Subjective well-being

Subjective well -being (English subjective well-being, in short: SWB) describes the self- perceived sense of happiness in life, or life satisfaction. There are also measures of objective well-being, try to capture the quality of life of a person. Summing up the two areas together, we obtain the well-being as prosperity indicator at national and international level.

Sometimes a distinction is a third distinct aspect, the mental and psychological well-being (PWB ) next to the subjective and objective well-being (SWB / OWB ). However, SWB and PWB are also used interchangeably.

History and Background

Considerations for happiness, happiness or the good life date back to the earliest philosophers and thinkers (see also philosophy of happiness ). The idea of ​​the SWB in the modern sense can be traced back to the utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham, who assumed that the basis of a good life from the presence of joy and pleasure and the absence of pain was.

One of the earliest empirical work in this direction comes from John C. Wing (1925 ), who examined the moods of people, captured by emotional events for them and summed up the emotional reactions of the moments.

The scientific, especially empirical investigation of SWB began with the advent of positive psychology ( and humanistic psychology) in the 1970s and 80s. Their goal was the focus of science, far more negative aspects (eg, mental disorders ) focused to expand positive aspects (eg, happiness, optimism, confidence ).

Components

Although SWB is often used as a synonym for happiness, it should be noted that there is a collective term that summarizes various phenomena. A broader consensus exists in the dichotomy of affective and cognitive aspects. In an early work on SWB identified Ed Diener (1984 ) three major independent components of the subjective well-being: life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect. Diener added later the area satisfaction (1999).

Factors

1974 Richard Easterlin examined the relationship between income and happiness and found that more income people are not necessarily happier making (see also Easterlin Paradox ). Easterlin 's results were not without controversy and are now the basis for further research on international and micro-level.

Over the last few decades a number of other variables and their effect on the subjective well-being was examined. Including age, gender, personality, education, employment, marriage, etc. religion.

Theories

So far there is no comprehensive theory that could explain all aspects of the subjective well-being. Known approaches are:

• Hedonic adaptation, and habituation or hedonic treadmill ( Brickman & Campbell, Michael W. Eysenck )
• Opponent -process theory ( Herring, Solomon)
• Dynamic equilibrium model ( Heady & Wearing )
• Social comparison