Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being.
01 Jan 1989-Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (American Psychological Association)-Vol. 57, Iss: 6, pp 1069-1081
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the relationship between self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth, and found that these aspects are not strongly tied to prior assessment indexes.
Abstract: Reigning measures of psychological well-being have little theoretical grounding, despite an extensive literature on the contours of positive functioning. Aspects of well-being derived from this literature (i.e., self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth) were operationalized. Three hundred and twenty-one men and women, divided among young, middle-aged, and older adults, rated themselves on these measures along with six instruments prominent in earlier studies (i.e., affect balance, life satisfaction, self-esteem, morale, locus of control, depression). Results revealed that positive relations with others, autonomy, purpose in life, and personal growth were not strongly tied to prior assessment indexes, thereby supporting the claim that key aspects of positive functioning have not been represented in the empirical arena. Furthermore, age profiles revealed a more differentiated pattern of well-being than is evident in prior research.
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TL;DR: Correlational, quasi-experimental, and laboratory studies show that the MAAS measures a unique quality of consciousness that is related to a variety of well-being constructs, that differentiates mindfulness practitioners from others, and that is associated with enhanced self-awareness.
Abstract: Mindfulness is an attribute of consciousness long believed to promote well-being. This research provides a theoretical and empirical examination of the role of mindfulness in psychological well-being. The development and psychometric properties of the dispositional Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) are described. Correlational, quasi-experimental, and laboratory studies then show that the MAAS measures a unique quality of consciousness that is related to a variety of well-being constructs, that differentiates mindfulness practitioners from others, and that is associated with enhanced selfawareness. An experience-sampling study shows that both dispositional and state mindfulness predict self-regulated behavior and positive emotional states. Finally, a clinical intervention study with cancer patients demonstrates that increases in mindfulness over time relate to declines in mood disturbance and stress. Many philosophical, spiritual, and psychological traditions emphasize the importance of the quality of consciousness for the maintenance and enhancement of well-being (Wilber, 2000). Despite this, it is easy to overlook the importance of consciousness in human well-being because almost everyone exercises its primary capacities, that is, attention and awareness. Indeed, the relation between qualities of consciousness and well-being has received little empirical attention. One attribute of consciousness that has been much-discussed in relation to well-being is mindfulness. The concept of mindfulness has roots in Buddhist and other contemplative traditions where conscious attention and awareness are actively cultivated. It is most commonly defined as the state of being attentive to and aware of what is taking place in the present. For example, Nyanaponika Thera (1972) called mindfulness “the clear and single-minded awareness of what actually happens to us and in us at the successive moments of perception” (p. 5). Hanh (1976) similarly defined mindfulness as “keeping one’s consciousness alive to the present reality” (p. 11). Recent research has shown that the enhancement of mindfulness through training facilitates a variety of well-being outcomes (e.g., Kabat-Zinn, 1990). To date, however, there has been little work examining this attribute as a naturally occurring characteristic. Recognizing that most everyone has the capacity to attend and to be aware, we nonetheless assume (a) that individuals differ in their propensity or willingness to be aware and to sustain attention to what is occurring in the present and (b) that this mindful capacity varies within persons, because it can be sharpened or dulled by a variety of factors. The intent of the present research is to reliably identify these inter- and intrapersonal variations in mindfulness, establish their relations to other relevant psychological constructs, and demonstrate their importance to a variety of forms of psychological well-being.
9,818 citations
TL;DR: Five studies tested two general hypotheses: Individuals differ in their use of emotion regulation strategies such as reappraisal and suppression, and these individual differences have implications for affect, well-being, and social relationships.
Abstract: Five studies tested two general hypotheses: Individuals differ in their use of emotion regulation strategies such as reappraisal and suppression, and these individual differences have implications for affect, well-being, and social relationships. Study 1 presents new measures of the habitual use of reappraisal and suppression. Study 2 examines convergent and discriminant validity. Study 3 shows that reappraisers experience and express greater positive emotion and lesser negative emotion, whereas suppressors experience and express lesser positive emotion, yet experience greater negative emotion. Study 4 indicates that using reappraisal is associated with better interpersonal functioning, whereas using suppression is associated with worse interpersonal functioning. Study 5 shows that using reappraisal is related positively to well-being, whereas using suppression is related negatively.
8,261 citations
Cites background from "Happiness is everything, or is it? ..."
...In terms of Ryff’s (1989) domains of well-being, they also had higher levels of environmental mastery, personal growth, self-acceptance, and a clearer purpose in life....
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TL;DR: This review considers research from both perspectives concerning the nature of well-being, its antecedents, and its stability across time and culture.
Abstract: ▪ Abstract Well-being is a complex construct that concerns optimal experience and functioning. Current research on well-being has been derived from two general perspectives: the hedonic approach, which focuses on happiness and defines well-being in terms of pleasure attainment and pain avoidance; and the eudaimonic approach, which focuses on meaning and self-realization and defines well-being in terms of the degree to which a person is fully functioning. These two views have given rise to different research foci and a body of knowledge that is in some areas divergent and in others complementary. New methodological developments concerning multilevel modeling and construct comparisons are also allowing researchers to formulate new questions for the field. This review considers research from both perspectives concerning the nature of well-being, its antecedents, and its stability across time and culture.
8,243 citations
TL;DR: Research suggesting that certain illusions may be adaptive for mental health and well-being is reviewed, examining evidence that a set of interrelated positive illusions—namely, unrealistically positive self-evaluations, exaggerated perceptions of control or mastery, and unrealistic optimism—can serve a wide variety of cognitive, affective, and social functions.
Abstract: Many prominent theorists have argued that accurate perceptions of the self, the world, and the future are essential for mental health. Yet considerable research evidence suggests that overly positive selfevaluations, exaggerated perceptions of control or mastery, and unrealistic optimism are characteristic of normal human thought. Moreover, these illusions appear to promote other criteria of mental health, including the ability to care about others, the ability to be happy or contented, and the ability to engage in productive and creative work. These strategies may succeed, in large part, because both the social world and cognitive-processing mechanisms impose niters on incoming information that distort it in a positive direction; negative information may be isolated and represented in as unthreatening a manner as possible. These positive illusions may be especially useful when an individual receives negative feedback or is otherwise threatened and may be especially adaptive under these circumstances. Decades of psychological wisdom have established contact with reality as a hallmark of mental health. In this view, the well-adjusted person is thought to engage in accurate reality testing, whereas the individual whose vision is clouded by illusion is regarded as vulnerable to, if not already a victim of, mental illness. Despite its plausibility, this viewpoint is increasingly difficult to maintain (cf. Lazarus, 1983). A substantial amount of research testifies to the prevalence of illusion in normal human cognition (see Fiske& Taylor, 1984;Greenwald, 1980; Nisbett & Ross, 1980; Sackeim, 1983; Taylor, 1983). Moreover, these illusions often involve central aspects of the self and the environment and, therefore, cannot be dismissed as inconsequential. In this article, we review research suggesting that certain illusions may be adaptive for mental health and well-being. In particular, we examine evidence that a set of interrelated positive illusions—namely, unrealistically positive self-evaluations, exaggerated perceptions of control or mastery, and unrealistic optimism—can serve a wide variety of cognitive, affective, and social functions. We also attempt to resolve the following para
7,519 citations
TL;DR: The results reveal that happiness is associated with and precedes numerous successful outcomes, as well as behaviors paralleling success, and the evidence suggests that positive affect may be the cause of many of the desirable characteristics, resources, and successes correlated with happiness.
Abstract: Numerous studies show that happy individuals are successful across multiple life domains, including marriage, friendship, income, work performance, and health. The authors suggest a conceptual model to account for these findings, arguing that the happiness-success link exists not only because success makes people happy, but also because positive affect engenders success. Three classes of evidence--crosssectional, longitudinal, and experimental--are documented to test their model. Relevant studies are described and their effect sizes combined meta-analytically. The results reveal that happiness is associated with and precedes numerous successful outcomes, as well as behaviors paralleling success. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that positive affect--the hallmark of well-being--may be the cause of many of the desirable characteristics, resources, and successes correlated with happiness. Limitations, empirical issues, and important future research questions are discussed.
5,713 citations
Cites background from "Happiness is everything, or is it? ..."
...Happiness is one of life’s goods, but it exists in the context of a variety of other goods (Ryff, 1989; Ryff & Singer, 1998)....
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...…Wong, 1989a 123 MUNSH Cognitive jealousy .08 Pfeiffer & Wong, 1989a 123 MUNSH Emotional jealousy .24 Pfeiffer & Wong, 1989a 123 MUNSH Behavioral jealousy .17 Ryff, 1989 321 Life Satisfaction Index Personal growth .38 Schimmack et al., 2004a (Study 1) 136 SWLS Self-rated assertiveness .21 Schimmack…...
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..., in press), and a sense of personal mastery and control (Csikszentmihalyi & Wong, 1991; Grob, Stetsenko, Sabatier, Botcheva, & Macek, 1999; Lyubomirsky et al., in press; Ryff, 1989)....
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...…2000; Schimmack, Oishi, Furr, & Funder, 2004; Tarlow & Haaga, 1996), optimism (Campbell, 1981; Lyubomirsky et al., in press), and a sense of personal mastery and control (Csikszentmihalyi & Wong, 1991; Grob, Stetsenko, Sabatier, Botcheva, & Macek, 1999; Lyubomirsky et al., in press; Ryff, 1989)....
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References
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Book•
01 Jan 1962TL;DR: The need to know and the fear of knowing are two major obstacles in the development of a growth and self-actualization psychology as discussed by the authors, as well as the need to be validated.
Abstract: A LARGER JURISDICTION FOR PSYCHOLOGY. Introduction: Toward a Psychology of Health. What Psychology Can Learn from the Existentialists. GROWTH AND MOTIVATION. Deficiency Motivation and Growth Motivation. Defense and Growth. The Need to Know and the Fear of Knowing. GROWTH AND COGNITION. Cognition of Being in the Peak-Experiences. Peak-Experiences as Acute Identity-Experiences. Some Dangers of Being-Cognition. Resistance to Being Rubricized. CREATIVENESS. Creativity in Self-Actualizing People. VALUES. Psychological Data and Human Values. Values, Growth, and Health. Health as Transcendence of Environment. FUTURE TASKS. Some Basic Propositions of a Growth and Self-Actualization Psychology. Appendices. Bibliography. Additional Bibliography. Index.
6,453 citations
"Happiness is everything, or is it? ..." refers background in this paper
...The extensive literature aimed at defining positive psychological functioning includes such perspectives as Maslows (1968) conception of self-actualization, Rogerss (1961) view of the fully functioning person, Jungs (1933; Von Frenz, 1964) formulation of individuation, and Allports (1961) conception of maturity....
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Book•
01 Jan 1959
TL;DR: Erikson as mentioned in this paper collected three early papers that-along with Childhood and Society-many consider to be the best introduction to Erikson's theories: "Ego Development and Historical Change", "Growth and Crises of the Health Personality" and "The Problem of Ego Identity".
Abstract: This book collects three early papers that-along with Childhood and Society-many consider the best introduction to Erikson's theories. "Ego Development and Historical Change" is a selection of extensive notes in which Erikson first undertook to relate to each other observations on groups studied on field trips and on children studied longitudinally and clinically. These notes are representative of the source material used for Childhood and Society. "Growth and Crises of the Health Personality" takes Erikson beyond adolescence, into the critical stages of the whole life cycle. In the third and last essay, Erikson deals with "The Problem of Ego Identity" successively from biographical, clinical, and social points of view-all dimensions later pursued separately in his work.
5,239 citations
TL;DR: Les auteurs cherchent a savoir si l'humeur dans lequel le sujet se trouve au moment ou on lui demande d'evaluer sa satisfaction existentielle, influence precisement ces evaluations.
Abstract: Les auteurs cherchent a savoir si l'humeur dans lequel le sujet se trouve au moment ou on lui demande d'evaluer sa satisfaction existentielle, influence precisement ces evaluations
4,548 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1969TL;DR: In the field of mental health, the split between hedgehogs and foxes roughly parallels that between theorists and empiricists as discussed by the authors, and the hedgehog's attempt to bridge that gap and pursue systematic data collection within the framework of a single unifying concept.
Abstract: Preface Sir Isaiah Berlin has observed that there are deep differences in the ways in which people approach life, and that it may be useful to think of these ways as falling into two large groups-the way of the hedgehog and the way of the fox. Hedgehogs approach problems in an integrative manner, trying to bring everything into a single, universal, organizing principle that gives unity to the manifest diversities of life. Foxes, on the other hand, approach problems in a differentiating manner and pursue many disparate problems with little concern for haw they fit together or might fit into a larger integrated whole. Hedgehogs look for the unity in diversity; foxes look for the diversity that underlies the unity. In the field of mental health, the split between hedgehogs and foxes roughly parallels that between theorists and empiricists. The grand theorists such as Freud and Jung were militant hedgehogs. However, a review of the empirical literature in mental health, such as that by Jahoda (1958), shows the field to be dominated by foxes. This unfortunate split between hedgehog-theorists and fox-empiricists has resulted in unifying theories that dangerously approach explaining everything, and thus explaining nothing, or in disparate empirical findings that do not add up to anything. Too often theories are divorced from data, and data are collected with little regard for their theoretical import. This book is a hedgehog's attempt to bridge that gap and pursue systematic data collection within the framework of a single unifying concept. This concept-psychological well-being, or happiness has been of great concern to men since recorded history began and has been the object of vast amounts of thought and research for centuries. It is a logical concept to employ in the study of phenomena related to current concerns with mental health and mental illness, and one that is very congenial to the hedgehog mind. The particular conception of psychological well-being that is elaborated in this monograph emerges from a pilot study conducted by NORC (Bradburn and Caplovitz. 1965), which vi Preface attempted to develop instruments for measuring mental health in the population. Analysis of the data from that study led to a conceptualization of psychological well-being as a resultant of two almost completely unrelated dimensions of affect, which we called positive and negative feelings. The results of that study were sufficiently encouraging to suggest that further research along these lines would be productive. At …
4,191 citations
"Happiness is everything, or is it? ..." refers background or methods in this paper
...When it comes to articulating the basic structure of psychological well-being, discussions nearly always center around the distinction between positive and negative affect and life satisfaction (Andrews & Withey, 1976; Bradburn, 1969; Bryant & Veroff, 1982; Diener & Emmons, 1984; Liang, 1984, 1985; Stock, Okun, & Benin, 1986)....
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...Former measures: LSI = Life Satisfaction Index (Neugarten, Havighurst, & Tobin, 1961); ABS = Affect Balance Scale (Bradburn, 1969); SE = Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965); LEVP = Powerful Others, LEVI = Internal, LEVC = Chance (Levenson, 1974); ZDS = Zung Depression Scale (Zung, 1965); MS = Philadelphia Geriatric Morale Scale (Lawton, 1975)....
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