Publication Type
Book Chapter
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
1-2018
Abstract
Well-being is a broad, multifaceted construct. This chapter reviews different ways of defining and measuring well-being and the implications this has for understanding the correlates and causes of well-being. Hedonic well-being (HWB), eudaimonic well-being (EWB), and other conceptions of well-being are discussed. Specific components and aspects of HWB are elaborated on. These include the distinction between affective and cognitive well-being. Major aspects of affective well-being include valence, frequency versus intensity, arousal, and interpersonal engagement. Major aspects of cognitive well-being include life satisfaction, life evaluation, and domain satisfaction. Processes underlying the structure of cognitive well-being are discussed including top-down versus bottom-up models, and the tendency to use heuristics versus stable sources of information to evaluate one’s life. Trait versus state conceptions of well-being are introduced. Different well-being assessment methods (online, recall, global) can be located on a state-trait continuum. The distinction between state and trait measures of well-being has implications for understanding the structure of affect, the relation between well-being and health, and cultural variation in well-being. Future research is needed to clarify the distinct correlates of affective versus cognitive well-being, as well as how positive and negative emotions are operationalized. In addition, a better understanding of the components of EWB and how they are related to HWB and affective dimensions beyond valence will shed light on the validity of the EWB construct. Finally, greater sensitivity to the state-trait distinction will deepen our knowledge of the processes that shape both HWB and EWB.
Keywords
hedonic well-being, cognitive well-being, affective well-being, state versus trait, emotion, satisfaction
Discipline
Social Psychology | Social Psychology and Interaction
Research Areas
Psychology
Publication
Handbook of subjective well-being
Editor
E. Diener, S. Oishi, & L. Tay
First Page
1
Last Page
15
Publisher
Noba Scholar
City or Country
Salt Lake City, UT
Citation
TOV, William. (2018). Well-being concepts and components. In Handbook of subjective well-being (pp. 1-15). Salt Lake City, UT: Noba Scholar.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2836
Copyright Owner and License
Author
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://www.nobascholar.com/chapters/12
