The Science of Subjective Well-Being
Edited by Michael Eid and Randy J. Larsen
“Editors Michael Eid and Randy J. Larsen bring together all in one place most of the heavy hitters in the field...This volume is the type of book that dissertation mentors will nudge their advisees to read, that professors will adopt as the foundation for graduate or upper-level college seminars on subjective well-being and related topics, and that faculty will want to peruse to see the creative and innovative ways in which this rich field has evolved.”
—PsycCRITIQUES
“What makes us happy? One might think this a very simple question, but the contributors to this volume suggest that many of our intuitions are not well supported by science. Instead, subjective well-being in individuals and societies is only partially about accumulating hedonic pleasures and stores of wealth, and even these relationships are not what one might predict. Eid and Larsen have gathered together brilliant thinkers and lively writers who trace from ancient philosophy to contemporary behavioral economics what it is that makes us feel good about our lives.”
—Peter Salovey, PhD, Dean of Yale College and Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology, Yale University
“Research into subjective well-being has a sustained and honored lineage within psychology, in large part due to the work of Ed Diener and his associates. This book describes what researchers in this area have learned and where we might be headed in the future. It deserves a prominent place on every psychologist's bookshelf. The book is a valuable resource—thorough, intelligent, and provocative—and an action plan for a topic of great individual and societal importance.”
—Christopher Peterson, PhD, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan
“This terrific book captured my attention for hours of nonstop, riveting reading. The contributors are all first-rate, consisting of both eminent social scientists in the field of well-being and innovative young scholars. With a combination of breadth and depth, the book provides comprehensive treatment of cutting-edge theory and research. Chapters cover a broad array of topics, as varied as evolutionary and developmental psychology, behavioral genetics, measurement, happiness interventions, history, and philosophy. This book is indispensable for anyone interested in positive psychology, and is an ideal resource for graduate-level and advanced undergraduate classes.”
—Sonja Lyubomirsky, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside
Table of Contents
1. Ed Diener and the Science of Subjective Well-Being, Randy J. Larsen and Michael Eid
I. The Realm of Subjective Well-being
2. Philosophy and the Science of Subjective Well-Being, Daniel M. Haybron
3. Sociological Theories of Subjective Well-Being, Ruut Veenhoven
4. Evolution and Subjective Well-Being, Sarah E. Hill and David M. Buss
5. The Pursuit of Happiness in History, Darrin M. McMahon
II. Measuring Subjective Well-being
6. The Structure of Subjective Well-Being, Ulrich Schimmack
7. The Assessment of Subjective Well-Being: Successes and Shortfalls, William Pavot
8. Measuring the Immeasurable: Psychometric Modeling of Subjective Well-Being Data, Michael Eid
III. The Happy Person
9. Personality and Subjective Well-Being, Richard E. Lucas
10. Happiness and the Invisible Threads of Social Connection: The Chicago Health, Aging, and Social Relations Study, John T. Cacioppo, Louise C. Hawkley, Ariel Kalil, M. E. Hughes, Linda Waite, and Ronald A. Thisted
11. The Happy Mind in Action: The Cognitive Basis of Subjective Well-Being, Michael D. Robinson and Rebecca J. Compton
12. The Frequency of Social Comparison and Its Relation to Subjective Well-Being, Frank Fujita
13. Regulation of Emotional Well-Being: Overcoming the Hedonic Treadmill, Randy J. Larsen and Zvjezdana Prizmic
14. Two New Questions about Happiness: "Is Happiness Good?" and "Is Happier Better?", Shigehiro Oishi and Minkyung Koo
15. Material Wealth and Subjective Well-Being, Robert M. Biswas-Diener
16. Religion and Human Flourishing, David G. Myers
IV. Subjective Well-Being in the Interpersonal Domain
17. What Makes People Happy?: A Developmental Approach to the Literature on Family Relationships and Well-Being, Marissa L. Diener and Mary Beth Diener McGavran
18. Research on Life Satisfaction of Children and Youth: Implications for the Delivery of School-Related Services, E. Scott Huebner and Carol Diener
19. Job Satisfaction: Subjective Well-Being at Work, Timothy A. Judge and Ryan Klinger
20. Comparing Subjective Well-Being across Cultures and Nations: The "What" and "Why" Questions, Eunkook M. Suh and Jayoung Koo
V. Making People Happier
21. Interventions for Enhancing Subjective Well-Being: Can We Make People Happier, and Should We?, Laura A. King
22. Promoting Positive Affect, Barbara L. Fredrickson
23. Gratitude, Subjective Well-Being, and the Brain, Robert A. Emmons
VI. Conclusions and Future Directions
25. Myths in the Science of Happiness, and Directions for Future Research, Ed Diener
About the Editors
Michael Eid, PhD, is Professor of Methods and Evaluation at the Free University of Berlin in Germany. His research focuses on measurement theory, in particular on the development of psychometric models for longitudinal and multimethod research. Since the early 2000s, he has been contributing to the development of structural equation models for analyzing multirater data for different types of raters and research designs. His more applied research contributions are in the areas of subjective well-being, mood regulation, and health psychology.Randy J. Larsen, PhD, is the William R. Stuckenberg Professor of Human Values and Moral Development and Chair of the Psychology Department at Washington University in St. Louis. He conducts research on emotion, primarily in terms of differences between people, and studies such topics as subjective well-being, mood variability, jealousy, attraction, depression, and strategies for the self-management of self-esteem and emotion. Dr. Larsen is an elected member of the Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology and is listed as one of the highly cited psychologists by the Institute for Scientific Information.
Contributors
Robert M. Biswas-Diener, MS, Department of Psychology, Portland State University, Portland, OregonDavid M. Buss, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
John T. Cacioppo, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Rebecca J. Compton, PhD, Department of Psychology, Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania
Carol Diener, PhD, JD, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois
Ed Diener, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois
Marissa L. Diener, PhD, Department of Family and Consumer Studies, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Mary Beth Diener McGavran, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky
Michael Eid, DSc, Department of Psychology, Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Robert A. Emmons, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California at Davis, Davis, California
Barbara L. Frederickson, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Frank Fujita, PhD, Department of Psychology, Indiana University South Bend, South Bend, Indiana
Louise C. Hawkley, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Daniel M. Haybron, PhD, Department of Philosophy, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri
E. Scott Huebner, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina at Columbia, Columbia, South Carolina
M. E. Hughes, PhD, Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina
Sarah E. Hill, PhD, Department of Psychology, California State University-Fullerton, Fullerton, California
Timothy A. Judge, PhD, Department of Management, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
Ariel Kalil, PhD, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Laura A. King, PhD, Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
Ryan Klinger, MSM, doctoral student, Department of Management, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
Jayoung Koo, MA, Department of Psychology, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
Minkyung Koo, MA, doctoral student, Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
Randy J. Larsen, PhD, Department of Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri
Richard E. Lucas, PhD, Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
Darrin M. McMahon, PhD, Department of History, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida
David G. Myers, PhD, Department of Psychology, Hope College, Holland, Michigan
Shigehiro Oishi, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
William Pavot, PhD, Department of Social Science, Southwest Minnesota State University, Marshall, Minnesota
Zvjezdana Prizmic, PhD, Department of Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri
Michael D. Robinson, PhD, Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota
Ulrich Schimmack, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto at Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Eunkook M. Suh, PhD, Department of Psychology, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
Ronald A. Thisted, PhD, Departments of Health Studies and Statistics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Ruut Veenhoven, PhD, Faculty of Social Science, Erasmus University of Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Linda Waite, PhD, Department of Sociology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois