Showing papers on "Eudaimonia published in 2021"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors survey 82 publications to identify different concepts used in digital gaming research to represent eudaimonia and map out how these concepts relate to each other. But these concepts are potentially confusing to work with as they might represent phenomenological distinct experiences.
Abstract: Digital games have evolved into a medium that moves beyond basic toys for distraction and pleasure towards platforms capable of and effective at instigating more serious, emotional, and intrapersonal experiences. Along with this evolution, games research has also started to consider more deeply affective and cognitive reactions that resemble the broad notion of eudaimonia, with work already being done in communication studies and media psychology as well as in human–computer interaction. These studies offer a large variety of concepts to describe such eudaimonic reactions—including eudaimonia, meaningfulness, appreciation, and self-transcendence—which are frequently used as synonyms as they represent aspects not captured by the traditional hedonic focus on enjoyment. However, these concepts are potentially confusing to work with as they might represent phenomenological distinct experiences. In this scoping review, we survey 82 publications to identify different concepts used in digital gaming research to represent eudaimonia and map out how these concepts relate to each other. The results of this scoping review revealed four broad conceptual patterns: (1) appreciation as an overarching (yet imprecise) eudaimonic outcome of playing digital games; (2) covariation among meaningful, emotionally moving/challenging, and self-reflective experiences; (3) the unique potential of digital games to afford eudaimonic social connectedness; and (4) other eudaimonia-related concepts (e.g., nostalgia, well-being, elevation). This review provides a conceptual map of the current research landscape on eudaimonic game entertainment experiences and outlines recommendations for future scholarship, including how a focus on digital games contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of eudaimonic media experiences broadly.
30 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present empirical evidence that happiness, meaning, and psychological richness are related but distinct and desirable aspects of a good life, with unique causes and correlates, and report evidence that people leading psychologically rich lives tend to be more curious, think more holistically, and lean more politically liberal.
Abstract: Psychological science has typically conceptualized a good life in terms of either hedonic or eudaimonic well-being. We propose that psychological richness is another, neglected aspect of what people consider a good life. Unlike happy or meaningful lives, psychologically rich lives are best characterized by a variety of interesting and perspective-changing experiences. We present empirical evidence that happiness, meaning, and psychological richness are related but distinct and desirable aspects of a good life, with unique causes and correlates. In doing so, we show that a nontrivial number of people around the world report they would choose a psychologically rich life at the expense of a happy or meaningful life, and that approximately a third say that undoing their life's biggest regret would have made their lives psychologically richer. Furthermore, we propose that the predictors of a psychologically rich life are different from those of a happy life or a meaningful life, and report evidence suggesting that people leading psychologically rich lives tend to be more curious, think more holistically, and lean more politically liberal. Together, this work moves us beyond the dichotomy of hedonic versus eudaimonic well-being, and lays the foundation for the study of psychological richness as another dimension of a good life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
29 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined if happiness motivations may explain the direction of the causal relationship between Hedonia and eudaimonia, and found that happiness motivations are associated with a higher degree of well-being.
Abstract: Hedonia and eudaimonia have been proposed as pathways to well-being. However, the direction of the causal relationship between them remains unclear. This study examined if happiness motivations may...
22 citations
14 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated how hedonic and eudaimonic orientations to happiness vary across 12 countries and among 2615 individuals representing different regions of the world (six continents) and different cultural contexts (individualism or collectivism).
10 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the mutual benefits of a close relationship between a close friend and a close relative, and found that close friendship can promote happiness, life satisfaction, engagement, and meaning in life.
Abstract: Growing attention is being given to understanding factors that promote individuals’ happiness, life satisfaction, engagement, and meaning in life. This study examined the mutual benefits of a close...
9 citations
TL;DR: This article explored the intersections of community music interventions and popular music education to explain how they are similar and in which ways they are unique, focusing on examinations of facilitation, ownership of music, training and certification, inclusivity, life-long music making, amateur engagement, informal learning and non-formal education.
Abstract: The fields of community music and popular music education have expanded rapidly over the past few decades. While there are many similarities between these two fields, there are aspects that set these two areas of practice apart. This article seeks to explore the intersections of community music interventions and popular music education to explain how they are similar and in which ways they are unique. This discussion centres on examinations of facilitation, ownership of music, training and certification, inclusivity, life-long music making, amateur engagement, informal learning and non-formal education, and social concerns. The Greek philosophy of eudaimonism, understood as ‘human flourishing’ is then used to explore the opportunities for human fulfilment through popular music education and community music approaches.
8 citations
TL;DR: Experiences of happiness, dividable into hedonia and eudaimonia, are the integral part of holistic travel experience as mentioned in this paper, where happiness derived from pleasure seeking and pain avoidance, w...
Abstract: Experiences of happiness, dividable into hedonia and eudaimonia, are the integral part of holistic travel experience. Hedonia refers to happiness derived from pleasure seeking and pain avoidance, w...
8 citations
8 citations
TL;DR: This paper used a dialogical phenomenological analysis to conduct a group-based analysis of 17 volunteer students, who produced 51 autobiographical narrative descriptions of the joyful life, which were consistent with a meaning orientation to happiness, due to their emphasis on the cultivation of virtue in the service of a higher calling.
Abstract: In the midst of a global pandemic, psychology has a duty to identify dispositional or character traits that can be cultivated in citizens in order to create resiliency in the face of profound losses, suffering and distress. Dispositional joy holds some promise as such a trait that could be especially important for well-being during the current pandemic and its consequences. The concept of the Joyful Life may operate as bridge between positive psychology and humanistic, existential, and spiritual views of the good life, by integrating hedonic, prudential, eudaimonic and chaironic visions of the good life. Previous phenomenological research on state joy suggests that momentary states of joy may have features that overlap with happiness but go beyond mere hedonic interests, and point to the experience of a life oriented toward virtue and a sense of the transcendent or the sacred. However, qualitative research on the Joyful Life, or dispositional joy, is sorely lacking. This study utilized a dialogical phenomenological analysis to conduct a group-based analysis of 17 volunteer students, who produced 51 autobiographical narrative descriptions of the joyful life. The dialogical analyses were assisted by integration of the Imagery in Movement Method, which incorporated expressive drawing and psychodrama as an aid to explicate implicit themes in the experiences of the participants. The analyses yielded ten invariant themes found across the autobiographical narrative descriptions: Being broken, being grounded, being centered, breaking open, being uplifted, being supertemporal, being open to the mystery, being grateful, opening up and out, and being together. The descriptions of a Joyful Life were consistent with a meaning orientation to happiness, due to their emphasis on the cultivation of virtue in the service of a higher calling, the realization of which was felt to be a gift or blessing. The discussion examines implications for future research, including the current relevance of a joyful disposition during a global pandemic. Due to the joyful disposition's tendency to transform suffering and tragedy into meaning, and its theme of an orientation to prosocial motivations, the Joyful Life may occupy a central place in the study of resiliency and personal growth in response to personal and collective trauma such as COVID-19.
7 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a review of existing approaches to human wellbeing, adopting a triarchic structure that delineates hedonic wellbeing, eudaimonic wellbeing, and social wellbeing, is presented.
TL;DR: The authors explored audience responses to the combination of comedy and human-interest television, which can lead to the simultaneous experience of hedonic enjoyment and eudaimonic appreciation, and found that combining humor and human interest entertainment experiences could be key in advancing the way in which television programmes talk about stigmatized groups, leading them to a more inclusive, accessible and overall positive narrative.
TL;DR: In a survey of U.S. adults, participants answered questions about their fan behaviors, the degree to which they identify as fans, and the motives that drive their attention to their preferred texts.
Abstract: Fans of fictional texts engage with the texts of which they are fans in ways that are powerful and complex. What motivates fans to attend to their preferred texts, however, is as yet unclear. In a survey of U.S. adults, participants answered questions about their fan behaviors, the degree to which they identify as fans, and the motives that drive their attention to their preferred texts. Results indicate that fans are motivated by both hedonic and eudaimonic motives, and that stronger motives are associated with stronger fan identification. In addition, both types of motive are associated with engaging in fan behaviors characterized by involvement with the text. Eudaimonic motives are also associated with more fan community engagement, but hedonic motives are only associated with that involvement in concert with fan identification.
TL;DR: The links between spirituality and eudaimonic well-being are examined, beginning with a look at theoretical issues as to whether spirituality is best construed as part of wellbeing, or as a possible influence on wellbeing.
01 Jan 2021
TL;DR: In this paper, a distinction is made among three philosophical views of happiness namely, psychological, prudential, and perfectionist, which is translated in the psychology literature as eudaimonic or psychological wellbeing.
Abstract: In this chapter, I describe the concept of happiness based on popular philosophical writings such as Bentham and Aristotle. In this vein, I make the case that happiness is a strong and universal motive. A distinction is made among three philosophical views of happiness namely, psychological, prudential, and perfectionist. Psychological happiness, philosophically-speaking, is translated into a wellbeing concept coined as “hedonic wellbeing.” Psychological happiness or hedonic wellbeing is defined in terms of positive and negative affect, hedonic sensations of monetary pleasures, neuronal chemical release of dopamine in the brain, psychological utility, and emotional wellbeing. In contrast, prudential happiness is translated psychologically into the popular concept of life satisfaction. In that vein, prudential happiness is further translated in research related to life satisfaction, domain satisfaction, flow and engagement, desire satisfaction, and attitudinal pleasure. The third major philosophical concept of happiness is perfectionist happiness, which is translated in the psychology literature as eudaimonic or psychological wellbeing. The wellbeing research that comes under this umbrella concept include eudaimonia, purpose and meaning in life, positive mental health or flourishing, satisfaction of the full spectrum of human needs (basic and growth needs), wisdom, resilience, and functional wellbeing.
TL;DR: The authors examines Confucius' ideas of moral peace (an 安) and moral pleasure (le 樂) in the Analects and argues that an and le are two correlated aspects of a self-cultivated state of being that is grounded on practising benevolence or human-heartedness (ren 仁) and on following the Way (dao 道).
Abstract: This article examines Confucius’ ideas of moral peace (an 安) and moral pleasure (le 樂) in the Analects. It argues that an and le are two correlated aspects of a self-cultivated state of being (jing-jie 境界) that is grounded on practising benevolence or human-heartedness (ren 仁) and on following the Way (dao 道). The state of an-le involves not only one's reason (i.e., knowing ren and dao) and one's will (i.e., willing ren and dao), but also one's love or ‘emotional liking’ (hao 好) with respect to the practice of ren and dao. It is a state that resembles Kant's idea of intellectual contentment but, pace Philip Ivanhoe's recent interpretation of Confucius, it is different from Aristotle's concepts of pleasure and eudaimonia.
01 Jan 2021
TL;DR: In this paper, a plethora of studies have closely examined distinctions among concepts related to subjective aspects of quality of life, such as those that were spelled out in the earlier chapter, and the concept of subjective wellbeing is described as an umbrella concept incorporating both affective and cognitive dimensions of wellbeing.
Abstract: This chapter describes a plethora of studies that have closely examined distinctions among concepts related to subjective aspects of quality of life, such as those that were spelled out in the earlier chapter. I start out with the distinction between subjective and objective indicators of quality of life; then I make the distinction between input and outcome indicators of quality of life, after which I discuss the distinction between inner and outer aspects of quality of life. Then, I shift gears and describe studies that have focused on making a clear distinction between happiness and life satisfaction. Following this discussion, the concept of subjective wellbeing is described as an umbrella concept incorporating both affective and cognitive dimensions of wellbeing. I also discuss research distinguishing between subjective wellbeing and Eudaimonia and its variants as well as the differences between hedonic wellbeing and eudaimonic wellbeing. Two models were also presented making further distinctions of between wellbeing and illbeing, namely the structural model and the hierarchical model.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated different dimensions of well-being that can occur in work integration social enterprises (WISEs) by conducting exploratory interviews with professional workers and beneficiaries within a Spanish WISE to uncover similarities and differences across aspects of what makes work meaningful to them as workers.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to provide new evidence on the different dimensions of well-being that can occur in work integration social enterprises (WISEs) This study aims to call for a future discussion on the role of meaningful work (MW) and its impact upon well-being beyond satisfaction,Explorative interviews were undertaken with professional workers and beneficiaries within a Spanish WISE These interviews aimed to uncover similarities and differences across aspects of what makes work meaningful to them as workers Both eudaimonic and hedonic dimensions of well-being were used to analyse the data,Different groups of employees show that professional employees (those working in the WISE, not because of their disadvantages in the labour market) create their narratives based on MW experiences (eudaimonic well-being), whereas beneficiaries (those working in the WISE because of their disadvantages in the labour market) often describe how satisfied they are at work (hedonic),The concept of MW within WISEs to achieve well-being for both beneficiaries and professional workers could be enhanced through discussion of the different types of well-being that are being realised in such settings Engaging with the concept of “eudaimonia” helps the authors to achieve this aim
01 Jan 2021
TL;DR: In this article, the authors draw from ancient philosophy, primarily the Stoics, to inform contemporary decisions on these matters and contextualize it within the topics of sustainable development and community resilience.
Abstract: In contemporary times, technology promises to improve our quality of life and reduce uncertainty. I argue that technology increasingly fails to deliver on these promises. Reflections on uncertainty and human fulfillment lead us to reconsider society’s relationship to technology. To make the discussion concrete, I contextualize it within the topics of sustainable development and community resilience. As an analytical lens, I use the conception of the ‘good life’ to think about the goals of engineers, including in these goals the need for human happiness and deeper fulfillment. I draw from ancient philosophy, primarily the Stoics, to inform contemporary decisions on these matters. The Stoic concepts considered in this chapter are eudaimonia (flourishing), global concern, fate, avoiding judgment, visualizing and growing from adversity, and phronesis (practical wisdom). This approach is relevant to a wide range of professions interested in difficult decisions involving humanity’s future and wellbeing.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors advocate for a compassionate eudaimonic pedagogy model that prioritizes healing and self-care for teachers and students and cultivating an ethos of critical digital pedagology.
Abstract: The arts and entertainment sectors remain fragile because of the global pandemic. Unemployment, physical and emotional stress, social isolation, a loss of purpose, and a problematic future are just a sample of the ongoing traumas that music educators and practitioners experience under duress. As an inherently social activity, music-making becomes especially difficult when the threat of infection persists, further exacerbating somatic trauma and decreased health and wellness. The sudden loss of daily contact with others, coupled with multiple kinds of crises, complicates matters for educators. How does one flourish when their livelihood, personal connections, and sense of meaning-making disappear? Likewise, how ought the music educator navigate such uncertainty when teaching others? To address these issues, psychologists have often turned to Trauma-Informed Care (TIC), a collaborative model between the practitioner and client that recognizes and validates the impact of painful memories and experiences. This article advocates for a compassionate eudaimonic pedagogy model that prioritizes healing and self-care for teachers and students and cultivating an ethos of critical digital pedagogy—itself a form of eudaimonia. Drawing on Noddings’ (1992, 1995, 2002) Philosophy of Care, the article concludes with suggestions on future connections between eudaimonia and music education.
01 Jan 2021
TL;DR: In this article, outcomes related to hedonic wellbeing, life satisfaction, and Eudaimonia are discussed, including good health, high levels of achievement and work, good social relationships, prosocial engagement, trust, optimism, future happiness.
Abstract: This chapter discusses outcomes related to hedonic wellbeing, life satisfaction, and Eudaimonia. These outcomes include good health, high levels of achievement and work, good social relationships, prosocial engagement, trust, optimism, future happiness. The chapter also highlights research on how much happiness is optimal, how happiness is adaptive in life, and how it serves to buffer illbeing.
TL;DR: The vast amounts of patient data that are collected throughout the transplant care continuum, ranging from social determinants of health to genomic profiles and patient-reported outcomes, afford us unprecedented opportunity to enhance our definition of success for transplant patients.
01 Jan 2021
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors define overall happiness as the degree to which an individual judges the overall quality of his or her life-as-a-whole favorably, in other words: how much he likes the life he leads.
Abstract: Everything alive searches for goodness. And Ruut Veenhoven is no exception. During a long and truly amazing career, Ruut has added more to the study of happiness than most of us can hope for. One of the lasting contributions come from his insistence that in order to understand happiness, our thinking must be grounded in a broad conceptualization of goodness, one that also includes moral reasoning (e.g., Kainulainen et al. 2018; Veenhoven 2009, 2020). According to this framework, goodness can be arranged within a two (outer vs inner) by two (life-chances vs life-results) scheme in which only the inner life-result quadrant counts as happiness (Table 27.1). Hence, what Veenhoven refers to as overall happiness can be defined as “the degree to which an individual judges the overall quality of his or her life-as-a-whole favorably. In other words: how much he likes the life he leads.” (Veenhoven 1984, p. 22). In this vocabulary, terms like wellbeing, quality of life and happiness in the broadest sense of the word are used interchangeable, whereas the term overall happiness is used as a synonym for satisfaction and subjective wellbeing.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors review the themes found in the literature on eudaimonia: • Ethical behaviour • A sense of meaning and purpose • Autonomy -being able to make wise decisions and manage behaviour • Contemplation • Relationship with spirits of the ancestors and celestial beings • Relationships of mutuality, respect
Abstract: This article will review the themes found in the literature on eudaimonia: • Ethical behaviour • A sense of meaning and purpose • Autonomy – being able to make wise decisions and manage behaviour • Contemplation • Relationship with spirits of the ancestors and celestial beings • Relationships of mutuality, respect It will use these to critique various events online during the pandemic, such as the Embodiment conference, the SHIFT conference and the ZOOM peace choir. These developments related to music and wellbeing will be used to interrogate the purposes of music education and what might be learned from these new developments in relation to technology in relation to themes, such as values, orality and literacy, process and product
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine how the former military junta in Myanmar experienced significant social and political changes as a result of a series of reforms introduced by the former junta.
Abstract: Between 2011 and 2020 Myanmar experienced significant social and political changes as a result of a series of reforms introduced by the former military junta. In this article I examine how the broa...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors conducted a qualitative study to explore happiness in palliative care patients at the University of Malaya Medical Centre and found that social connections were the most important element of happiness at the end of life.
Abstract: Objective Dying is mostly seen as a dreadful event, never a happy experience. Yet, as palliative care physicians, we have seen so many patients who remained happy despite facing death. Hence, we conducted this qualitative study to explore happiness in palliative care patients at the University of Malaya Medical Centre. Method Twenty terminally ill patients were interviewed with semi-structured questions. The results were thematically analyzed. Results Eight themes were generated: the meaning of happiness, connections, mindset, pleasure, health, faith, wealth, and work. Our results showed that happiness is possible at the end of life. Happiness can coexist with pain and suffering. Social connections were the most important element of happiness at the end of life. Wealth and work were given the least emphasis. From the descriptions of our patients, we recognized a tendency for the degree of importance to shift from the hedonic happiness to eudaimonic happiness as patients experienced a terminal illness. Significance of results To increase the happiness of palliative care patients, it is crucial to assess the meaning of happiness for each patient and the degree of importance for each happiness domain to allow targeted interventions.
25 Mar 2021
TL;DR: A historical and philosophical analysis of happiness as a socio-cultural phenomenon, considering the proposed criteria and components of the state of happiness, as well as the author's integrative definition of happiness is presented in this paper.
Abstract: The article presents a historical and philosophical analysis of happiness as a socio-cultural phenomenon, considers the proposed criteria and components of the state of happiness as well as proposes the author's integrative definition of happiness. The relevance of this study is determined by the importance of the actual humanitarian indicators in assessing socio-political progress. As a result of the analysis of how the concept of happiness was historically formed and developed, it was shown that (a) the concept of happiness became widespread in the humanitarian discourse relatively late, (b) its predecessors are the ancient Greek concepts of agathon (the good) and eudaimonia (welfare, prosperity, supreme good), (c) in Western European philosophy, the understanding of good is contradictory and includes a wide range of meanings, from utilitarian to axiological, (d) the content of the concept of happiness includes two aspects: one is in the person's power and the other is determined by external factors. The article analyzes modern theories of happiness and feelings of life satisfaction as well as scientific studies of the components of the state of happiness. As a result of the analysis of these approaches, it is shown that in most modern studies, the emphasis in understanding happiness is placed on either socio-biological or socioeconomic factors. The author examines the criteria for the state of happiness. The author quotes other researchers and proposes certain steps as an algorithm for determining happiness, i.e., a formula for happiness. The importance of harmony of the following components of the human personality and life is substantiated: the belief system (and living in accordance with one's beliefs), abilities (and the possibility of their implementation in professional, cognitive activity), geographical location of residence, as well as social circle (and the balance of socio-psychological proximity and distancing).
01 Jan 2021
TL;DR: In this article, an alternative understanding of the method of idealization in eudaimonism about virtue about virtue is presented, with reflections on some uses and limits of idealisation in virtue theory.
Abstract: How can an ideal of human flourishing reveal what attributes are virtues, as eudaimonism aspires to do, when not all virtuous lives flourish? The standard answer is that even if circumstances prevent one from attaining that idealized life, still one’s life approximates to the ideal the more one’s character approximates to the ideal. However, exploration of methods of idealization reveals that “approximation” is ill-suited to contexts in which factors interact, as virtue and circumstance do. Instead, eudaimonism helps us understand the distinctive excellence of humans by providing a perspective on what is distinctly human about a distinctly human mode of life, namely practical intelligence in making use of one’s circumstances, whatever they may be. This is an alternative understanding of the method of idealization in eudaimonism about virtue, and so the chapter ends with reflections on some uses and limits of idealization in virtue theory.
24 Jan 2021
TL;DR: This article presented reflections on a symposium on eudaimonia and music learning, from the perspective of one of the organizers, which was held online in response to the Spring, 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
Abstract: This article presents reflections on a symposium on eudaimonia and music learning, from the perspective of one of the organizers. The symposium had been planned as a traditional, in person event in the United States, but was held online in response to the Spring, 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. The video-conferencing format created a more democratized liminal space that served to dissolve hierarchies and broaden participation.