Eudaimonic Well-Being

Whilst positive emotions benefit well-being, the role of other more complex emotional experiences for well-being is less well understood. This research therefore investigated the relationship between mixed emotions and eudaimonic well-being. A cross-sectional study (Study 1; N = 429) first demonstrated (using structural equation modelling) that mixed emotions are related to the presence of goal conflict. Importantly, it was also found that mixed emotions are positively related to eudaimonic well-being, and that one potential mechanism linking mixed emotions and eudaimonic well-being is via the search for meaning in life. Study 2 (N = 52) implemented a quasi-experiment regarding a naturally occurring meaningful life event (i.e., graduation day) and again demonstrated that mixed emotions are associated with a greater level of eudaimonic well-being. Implications of these findings include the importance of mixed emotions in the search for meaning in life, and the role of mixed emotions in goal conflict resolution.

Given experimental evidence of enhancement of well-being as a result of brief exposure to nature, we sought to study the effect of ongoing nature involvement on well-being. Undergraduate participants (N = 84) were randomly assigned to either a nature intervention condition or a control condition. Results indicated that, at the end of two-weeks, net-positive affect and feelings of elevation were significantly higher, and meaning was marginally higher, in the nature intervention condition relative to the control condition. Self-concordant motivation was also higher for the nature condition, suggesting that the nature intervention was perceived as intrinsically pleasant. Levels of trait connectedness to nature did not moderate the impact of the nature intervention on well-being, suggesting that nature involvement is beneficial among a variety of individuals. High levels of nature involvement were voluntarily sustained throughout the two-weeks of the study. For the most part, participants engaged in simple activities involving nature close to home, indicating that drastic life changes need not be made in order to improve positive functioning and feelings. This research provides important empirical groundwork for future research concerning daily nature involvement as an effective positive psychology intervention.
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/eco.2014.0023

La felicità ha da sempre interessato i filosofi, ma negli ultimi sessant’anni se ne stanno occupando anche gli psicologi. Il benessere, il funzionamento ottimale e altri argomenti simili interessano studiosi di vari ambiti, ma anche il pubblico in generale, che ormai ha acquistato una certa familiarità con tali discussioni, tramite internet e i libri di autoaiuto.
Questa ricerca intende esaminare come il discorso eudaimonico si sviluppi oggi anche al di fuori dell’ambito della filosofia morale. Dopo una breve considerazione sul ruolo dell’eudaimonia nel pensiero filosofico dell’antichità e all’interno della teorizzazione etica, si passa allo studio del pensiero di Martin Seligman fino ad arrivare alla nascita della psicologia positiva e alla nozione di felicità intesa come flourishing. L’eudaimonia nel pensiero di quest’autore è paragonata alla concezione classica, allo scopo di mettere in luce alcune similitudini e, al tempo stesso, rilevare delle differenze. Infatti, il presente saggio svolge, innanzitutto, un lavoro esplorativo sulla psicologia positiva, mettendo a disposizione del lettore le due teorie di Seligman sulla felicità e le principali tematiche empirico-esistenziali da lui esposte: le emozioni positive, la resilienza, le virtù, le esercitazioni, il carattere e i suoi punti di forza. Il focus non è tanto quello della “novità” della proposta, bensì quello di valutarne la formulazione, i limiti e gli sviluppi in corso. L’interlocuzione filosofica è sostenuta da elementi presenti all’interno del pensiero classico, sullo sfondo della teoria etica delle virtù che parte dal punto di vista del soggetto agente e lo considera in modo prioritario ma non esclusivo.

What is the relationship between friendship and human flourishing? This is a central topic in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and one to which Maimonides also returned throughout his career. Despite the relative neglect of this topic in recent scholarship, I argue that friendship (philia) was an important link between moral and intellectual perfection for Maimonides. He identified Aristotle’s virtue friendship with the love between students and teachers and also interpreted many of the divine commandments as efforts to promote both family and virtue friendship among the Jewish people. Friendship was aligned thematically in Maimonides’ writings with topics like kinship and sexuality, circumcision, and the ethics of speech, all of which point in different ways to the unresolved tension between rational and sensual aspects of our human condition. This article therefore contributes to the investigation of the relationship between Maimonides’ legal and philosophical writing on social themes. While Aristotle clearly influenced his reading of biblical and rabbinic texts for example, I will also argue that Maimonides’ religious and communal commitments helped to push his reading of Aristotle in a broadly inclusive direction— both with respect to the range of different goods that are appropriate to an ideal human life as well as the potential accessibility of those goods to different classes of persons. I offer this article as a corrective to the exaggerated focus on seclusion and solitary contemplation that has characterized academic scholarship on Maimonides.

Both academic and popular discussions of the pursuit of happiness tend to downplay its relative importance in the trinity of unalienable rights listed in the Declaration of Independence. Its inclusion is often treated as little more than a curiosity or a rhetorical flourish. Investigation of the personal and public writings of the founders of the United States and their intellectual forebears reveals that the founding generation held as a fundamental assumption that the primary purpose of government and the main criterion for measuring its worth was the extent to which it facilitated the pursuit and promoted the obtainment of happiness among its people. This "Founding Assumption" was a natural outgrowth of the Enlightenment, and was the one idea that united the founding generation even in the midst of passionate disagreement about the proper size, scope and powers of government. The conception of happiness held by the Founders had deep historical roots and included elements of enjoyment, fulfillment and civic virtue.

The scientific study of well-being has been strongly influenced by ideas from a number of related fields, including different areas of psychology.  Two major philosophical traditions—hedonia and eudaimonia—underscore much of our current understanding of well-being, and are reflected across early and contemporary psychological theories of well-being.  These traditions help delineate the various conceptualizations of well-being and its components; moreover, these traditions influence which research questions are asked, and where and how answers are sought.  This has resulted in a plethora of categories and terms referring to similar, yet distinct, concepts such as:  well-being, happiness, optimal or positive experiences, life satisfaction, and flourishing.  Given the difficulties of distinguishing these concepts, this paper aims to provide clarity by delineating the major orientations in positive psychology.  We provide a “road-map” to theories and models of well-being found within positive psychology, thereby providing a starting a point from which an integrative framework of theories and models of well-being can be developed.  To that end, also included in this review is a selection of well-being models that lie beyond the traditional frameworks.  We conclude with a consideration of several criticisms that have been directed at positive psychology, and provide recommendations for future directions.
https://doi.org/10.1037/cap0000033

Media technology—from mass media to social media and from video gaming to computer-mediated communication—plays an increasingly central role in people’s lives. Due to exponential increases in computing power, people now carry incredibly powerful computers—their smartphones—everywhere they go. This ever-greater access to media technology is generating an ever-greater conflict between media activities and the unmediated activities critical for psychological well-being—from our face-to-face conversations and family time to our down time and work lives. What are the costs and benefits of people’s modern media technology use for psychological well-being? Using a complementarity-interference (CI) framework, I review research to illuminate key psychological processes (i.e., mediators) and conditions (i.e., moderators) of the relationship between media technology and psychological well-being. Based on the existing evidence, I propose an initial theoretical CI model of the effects of media technology on psychological well-being. I use this CI model to outline important directions for future research, providing guidelines for an integrated, theoretically informed research on media technology.

Das Buch behandelt traditionelle Themenfelder der philosophischen Ethik: Glück, Reichweite der Ethik, Non-Kognitivismus, Egoismus, Utilitarismus, Deontologie, Konsequenzialismus, Tugendethik, Wertethik, Realismus, Freiheit, Moralpsychologie, Solidarität, Loyalität. Diese Problemhorizonte befinden sich jeweils in einem offenen Feld systematischer Optionen. Offen ist es, weil sich Philosophen zur Entwicklung eigener Positionen hier erst systematisch verorten müssen. Die vorliegende Einführung stellt daher keine konkrete Position der Ethik als „Ethik des Autors“ vor. Vielmehr vermittelt sie in der Diskussion klassischer Themenfelder der Ethik philosophische Kompetenzen bei der Beurteilung und Präsentation konkreter Ansätze der Ethik. Es wird gezeigt, wie die Diskussion in diesen Themenfeldern von metaphilosophischen oder metaethischen Vorannahmen strukturiert wird. Das Buch ist für das Studium der Philosophischen Ethik im universitären Kontext konzipiert. (ethik.andreasvieth.de)
ISBN 978-3-7460-4508-5 (Paperback)
ISBN 978-3-7460-5523-7 (Hardback)
ISBN 978-3-7380-2658-0 (epub)

Epicureans often seem to be unduly obsessed by death and this makes itself felt throughout the various branches of their philosophy. A primary , perhaps the primary, goal of Epicurean inquiries into physics and metaphysics, for example, is to demonstrate that we are material compounds subject to the same deterioration and eventual dissolution that affect all other temporary atomic unions; at death, they argue, we too are permanently annihilated into more basic material constituents. Similarly , Epicureans make a concerted attempt in their theology to allay any worries that the gods are capable of or even interested in punishing the dead or making them suffer. After all, the gods can hardly punish us when our atoms are scattered and we no longer exist. The justification for such systematic concerns about death becomes more clear in the light of Epicurean ethical works. Epicureans share with most ancient moralists the eudaimonist assumption that happiness is our ultimate aim and the goal of all of our rational actions. They insist, moreover, that among the most important obstacles to a happy and virtuous life is a mistaken view of the condition of the dead and of the effects of death upon the living. Most of us, they argue, are driven into troubling and ultimately self-defeating competitions for power and material goods because we wrongly fear death as an evil and suppose that such things can be of help in eluding it. 1 As a result, we find 1 I will not be taking up this important aspect of Epicurus' argument. For discussions of how, in the view of Epicureans, the fear of death affects our actions and goals see Nussbaum (1989) and Segal (1990).

Happiness has become a central theme in public debates. Happiness indicators illustrate this importance. This article offers a typology of the main challenges conveyed by the elaboration of happiness indicators, where happiness can be understood as hedonia, subjective well-being, or eudaimonia. The typology is structured around four questions: (1) what to measure?—i.e., the difficulties linked to the choice of a particular understanding of happiness for building an indicator; (2) whom to include?—i.e., the limits of the community monitored by such an indicator; (3) how to collect the data?—i.e., the difficulties stemming from objective and subjective reporting; (4) what to do?—i.e., the concerns about the use of happiness indicators in public policy. The major points of normative contention are discussed for each of these dimensions. The purpose of this article is to contribute in a constructive manner to happiness research by offering an overview of some major philosophical and political challenges of building happiness indicators. The conclusion underlines the importance of the strategy of diversification- hybridization, which consists in setting a variety of indicators or composite indicators that articulate different understandings of happiness. It is stressed that happiness indicators raise democratic and institutional issues with which normative thinkers should deal.

This paper crosses the borders of human geography to bring back two related bodies of work from experimental psychology that investigate, in an unusual and refreshingly precise way, long-standing human geographical concerns with tem-porality, place and subject formations, meaning-making and well-being. It is argued that the traffic of ideas and empirical findings between human geography and experimental psychology can be mutually profitable if, and only to the extent that, it encompasses a sustained epistemological, methodological and political critique of the disciplinary practices that have yielded those ideas and findings.

The study aimed to test whether a shift in chronotype (determined by mid-sleep on free days) is associated with alterations in psychological well-being and sleep parameters. One hundred and seventeen undergraduates were tested in longitudinal study with four repeated measures. Measurements were taken during spring in three-week intervals and each measurement consisted of self-reported sleep parameters on work and free days (i.e. bedtime, sleep latency, wake time, sleep onset, mid-sleep time, social jetlag), satisfaction with life, and mood (energetic arousal, tense arousal, hedonic tone). Between-subjects analyses revealed earlier chronotypes, as compared to the later ones, showing lower tense arousal, higher energetic arousal and life satisfaction, earlier bedtime, sleep onset and offset on both work and free days, longer sleep duration and shorter sleep latency on workdays, and less social jetlag. Within-subjects analyses revealed increasing photoperiod associated with a shift toward earlier chronotype, decrease in social jetlag, and shortening sleep latency. The seasonal shift toward earlier chronotype was not associated with alterations in mood or life satisfaction, but it was associated with a shift toward earlier bedtimes and longer sleep duration on workdays, decrease in sleep latency, and social jetlag. Results from the within-subjects analyses were consistent with the results of between-subjects analyses regarding sleep–wake functioning, but inconsistent regarding psychological outcomes.

Background: There are hundreds of mindfulness-based interventions in the form of structured and unstructured therapies, trainings, and meditation programs, mostly utilized in a clinical rather than a well-being perspective. The number of empirical studies on positive potentials of mindfulness is comparatively less, and their known status in academia is ambiguous. Hence, the current paper aimed to review the studies where mindfulness-based interventions had integrated positive psychology variables, in order to produce positive functioning.

Methods: Data were obtained from the databases of PubMed, Scopus, and PsycNet and manual search in Google Scholar. From the 3831 articles, irrelevant or inaccessible studies were eliminated, reducing the number of final articles chosen for review to 21. Interventions that contribute to enhancement of eudaimonia, hedonia, and other positive variables are discussed.

Results: Findings include the potential positive qualities of MBIs in producing specific positive outcomes within limited circumstances, and ascendancy of hedonia and other positive variables over eudaimonic enhancement.

Conclusion: In conclusion, exigency of modifications in the existing MBIs to bring about exclusively positive outcomes was identified, and observed the necessity of novel interventions for eudaimonic enhancement and elevation of hedonia in a comprehensive manner.

This phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of 7 women caregivers, who were between the ages of 45 and 75. The research question was, “What is the lived experience of women between age 45 and 75 who feel eudaimonic purpose as caregivers?” Eudaimonic well-being is the satisfaction or gratification that comes from personal development, or participating in meaningful, important work. Lack of attention to the virtuous and positive dimensions of caregiving seriously skews perceptions of the caregiver experience and limits the ability to enhance theories of caregiver adaptation. Five common themes emerged that capture the experience of eudaimonic purpose in middle-aged women caregivers: family, dedication, and commitment; autonomy and purpose; self-acceptance and self-care; care and compassion for others; and positive self-identity and lower subjective age. A central theme of mindfulness emerged during the final interview as it related to their future endeavors.

Demonic geography is an approach to practicing human geography that operates from the premise that there are no such immaterial entities as 'souls', 'spirits', 'minds', integrated, stable 'selves', or conscious 'free will'. This paper elaborates the theoretical framework of demonic geography by spelling out how it is different from non-representational theory and by articulating it with recent developments in experimental psychology, neuroscience, and the philosophy of mind. Counterintuitively, the paper shows that the deflationary, materialistic ontology of human nature espoused by demonic geography need not lead to meaninglessness, unhappiness, or the collapse of moral behaviour. Instead, subscribing to demonic geography opens up new ways to find meaning, to pursue happiness, and to live the good life.

According to the Maintainable Positive Mental Health Theory (MPMHT), the main pillars of positive mental health are global well-being, efficient coping that enables an individual to maintain positive conditions and functioning, savoring capacity, resilience, and dynamic self-regulation. This study presents the validation of a new five-scale mental health test, the Mental Health Test (MHT) that operationalizes MPMHT. The methodology comprised two online cross-sectional studies using self-report questionnaires. Participants in Study I (n = 1,736; 448 males, 1,288 females; mean age 51.3 years; SD = 11.6 years) filled in the MHT, the Flow, the PERMA Questionnaire (PERMA-Profiler), and the Flourishing Scale. Participants in Study II (n = 1,083; 233 males, 847 females; mean age 33.9 years; SD = 12.2 years) filled in the MHT, the Shortened Aspiration Index, the short form of the Beck Depression Inventory, the WHO Well-Being Index, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Purpose in Life Test, and the Schema Questionnaire–Short Form. Exploratory factor analysis identified a five-factor structure with 17 items in Study I that was confirmed with excellent fit measures in confirmatory factor analysis in Study II. Both studies indicated a high level of internal consistency (above .70). In each subscale, a minimum part of 44% did not overlap with the set of the other subscales. The content validity of the subscales was confirmed by 10 tests of mental health. We found a positive correlation of the self-regulation and resilience subscales with age, while women showed a higher level of savoring than men at all age levels. When Study I was replicated after two weeks and again after 11 months, excellent internal consistency and good test–retest correlation values of the MHT scales were found. The MHT can thus be considered a reliable and valid measurement tool for mental health.

This special issue of the Polish Psychological Bulletin is devoted to well-being (WB) considered within the context of an integrated approach to personality. We believe the articles in this special issue increase our understanding of well-being in two ways. First, they provide new knowledge about the functions of eudaimonic well-being and subjective well-being and about the relationships between them. Second, they extend our understanding of individual differences in well-being by examining relationships between subjective well-being (SWB) and
personality in a broader meaning, an integrated approach to personality.
The research described in the papers of this special issue examined if characteristic adaptations (socio--cognitive personality constructs) mediate relationships between basic, biologically determined traits, and SWB. This possibility was suggested by McCrae (1996; McCrae
& Costa, 1999; McCrae & Suttin, 2018) in the Five Factor Theory of Personality (FFT) and by McAdams and Pals (2006) in the New Big Five Theory of Personality.

Gelukkig zonder Zelfbedrog. Een onderzoek naar zelfbedrog in enkele theorieën over een gelukkig leven. Masterscriptie ter afronding van de Masteropleiding Filosofie aan de Faculteit der Filosofie, Theologie en Religiewetenschappen van de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen (2015).
In het beperkende kader van een scriptie is het uiteraard onmogelijk om een volledig overzicht te bieden van het hele scala aan gelukstheorieën, laat staan van de gevaren van zelfbedrog daarin. Daarom kies ik allereerst voor een een overwegend subjectieve theorie, de Life Satisfaction Theory van Wayne Sumner, waarin tevredenheid met het leven als criterium wordt gebruikt. Als contrast neem ik uit de meer objectief en normatief georiënteerde theorieën over geluk, de deugdentheorie van Julia Annas. Haar theorie is sterk geënt op de opvattingen van Aristoteles en kan worden opgevat als een hedendaagse eudaimonistische theorie. In deze scriptie heb ik onderzoek gedaan naar de dilemma’s en bedreigingen die zelfbedrog kan opleveren voor deze theorieën. Uit mijn onderzoek komt naar voren dat de subjectieve criteria van Sumner in de praktijk niet adequaat genoeg zijn om zelfbedrog uit een subjectief oordeel te weren. In theoretisch opzicht zijn de criteria wel verhelderend omdat er een aantal problemen aan de oppervlakte worden gebracht waar een subject mee te maken krijgt wanneer hij zijn geluk wil beoordelen en zijn tevredenheid met het leven in overeenstemming wil brengen met zijn opvatting over een leven dat daadwerkelijk goed voor hem is.
De meer objectieve theorie van Annas blijkt beter bestand tegen zelfbedrog. Geluk en deugd vormen een onlosmakelijk en dynamisch geheel, waarbij geluk een onbepaalde notie is die verandert naarmate je door oefening en intensieve training van het karakter steeds verder gevorderd (en in ‘flow’) raakt in het deugdzaam handelen, en tot slot wordt beargumenteerd dat dit niet egoïstisch is (zoals wel wordt beweerd).

Throughout the years, the search for meaning and the recognition of human potential strives to answer its own open-ended questions. In relation to human potential, the initial concept in mind in order to translate solutions from data to achieve this is through understanding well- being through qualitative and quantitative research. Given that pressing issues in mental health and the society are continuously being raised in the 21st century, it has become paramount more than ever to understand if education systems are integrating the understanding of Eudaimonic Well-Being in the education of the next generation.

Creativity is a powerful force that each human being is born with. Social Psychology, Buddhist Psychology, and Cognitive Neuroscience have been emerging as intriguing interdisciplinary fields that come together to measure that force. Creativity can be fostered through the surroundings of the social environment. Through that social environment one should possess not only the basic needs to nourish themselves mentally and physically, but spiritually reach a level of impermanent happiness and eudaimonic well-being (EWB). Mindfulness Meditation is considered an effective means to reaching that level of happiness. Creativity per se is a dynamic process that can be viewed from many angles: In Part I, I look at the social environment of four individuals, including myself, to examine the similarities and differences of upbringing. In Part II, I focus on the meditational practices that have proven to increase a greater sense of attention, emotional regulation, and happiness—all of which impa...

The past decade has seen the emergence of well-being/quality of life as a strand of inquiry in human factors research that has expanded the field's reach to matters beyond fit, functionality and usability. This effort has been spearheaded by "hedonomics," a human factors conceptualization of well-being that reflects the philosophical notion of hedonia, traditionally defined as pleasure. However, recent work in the psychology of well-being has shown that hedonia constitutes only one facet of well-being. In light of this, the concept of "eudaimonics" as a complement to hedonomics is introduced. First, these concepts are positioned relative to their counterparts in philosophy: where hedonomics is characterized by pleasure and avoidance of pain (hedonia), eudaimonics is characterized by flourishing and personal excellence (eudaimonia). Following this, a working conceptual framework for eudaimonics that is informed by the psychological literature, particularly the concepts of psychological well-being (PWB) and subjective well-being (SWB), is presented. An expansion of the hedonomics model of design priority hierarchy is offered. Applications to the domains of ageing well and technologies for older populations are proposed. Directions for future work, including the adoption and modification of psychology instruments for human factors research, is discussed.

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.

One of the longest standing objections levied against virtue ethics is the Self-Absorption Objection. Proponents of this objection state that the main problem with neo-Aristotelian accounts is that the virtuous agent's motive is to promote her own eudaimonia. In this paper, I examine Christopher Toner's attempt to address this objection by arguing that we should understand the virtuous agent as acting virtuously because doing so is what it means to live well qua human. I then go on to defend Toner's view from two of Anne Baril's criticisms: that his account is un-Aristotelian, and that his account does not take seriously the importance of the virtuous agent organizing her life in a way that is good for her. In doing so, I pave the way for neo-Aristotelian virtue ethicists to develop an adequate response to the self-absorption objection along Toner's lines. Opposition toward the standard neo-Aristotelian account of motivation is not new. Shortly after the revival of neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics in the late 1950s, philosophers have argued that the standard account of moral motivation offered by neo-Aristotelian virtue ethicists is unacceptably self-regarding and egoistic. 1 In response to this criticism, many virtue ethicists have attempted to show that their standard account does not fall prey to such an objection. are correct, the charge still stands. 2 In this paper, I begin by briefly laying out the standard neo-Aristotelian account of moral motivation, and then go on to flesh out the worry that such an account is unacceptably self-regarding-I call this worry the 'self-absorption objection.' In the second section, I draw on the work of Christopher Toner to introduce what I take to be the most fruitful approach aimed at addressing the self-absorption objection. This approach shifts the virtuous agent's ultimate motivation from a life that is good for her, to a life that is good for her, qua human. In the third and fourth sections, I examine two objections levied against Toner's approach: namely, that (1) his account is un-Aristotelian, and that

Objectives: The study examined the predictive strengths of self-esteem, and positive and negative self-compassion for hedonic and eudaimonic well-being as well as assessed the relative mediating roles of positive and negative self-compassion for the relationships among self-esteem, and hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Design: A correlational design was employed through which self-esteem, self-compassion, and hedonic and eudaimonic well-being were measured. Methods: One hundred thirty-four male (M = 25.11, SD = 1.66) and 138 female (M = 21.89, SD = 1.87) participants were chosen by a convenient sampling. Results: The findings evinced that there were significant positive correlations among self-esteem, positive self-compassion, and hedonic and eudaimonic well-being while negative self-compassion exhibited small positive correlations with both the well-being measures (criterion). The regression analyses showed that self-esteem and positive self-compassion reflected significant predictive strengths for hedonic as well as eudaimonic well-being while negative self-compassion did not. This was also true for the social and psychological aspects of well-being. The β values reflected that positive self-compassion did show a higher contribution for both the well-being measures as compared to self-esteem. Conclusions: The findings evinced that positive, not negative, self-compassion mediated the relationship between self-esteem and hedonic well-being as well as self-esteem and eudaimonic well-being. Moreover, self-esteem and self-compassion have predictive strengths for both kinds of well-being. The findings showed the relevance of self-esteem and self-compassion to underscore well-being. The implications and directions for future researchers have been discussed. Practitioner points: Contrary to the earlier findings suggesting self-esteem and self-compassion carrying relevance to explicate performance and well-being of people with individualistic and collectivistic cultures, respectively, the findings of this study suggest both the constructs to be useful to understand the well-being of people with both the values belonging especially to the fast-changing societies like India. The study also suggests reconceptualization and empirical verification of self-compassion that will make it more effective for enhancing and promoting interventions for positive life outcomes.

We examine the notion of eudaimonic entertainment during exposure to a sad but meaningful movie, using a new measure consisting of 5 dimensions derived from research on positive psychology. We, thereby, transfer the conception of eudaimonic well-being to the conception of entertainment. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis show that the 5 dimensions can be further condensed into 2 second-order factors. We applied these new measures in a study in which the ending of a movie was manipulated (sad vs. happy). The results provide both discriminant and convergent validity and show that hedonic entertainment measures were affected by the manipulation, but that eudaimonic entertainment measures were unaffected. A second study provided further evidence for the validity of the construct.

آنچه در این کتاب (کارِ سبک‌باران) تقدیم شده، گام نخست و کوچک‌تر از سه گام است که اگر عمر و توفیق مدد دهد، صورت خواهد بست: ابتدا در این کتاب کوچک، نکاتی از باب کاربردی بودن صورت و طرز بیان حافظ برای زندگی امروز طرح می‌شود و بیشتر رویکرد اگزیستانسالیستی دارد
عزیزانی که در فاصلهٔ میان بیستم مهر ۱۳۹۹ خورشیدی (روز بارگذاری این مقدمه در حساب «آکادمیای» نگارنده) تا نشر کامل کتاب این جستار را می‌خوانند؛ یا پس از نشرش دوست دارند اول نمونه‌ای کوتاه را محک بزنند تا ببینند اصولا می‌خواهند به سراغش کلیتش بروند یا نه، در صورت تمایل می‌توانند به مقالهٔ «ذهن درستکار حافظ» در مجلهٔ «هفته» در مونترآل بنگرند؛ به نشانی زیر:
www.hafteh.ca/canada/55194
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academia.edu/44274631/Kar_Sabok_Baran_Intro_PrePublish_20Mehr99
همچنین به شکرانه بیست مهر یادروز حافظ؛ صمیمانه از حافظ‌دوستان دعوت می‌شود شماره‌های چهارم و بیست‌وششم از پادکست سماک را نیز اگر نشنیده‌اند بشنوند:
t.me/Samaak_AM/79
t.me/Samaak_AM/430
با مهر

Work may provide subsistence, but for most people it is a necessary evil. For communities, businesses lie at the heart of our economic system, but often come with negative externalities. This essay considers whether worker cooperatives will tend to have more positive impacts on the happiness of their workers and of the community than do traditional businesses. Worker cooperatives are businesses, but they are rooted in the community. Based on the work of 19 th-century political economist William Thompson, I examine what I call the alignment thesis, which suggests that the democratic and ownership structure of cooperatives will align the interests of the enterprise with that of the workers and the community beyond. I explore this question both analytically and by reviewing the existing empirical literature. I find that the impact on workers is generally positive, mostly because of the establishment of democratic control, better working conditions and job security, but it is limited where social inequalities that disadvantage women and people of color are replicated in the cooperative. The larger community impacts, however, are less certain, because worker cooperatives do not necessarily alter the logic of capitalist production for exchange. I conclude with thoughts for further research.

Unlike boating tourism, which emphasises ecological concerns, and cruise tourism, with its hedonistic focus, sailing tourism is characterised by a distinct experiential emphasis. The aim of this research was to determine whether or not the participants in an ocean crossing from New Zealand to the Falkland Islands around Cape Horn underwent experiences that can be characterised by the behavioural structure of each factor in the model of a spiritually healthy personality. A mixed research design combining research methods (questionnaires, interviews , and mind maps) was chosen. A sample consisted of 11-19 respondents, according to the research techniques: questionnaires were filled out by 18 respondents; mind maps by 19 individuals; and 11 participants were interviewed. An analysis of the data points to the diversity of the individual experiences of the participants, with the possible general characteristic that on such voyages what is unique is not the hedonistic pleasure, but rather a eudaimonic experiential structure, thus defining the spiritual dimension of this kind of tourism as a non-religious pilgrimage. This conclusion can help develop the theoretical concept of sailing, boating and cruise tourism in quite a significant way. Management implications • The experience of travellers within the examined journey shows essential characteristics of a specific type of experience and the factors that distinguish it from other journeys by water. • Transoceanic sailing has a unique eudaimonic focus that can be classified as a nonreligious pilgrimage.

Previous studies have provided evidence that eveningness could be related to disadvantageous individual characteristics. The hypothesis that more evening-oriented individuals exhibit lower satisfaction with life has been tested by Randler using a sample of 164 German university students, and this showed that eveningness is associated with lower satisfaction with life (r = .177). The aim of the present study was to answer the question of whether or not this relationship is culturally independent, and would exist if a sample from another geographical location and culture had been studied. A sample of 349 residents (149 men) aged between 13 and 59 yrs from two Polish cities completed the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Analysis revealed that morningness was related to greater life satisfaction (r = .105), regardless of age and sex. The magnitude of this relationship did not differ significantly between the Polish and the German sample, which suggests that the magnitude and direction of association between morningness/eveningness and satisfaction with life could be independent of culture or geographical location.

An extended design and evaluation framework of eudaimonia (personal growth, expressiveness) and hedonia (pleasure, comfort) was applied to a cooperative game for older adults who rely on power mobility. The purpose was to address two psychosocial well-being needs (perceptions of performance mastery and empathy enhancement) through a game with an interaction format that augments the experience of powered chair use: mixed reality with power mobility-based interaction and movement. Two versions of the game—one in a mixed reality format and one without—were created to evaluate the efficacy of using this framework and explore relevant user experience factors. Qualitative findings suggest that the mixed reality version of the game elicited eudaimonic experiences, where the older adult participants who were typically reliant on power mobility perceived a positive change in performance mastery while their partners, who were not reliant on power mobility developed a greater appreciation for everyday powered chair use. Further, a role reversal, where the elders took on a ‘caregiving’ role in the context of powered chair expertise, was observed. Moreover, inferential findings showed evidence of a predictive relationship between hedonic and eudaimonic orientations, psychological well-being, and game engagement, regardless of age, disability status, and game version.

Zillmann's mood-management theory (Zillmann, 1988) has acquired a prominent place in media psychology and makes reliable predictions about people's hedonistically motivated mood regulation via entertainment offerings. However, the full potential for explaining affect regulation through media usage has not been exhausted so far. Therefore, we aim at an integrative view of the field based on empirical findings from communication studies as well as on the background of contemporary theories of mood (regulation) and emotion (regulation). The purpose of this analysis is to argue towards an integrative theoretical perspective which considers both unconscious and conscious/reflected processes of affect regulation through media, supplements the hedonistic motive with other non-hedonistic, instrumental motives of affect regulation, looks at selection behavior as well as at other behavioral and cognitive strategies of affect regulation, and encompasses individual attributes (particularly those with affinity to affects).

Heimat ist für viele Menschen ihr Zuhause, aber der Begriff steht für mehr: für den Ort, an dem man aufgewachsen ist, für Menschen, zu denen man sich zugehörig fühlt, für Landschaften, Sprache bzw. Mundarten, Traditionen und Bräuche sowie für Gefühle der Geborgenheit, der Sicherheit, Zufriedenheit und Gemütlichkeit. Die Deutschen haben aufgrund wachsender globaler und individueller privater Unsicherheiten seit Jahren ein starkes Bedürfnis nach diesen Gefühlen – und die Politik wie die Medien bedienen dieses Bedürfnis zunehmend. Was aber macht heimatbezogene Medienangebote aus und warum werden sie von so vielen Menschen genutzt? Heimatbezogene bzw. heimatgefühl-evozierende Medienangebote wurden bisher kaum empirisch untersucht. Eine Definition liegt nicht vor, wäre aber für eine systematische Forschung in diesem Bereich sehr wünschenswert. Der Beitrag erarbeitet daher in einem ersten Schritt eine solche Definition. Anschließend werden kurz der Forschungsstand sowie Theorien der Rezeptions- und Wirkungsforschung skizziert, die für die Forschung zu Heimat in den Medien nutzbar gemacht werden könnten. Abschließend werden Forschungsdesiderate und -perspektiven benannt, um insgesamt eine grundlegende und inspirierende Ausgangsbasis für kommunikationswissenschaftliche Forschung zu Heimat in den Medien bereitzustellen.

This paper undertakes to investigate happiness as a psychological phenomenon from the perspectives of positive, existential-humanistic, and contemplative psychologies.  One associated question is framed in terms of “radical happiness”, which is defined as a hypothetical imperviousness to external circumstances that would be rooted in the personal cultivation of certain qualities and skills.  The extent to which radical happiness’ possibility is either affirmed or rejected from the vantage point of positive psychology in particular is assessed.

The current studies investigated whether beliefs concerning the malleability or immutability of well-being (i.e., incremental and entity implicit theories of well-being, respectively) are predictive of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being and of the endorsement of activities conducive to well-being. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that, relative to entity theory endorsement, the endorsement of an incremental theory of well-being predicted greater hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Moreover, regression analyses showed that these associations remained when including scores on measures of socially desirable responding, implicit theories of ability, and related variables of striving for personal growth, hope, and character strengths usage. Study 3 showed that greater endorsement of an incremental theory of well-being predicts greater perceived utility of well-being activities. Study 4 showed that an experimentally-induced incremental theory of well-being caused greater endorsement of well-being activities than an experimentally-induced entity theory of well-being. These findings suggest that amenability toward, and responsiveness to, existing well-being interventions may be fostered by an incremental theory of well-being. Furthermore, they suggest that cultivating an incremental mindset regarding well-being may facilitate adaptive functioning and, thereby, serve as a well-being intervention.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-015-9697-6z

Creativity is a powerful force that each human being is born with. Social Psychology, Buddhist Psychology, and Cognitive Neuroscience have been emerging as intriguing interdisciplinary fields that come together to measure that force. Creativity can be fostered through the surroundings of the social environment. Through that social environment one should possess not only the basic needs to nourish themselves mentally and physically, but spiritually reach a level of impermanent happiness and eudaimonic well-being (EWB). Mindfulness Meditation is considered an effective means to reaching that level of happiness. Creativity per se is a dynamic process that can be viewed from many angles: In Part I, I look at the social environment of four individuals, including myself, to examine the similarities and differences of upbringing. In Part II, I focus on the meditational practices that have proven to increase a greater sense of attention, emotional regulation, and happiness—all of which impacts a quality of creativity in the human mind. I survey the wide array of literature as well as experiment on the most available research subject—myself.