Handbook of Well-Being

It is a pleasure to bring to you the eHandbook of Subjective Well-Being, the science of when and why people experience and evaluate their lives in positive ways, including aspects such as positive feelings, life satisfaction, and optimism. There are chapters in this eHandbook on the philosophy and history of well-being, as well as reviews of empirical research on the ways to assess well-being, the circumstances that predict it, the outcomes that it produces, the societal policies that enhance it, and many other social, biological, and cultural processes that help us understand why some people are happy and satisfied with their lives, while others are not. There are also chapters on theories of well-being, such as the baseline or set-point models. We believe that Open publication is the wave of the future (Jhangiani & Biswas-Diener, 2017). Therefore, we are presenting the handbook in an electronic format so that it is widely available to everyone around the world. The handbook is entirely open and free – anyone can read and use it without cost. This is important to us as we desire to lower knowledge barriers for individuals and communities, especially because it provides access to students, educators, and scholars who do not have substantial financial resources. We are not certain if this is the first free and open handbook in the behavioral sciences, but hopefully it will not be the last. In the past the prohibitive price of many handbooks have made them available only to scholars or institutions in wealthy nations, and this is unfortunate. We believe scientific scholarship should be available to all. The field of subjective well-being has grown at rapid pace over the last several decades, and many discoveries have been made. When Ed Diener began his research within the field in 1981 there were about 130 studies published that year on the topic, as shown using a Google Scholar search on “subjective well-being.” Eighteen years later when Shigehiro Oishi earned his Ph.D. in 2000 there were 1,640 publications that year on the topic, and when Louis Tay was awarded a Ph.D. in 2011 there were 10,400 publications about subjective well-being. Finally, in 2016 there were 18,300 publications – in that single year alone! In other words, during the time that Diener has been studying the topic, scholarship on subjective well-being has grown over 100-fold! It is not merely the number of published studies that has grown, but there have been enormous leaps forward in our understanding. In the 1980s, there were questions about the reliability and validity of subjective well-being assessments, and the components that underlie it. One notable advance is our understanding and measurement of well-being. We now know a great deal about the validity of self-report measures, as well as the core evaluative and affective components that make up subjective well-being. Further, scholars have a much greater understanding of the processes by which people report their subjective well-being, and various biases or artifacts that may influence these reports. In 1982 many studies were focused on demographic factors such as income, sex, and age that were correlated with subjective well-being. By 2016 we understood much more about temperament and other internal factors that influence happiness, as well as some of the outcomes in behavior that subjective well-being helps produce (e.g., income, performance, physical health, longevity). In the 1980s, researchers assumed that people adapt to almost any life event, and that different life events only have a short-term effect on subjective well-being. A number of large-scale longitudinal studies later showed that that is not the case. By now we know what kinds of life events affect our subjective well-being, how much, and for roughly how long. In the 1980s researchers believed that economic growth would not increase the happiness of a given nation. Now we know when economic growth tends to increase the happiness of a given nation. Additionally, we know much more about the biology of subjective well-being, and an enormous amount more about culture and well-being, a field that was almost nonexistent in 1982. With the advent of positive psychology, we are also beginning to examine practices and interventions that can raise subjective well-being. Given the broad interest in subjective well-being in multiple fields like psychology, economics, political science, and sociology, there have been important developments made toward understanding how societies differ in well-being. This understanding led to the development of national accounts of well-being – societies using well-being measures to help inform policy deliberations. This advance changes the focus of governments away from a narrow emphasis on economic development to a broader view which sees government policies as designed to raise human well-being. We were fortunate to have so many leading scholars of subjective well-being and related topics contribute to this volume. We might be slightly biased but most of the chapters in this eHandbook are truly superb. Not only do they provide a broad coverage of a large number of areas, but many of the chapters present new ways of thinking about these areas. Below is a brief overview of each of the sections in this volume: In Section 1 we begin the volume with chapters on philosophical, historical, and religious thinking on well-being through the ages. Next, we cover the methods and measures used in the scientific study of well-being. Section 2 is devoted to theories of well-being such as the top-down theory, activity theory, goal theory, self-determination theory, and evolutionary theory. Section 3 covers the personality, genetics, hormones, and neuroscience of well-being. Then, demographic factors such as age, gender, race, religion, and marital status are discussed. Section 4 is devoted to how domains of life – such as work, finance, close relationships, and leisure – are related to overall subjective well-being. Section 5 covers the various outcomes of subjective well-being, ranging from work outcomes, to cognitive outcomes, to health, and finally relationship outcomes. Section 6 covers interventions to increase subjective well-being. Finally, Section 7 is devoted to cultural, geographical, and historical variations in subjective well-being. This eHandbook presents the most up-to-date and comprehensive understanding of subjective well-being – and it is freely available to all! The editors would like to extend their thanks to several individuals who have been critical to the success of the handbook. First, our gratitude is immense toward Chris Wiese, Keya Biswas-Diener, and Danielle Geerling, who organized and kept the entire venture on track. Their hard work and organizational skills were wonderful, and the book would not have been possible without them. Second, we extend our thanks to the Diener Education Fund, a charitable organization devoted to education that in part made this project possible. In particular we express deep gratitude to Mary Alice and Frank Diener. Not only did their help make this eHandbook possible, but their lives stood as shining examples of the way to pursue well-being!https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/psychfacbooks/1008/thumbnail.jp

Experiences of African American Orphan Educators Once Called "Girls From That Colored Orphanage"

First-hand stories about the experiences of orphan African American educators who grew up in the child welfare system are nonexistent. Typically, stories about orphans exclude African Americans and focus on male, European Americans. In cases where African Americans are not excluded from discussions on orphans, the focus tends to be on the negative rather than the positive aspects of their lives. This study investigates the positive outcomes of African American orphans who tell their own stories filtered, not through the eyes of childhood as the experiences take place, but through the mature eyes of educated adults. They narrate their own stories through first-hand knowledge about what it is like to live under the protection of child welfare. The methodology chosen for this study is narrative research. Narrative research allows the researcher to collect data by tape-recording life histories, transcribing, and analyzing the data, which I did with African American educators who were "orphans" in the 1950s and 1960s. In accordance with the theories of Kathleen Casey, Jean Clandinin, and Michael Connelly, open-ended questions were utilized so that the voices of the participants could be heard through their own words, with all the selectivities and silences that personal narratives entail without losing the richness of the stories. The six participants interviewed in this study are authors of their own narratives and they create meaning from their experiences through these narratives. Their understanding and interpretation of their orphan experiences may stand in sharp contrast to those of other researchers. My conceptual framework which incorporates narrative, resilience, and the hidden curriculum of resistance yielded important findings: success in foster care is likely to result from permanence, stability, and resilience; policymakers should assess and promote resilience in children of foster care

The "e" in rave : a profile of young ecstasy users and its implication for educators

The use of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) or Ecstasy is a phenomenon that has established itself in the widespread Rave culture. Ecstasy use causes not only physical, social and psychological problems in the development of the adolescent but may also influence his concentration and learning abilities. To prevent these problems educators should be well informed regarding current drug use trends and also be capable of assisting adolescents. Research regarding the nature of Ecstasy use and the characteristics of its users is lacking nationally. The increase in use amongst school going adolescents and young adults and the fact that there are side effects and unknown long term effects has made it imperative that educators learn as much as possible about this drug. The purpose of this research is therefore to furnish the educator with accurate information that will enable him to obtain a reference point from which assistance can be offered to the young Ecstasy user.Psychology of EducationM.Ed.(Guidance and Counselling

The Spirit of Education: Politics and Pedagogy in Plato, Rousseau, Dewey and Freire

Education has long been romanticized by political thinkers for its supposed power to shape ideal selves and societies. This dissertation examines the history of political thought on education and contends that citizens are principally educated through socialization by law, culture, and institutions. Revealing the limits of utilitarian visions of education as subject formation, this dissertation ultimately argues against the excessive idealization of education as a means of realizing individual and collective projects of becoming. It argues for a revaluation of education as a truth-seeking activity for all ages.In “Molding Citizens: Plato’s Question,” I offer a rereading of Plato’s body of work through the lens of education. Against common readings, I contend that Socrates was less a model teacher and more a model student who forced Plato to grapple with whether good citizens are the products of good teachers and with whether education as a truth-seeking activity is antithetical to that civic end. I show how Plato maintained that good citizenship is not primarily the result of a teacher’s lessons, but of the law, culture, and institutions that structure lifelong association. I further demonstrate how he considered whether the socialization that determines becoming could be intentionally designed and perfected. In “Cultivating Man: Rousseau’s Experiment,” I argue that Rousseau saw a critical problem with Plato’s model because association will only produce ideal persons and citizens if and when a given society is already ideal. In response, Rousseau offered his Emile as an experiment in limiting socialization at the individual level in order to create a new ideal who might resist the toxic effects of a non-ideal society. Against common readings, I contend that Rousseau did not advocate molding persons toward predetermined models. Instead, he suggested cultivating the potential of each individual through a personalized and inimitable educational program of anti-socialization. Rousseau also put his theory into practice by creating curated fictional worlds for his readers, writing novels that provided ideal, private, and imagined experiences of socialization. In “Developing Liberal Democrats: Dewey’s Synthesis,” I reveal how Dewey sought to harmonize the apparent tensions between Plato and Rousseau by generating a democratic theory of education still embraced by contemporary political theorists today. Following Hegel, Dewey maintained that educators need not choose between educating for the individual and educating for society because each could be perfected through the other. Analyzing his conception of education as growth, I show that although Dewey claimed to embrace an idea of education that has no end and is lifelong, he ultimately relied on a necessarily progressive view of education that placed excessive, undue hope on the institution of the school. I demonstrate how in relegating all education to the service of society, Dewey owed more to Plato than is typically realized, and that because he did not adequately recognize the value of individuals understood as separable from their contribution to social progress, he further foreclosed the possibility of education as a purely private or solitary truth-seeking activity. In “Realizing the Revolution: Freire’s Critical Pedagogy,” I introduce political theorists to Paulo Freire, a pedagogue whose reception in the United States as a founder of critical pedagogy made him a giant in the field of education studies but obscured his contributions to political thought. Whereas Plato, Rousseau, and Dewey each stressed the power and importance of ongoing socialization from childhood, Freire took a different approach, suggesting that one’s interpretation of experience is more important to becoming than experience itself. Taking adult education as his starting point, Freire suggested that what society needed was not a theory of learning for children, but rather a theory of unlearning for adults that would result in concrete action against all oppression in society. Valuing neither stability nor incremental progress, Freire redefined education as a praxis that prompts critical consciousness and radical change. For him, education could never and should never aspire to be neutral or separate from becoming and the realization of ideals. Finally, in “Living to Learn: An Alternative,” I conclude by defending education as a truth-seeking activity separable from projects of individual and collective becoming. Having examined how each thinker resolves or struggles with the tension between these two “spirits” of education, usually in favor of becoming, I argue for a reassessment of education as an intrinsically valuable practice of truth-seeking to be enjoyed by children but most especially by adults within and outside the boundaries of the school

Legal Anarchism: Does Existence Need to Be Regulated by the State

This thesis asks does existence need to be regulated by the State? The answer relies on legal anarchism, an interdisciplinary, particularly criminal law and philosophy, and unconventional research project based on multiple methodologies with a specific language. It critically analyzes and consequently rejects State law because of its unjustified and unnecessary nature founded on unlimited violence and white-collar crime (Chapters 1-4), on the one hand, and suggests some alternatives to the Governmental legal system founded on agreement and peace (Chapter 5), on the other hand. It furthermore takes into account the elements of time and space, which means the ecological, local, national, regional, and international aspects of the legal system, in its analysis, critiques, and models

Anguilla and the art of resistance

This study begins with two premises. The first is that American Studies needs to move beyond the borders of the United States to examine the ideological, cultural and economic effects our country has had on others. The United States has historically been deeply involved in Anguilla\u27s economy, revolution and ideology. The second is that history is a commodity that is selectively deployed in the creation of personal and national cultural values in Anguilla. I use Sherry Ortner\u27s concept of serious games and James Scott\u27s theory of the arts of resistance to analyze how Anguilla\u27s contemporary culture is a product of its history, environment, and a particular industry. Colonial institutional failure created a vacuum in which Anguillians were permitted, even encouraged, to conceptualize themselves as independent. The harsh environment prevented the formation of a plantocracy based on sugar production. The means and modes of the production of salt, Anguilla\u27s only staple, resulted in a social structure that contrasts with those of the sugar islands in the Antilles. Today, independence remains Anguilla\u27s serious game and sole art of resistance on a personal, cultural and national level.;The definition of self and nation as independent is based upon a radical excision of history that is articulated in an invention of tradition. Plato\u27s idea of mythos and logos serve as methodological tools for unpacking how history has been strategically utilized and suppressed to support cultural concepts. The hypothesis of this dissertation is that, if history repeats, Anguilla is trapped in the box of dominant discourse. Anguillians\u27 history does repeat; their version of history fails to benefit them because it elides their basic dependency.;The conclusion is that, in positioning independence as the contrariety of colonialism, Anguilla has created a false dichotomy that is symptomatic of an underlying social malaise. On a personal level, independence is the antithesis of community and nationalism. On a political level, independence works against regionalism. Dependence, the hidden narrative of the Anguillian public discourse of independence, undermines the mythos. Only by deconstructing the contrarieties of independence and colonialism into subcontrarieties, can Anguilla address its cultural dissonances and position itself in a global world

Minimising mathematical anxiety in teaching mathematics and assessing student’s work

This paper builds up a theoretical perspective and supports a possibility of creating a special assessment environment for students, where mathematical knowledge and understanding can be assessed with a reduced number of external psychological factors that may affect such assessment. A concept of a zone with minimal effect of anxiety is introduced and described. Students’ successful work on extending the zone by means of a carefully selected chain of questions, where some questions only are part of a real assessment, allows students to reconsider their attitudes towards mathematics and assist teachers to identify some students’ main learning difficulties as of psychological character. Further suggestions about developing and investigating special assessment environments are outlined and discussed