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.
The Pleasurable Life is what type of happiness?
Hedonistic
The Good and Meaningful Life is which type of happiness?
Eudaimonic
What are SWB three components?
-Life satisfaction
-Positive affect
-Negative affect
What is life satisfaction?
A cognitive judgement about someone’s personal satisfaction about their life.
What statistical analysis to understand the relationship between these three components in SWB?
Factor analysis- A technique to reduce the multitude of variables into fewer variables.
What are the two revelations that statistical analysis of the three components reveal?
- One single factor that underlies all;
Epicureanism vs hedonism
The pursuit of pleasure is common, although hedonism will disregard morals for the chase of pleasure.
What is a common measure of Life Satisfaction- some are specific to life domains
-Satisfaction with Life Scale
-Sum and average
What is suggested, possible fourth component of SWB?
Domain satisfaction
Measure’s of positive and negative affect- Intensity and frequency essentially
-Bradman’s percentage feelings.
-Diener’s and Emmons nine descriptors to assess affect valence.
-Positivity Affectivity and Negativity Affectivity Schedule (PANAS), valence of each labelled affect from 1 to 5. Short and long-term.
-Facial Action Coding System.
Expressions of positive affectivity- Duchenne smile.
Research found participants with a higher level of competence and better interpersonal relationships.
Issues with research on positive and negative affectivity. -Measures on scales
Is positive and negative affectivity on a singular scale. Are they negatively correlated? When measured at positivity, there is an absence of negativity.
Or
Does positive and negative affect occur on separate scales. Can positive and negative affect be experienced at the same time.
Issues with research on positive and negative affectivity- Frequency and intensity
How much does either contribute to SWB.
It appears frequency of emotions contributes more than intensity. Although, how much and when each are relevant is unknown.
Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS)
-How an individual measures themselves as either happy or unhappy.
The catch
‘People with high SWB are more likely to perceive life in positive ways, expect a positive future, and express confidence in their abilities and skills. People with lower SWB are more focused on negative life events and show more self-absorbed rumination about themselves and their problems.
Potential biases of global self
-Reliance on memory
-Temporary moods
-
What is a global self-report of SWB, not requesting an example.
The ‘overall’ measure for a persons life, and not of specific domains.
Kahneman research on recalling experiences
People may summarise and remember emotional experiences in complex and counterintuitive ways.
Remembrance of an emotional experience is won by which factor…
-Duration
or
-Intensity
Apparently not duration, and thus leading to Kahneman’s ‘peak-end rule’. Although, Kahneman included the recollection of these experiences. As that is the experience itself
Kahneman’s ‘peak-end rule’?
Remembrance of an experience is based on the ‘peak’ and ‘end’ of the emotional experience.
Our global judgement is based on the peak of emotional intensity, and it’s ending.
Experience-sampling methods (ESM)
Encompasses a variety of measures that provide a ‘day-in-the-life’ view of emotions and events in people’s lives.
How is SWB and personal experience best analysed?
Moment-to-moment analysis
Day Reconstruction method (DRM) from Kaheman and colleagues
Real-time measure and a daily diary essentially.
A daily diary entry is made for the previous days events and is encouraged to be sequenced/sectioned as episodes are. What they were doing, where they were, and whom they interacted with. Positive and negative emotions are then rated.
Experience-sampling methods vs Global measures of SWB
ESM- Susceptible to momentary emotions
Global measures- Memory recollection
Psychological wellbeing vs subjective wellbeing
Subjective wellbeing is only a small aspect of psychological wellbeing. As happiness is to healthy happiness.
People can be happy while having delusional belief systems or experiencing pleasure from others pain.
‘Psychological Wellbeing’ PWB- by Riff
Positive mental health that is defined in two broad dimensions…
-Emotional wellbeing
-Positive functioning
Emotional wellbeing is defined by which components
SWB basically.
-Life satisfaction
-Positive affect
-Negative affect
Positive functioning is defined by two dimensions
-Psychological functioning
-Social functioning
Wellbeing consists of what three?
Global combination of…
-Emotional wellbeing
-Psychological wellbeing
-Social wellbeing
Self determination theory (SDT)
Eudemonic consolidation of happiness through the three components. These needs must be fulfilled in order to grow, also traits are often used to consolidate this theory.
- Autonomy
- Competence
- Relatedness
Need fulfillment
Is a good day the absence of negative experiences?
Reis (2000) experiment
Reis considered the SDT as traits across 76 college students.
SDT theory predicted that highly advantageous traits (autonomy, competence and relatedness) and states (need fulfilling daily activities) would correlate to a high wellbeing.
Much of the theories of happiness and wellbeing unveiled here aid to no avail of what specific aspect…
The reason why people are happy or unhappy.
Hedonistic happiness research approach.
Hint: The problem with telling people what makes them happy.
A ‘research-driven theory later’ approach to happiness and wellbeing will allow people to discover what makes them happy. As to not impose what they should be feeling, this authority of information could blindside people.
