Unit 3 Subjective Well-Being

1. Unit 3Subjective Well-Being Prepared by: CiciliaEviGradDiplSc., M. Psi

2. Overview • About being satisfied and fulfilled with the general course of one’s life  experience life as satisfying, enjoyable and rewarding. • They have fulfilling relationships, find meaning in what they do, feel a sense of control over many aspects of their lives • Hopeful and optimistic about what is yet to come • Set goals, work to attain them and use their resources

3. Overview (2) • Doesn’t require exceptional wealth, talent, or fame  Not ‘hedonic treadmill’ • Hard to achieve when they don’t meet their basic needs • Compromised for those who lives in constant struggle and poverty

4. Signs of Personal Well-Being • Optimism • Sense of Control and Self-Determination • Environmental Mastery and Self-Efficacy • Growth and Meaningful Pursuits • Love, Intimacy and Positive Relationships

5. Optimism • Different with pessimism in many ways  approach problems and challenges, manner to cope with adversity • See the glass half-full  higher possibility to gain subjective well-being • Expecting positive events  overcome obstacles and adversity successfully • More into problem-centered coping, vary with emotional-centered coping

6. Sense of Control and Self-Determination • Myers (1993)  individuals with control over happenings in their lives  have high level of happiness and subjective well-being • Martin Seligman  Learned helplessness • Locus of control  external and internal • Having sense of control is more about the freedom to make important life decision and have control over daily routines

7. Environmental Mastery and Self-Efficacy • Bandura (1977)  self-efficacy is the belief we hold about our ability to complete challenging tasks  can be resourceful and effective • Set high goals, expand effort to achieve the goals, being persevere • Low self-efficacy is ‘the converse of a feeling of mastery’ (Todd & Bohart, 1999) which leads to avoidance and lack of persistence • Frustration  problem solving and correcting feedback

8. Growth and Meaningful Pursuits • Emmons (2003)  ‘happiness is most often a by-product of participating in worthwhile projects and activities that don’t have as their primary focus the attainment of happiness’ • Helping others  positive feeling  improved life satisfaction • Pleasure  fade when the external stimulus has gone • Gratifications  absorbing and meaningful • Spirituality and religiosity

9. Love, Intimacy and Positive Relationships • At the core of well-being • In combination  those who don’t feel loved, supported and cared for are at 3-5 times higher risk of suffering premature death and disease (Ornish, 1998)

10. Personal Well-Being in … • Organizations • Community • Can’t be seen separately • Beyond individual therapy and person-centered interventions