Week 2: The Good Life - Flourishing Versus Languishing Flashcards
Maximizing pleasure vs minimizing pain?
Epicureans vs Stoics
What is the daimon?
The true self- Aristotle
The good life is intertwined with…?
culture. The good life forms the ideal and what we are culturally sensitive to.
In attempting to apply wellbeing, we take two approaches.
Psychological and subjective is used to apply wellbeing and understand it.
Individual judgement often takes primacy, as there are expected fluctuations from the norm to the individual.
Is it in our best interest to chase the good life by psychological wellbeing, or does it stop at the satisfied needs of
What is the misery index? -Psychological wellbeing
A measurement of those suffering from their quality of life.
What are statistics to psychological wellbeing?
Statistics are a live action shot of the standards at certain time, they can however be misleading.
As researched, are economic and social indicators a good predictor for wellbeing
Research says not. The measure is relatively incomplete and does not account for factors.
The various problems that occur with relying on national statistics…
-Objective found, subjective missing: Diener proposed a happiness measurement/variable in needed to assess wellbeing amongst the other measurements of economic and social factors.
-Loose indication of what positive functioning is: National statistics do not measure or even define what positive functioning is.
Keyes (2003) - The absence of mental illness does not entail mental health.
-26% of Americans suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder
-10% are said to be languishing
-17% were flourishing
Languishing- APA definition
The absence of mental health.
Diener and Seligman considered the implications of a mental health index on what
Social policies
The two approaches to achieve happiness (that we know of)
-Hedonistic happiness
-Epicurean happiness
Hedonistic Happiness
The pursuit of pleasures and happiness. To out number the bad with the good.
What is subjective wellbeing?
It is the life satisfaction, positive affect and relative absence of negative affect.
Eudaimonic Happiness
Eudaimonic happiness comes as a counteractive to the unrealistic state of being constantly happy. A constant chase for pleasure may result in hindering the experience of life.
This happiness emphasises the reward that may come after an uncomfortable experience.
Much in common with the humanistic perspective.
Seligman (2002a) on Eudaimonic happiness
We reject the experience machine for positive emotions only, and ‘believe the chase reflect our positive attitudes and behaviours’.
Pleasure, disconnected from reality, does not affirm or express our identity as individuals.
Present vs Future happiness
Hedonistic vs Eudaimonic.
Everyday happiness is hedonistic happiness and eudaimonic is happiness consolidating your daimon. A realiation of our potentials and acting upon them. Activities that express our talent and values.
Waterman made college students list 5 activities that would most describe themselves to other people.
Half to two thirds could be considered as hedonistic
The other percentage was representative of eudaimonic happiness that delved challenge, competence and effort.
Who is Waterman?
One of the few researchers that studied the difference between the two forms of happiness.
Positive affect
A summary term for positive emotions, as a result of interacting with experiences and others.
King and colleagues investigated the relationship between positive affect and meaning making.
Positive affect may enhance people’s ability to find meaning in their lives.
Studies which asked those that often experience positive affect on their chances of reporting meaningfulness.
It is incredibly difficult to study the two alongside one another despite their overlap.