is determined by our genes, and how much is within our power to control in her video, What Determines Happiness?³
Watch Ron Gutman reviews a collection of studies about smiling in his TED Talk titled, The hidden power of smiling⁴ and note down some examples of research study findings on smiling as you watch.
Read the following website overview on Eudaimonic Well-Being⁵, including the definition, meaning, and examples, written by Arasteh Gatchpazian.
Happiness is a state of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy, typically subjectively defined by the person, characterized by more positive than negative emotions, and the sense that one is progressing towards goals (Tkach & Lyubomirsky, 2006)⁶. Note that subjective well-being is used Interchangeably with Happiness, but happiness can also simply be one of the positive emotions. Although, this is very subjective and the term is often used interchangeably with well-being. Academic Psychologists and researchers in Psychology rarely use the term “happiness” to mean the broad characterization the public usually means. For now we will say happiness is a specific example of a “positive emotion”.
Hedonic and Eudaimonic Perspectives
Subjective often refers to emotions, leading us to examine subjective well-being. Subjective Well-Being (SWB) is how people experience the quality of their life in both emotional reactions (negative and positive emotions) and cognitive judgment. SWB is a hedonic approach of understanding emotions since there is a focus on pleasure and pain as indicators of well-being. On the contrary, the eudaimonic well-being approach focuses on personal meaning, growth, and positive functioning which comes from living a “good life” in line with your authentic self. Think about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs where a sense of belonging & self-actualization reside at the top of the pyramid.
One thing to note is the difference between terminology within hedonic measures. Positive emotion, for example, is specific to qualities that are temporary or fleeting. These can be seen as emotions that occur only in certain circumstances or for a short period of time. Positive mood is in the middle of hedonic and eudaimonic measures as it refers to a feeling of positivity or happiness that someone experiences over a period of time. Trait Positive affect is closer to Eudaimonic measures because it refers to a long lasting positive experience. People high in trait positive affect tend to have optimistic outlooks on life and bounce back more easily from setbacks or negative experiences.
Studying happiness requires understanding that positive and negative feelings are somewhat independent of one another. We must study them separately to get the full picture of emotional affect.
So, what are the causes of happiness? There are three causes that we will touch on. First, your goal and needs being satisfied. You need to have your basic needs met for pleasure. Secondly, keeping yourself active and engaging in things that are intrinsically rewarding. Doing things is what gives us joy and when we are doing things we enjoy and that we are good at, we tend to experience a state of flow, or being in the zone.
The most basic way to measure happiness is to simply ask people. A very simple way of doing this, often used on children, is showing different faces ranging from happy to sad. People are then asked to point to the face that expresses how they are feeling. Another way of measuring happiness is to measure positive emotions using single item happiness scales and multi item emotion scales. One example of a single item scale is asking people “how happy are you?” which is an older methodology, but still practiced today. One study showed that the single question of “how happy are you today?” predicted how long you live (Steptoe et al., 2012)⁸. A very common multi-item emotion scale is the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) which includes 20 items with an extended version of 60 items (PANAS –X).
In the next section, we will focus on implicit methods of measuring happiness.
- What are some characteristics of happy people?
- What is the happiness pie chart (Lyubomirsky)?
- What are some good mottos and strategies to be happy in the moment? (Fredrickson)
- What does it mean that positive emotions "open our minds"?
- What is the difference between hedonia and eudaimonia?
- What is the Maslow hierarchy of needs?
- What are the components of the Carol Ryff model of Well-Being?
- What is self-determination theory and how does it relate to Eudaimonia?
Definitions
- Happiness
- state of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy, typically subjectively defined by the person, characterized by more positive than negative emotions, and the sense that one is progressing towards goals
- Subjective Well-Being (SWB)
- how people experience the quality of their life in both emotional reactions (negative and positive emotions) and cognitive judgment
- Hedonia/Hedonism²¹
- refers to the prioritization of pleasure in one's lifestyle, actions, or thoughts
- Eudaimonia
- living a life that is fulfilling and finding meaning in everyday life
- Self-Actualization²²
- a need that essentially equates to achieving one’s full potential, and it can only be realized when needs lower on the pyramid have been met
- Flow²⁰
- being in the zone, or fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity
Attributions
¹UMNCSH. (2012, October 12). 2-Minute Tips: How to be more positive [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/5_BFsWfMkJ4?si=9MJghxciXIeYagdC
²Greater Good Science Center. (2011, June 21). Barbara Fredrickson: Positive Emotions Open Our Mind [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/Z7dFDHzV36g?si=iNPWHInRWAMOEPVK
³Greater Good Science Center. (2010, July 08). Sonja Lyubomirsky: What Determines Happiness? [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/_URP3-V1sY4?si=dg-Pz1cyYNKkvquK
⁴Gutman, R. (2010, July 08). The hidden power of smiling [Video]. TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/ron_gutman_the_hidden_power_of_smiling
⁵Gatchpazian, A. (n.d.). Eudaimonia: Definition, Meaning, & Examples. The Berkeley Well-Being Institute. https://www.berkeleywellbeing.com/eudaimonia.html
⁶Tkach, C., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2006). How do people pursue happiness?: Relating personality, happiness-increasing strategies, and well-being. Journal of happiness studies, 7(2), 183-225. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-005-4754-1
⁷Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020). The Pursuit of Happiness. In Psychology 2e. OpenStax. Houston, Texas. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/10-1-motivation
⁸Steptoe, A., Demakakos, P., de Oliveira, C., & Wardle, J. (2012). Distinctive biological correlates of positive psychological well-being in older men and women. Psychosomatic medicine, 74(5), 501-508. https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0b013e31824f82c8
²⁰Flow (psychology). (2024). In Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flow_(psychology)&oldid=1232125941
²¹Hedonism. (2023). In Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. CC BY-SA 4.0 https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hedonism&oldid=9004982
²²Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020). The Pursuit of Happiness. In Psychology 2e. OpenStax. Houston, Texas. Retrieved from https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-2-history-of-psychology