What Is Subjective Wellbeing?
According to Diener (2000, p. 34), SWB is “people’s cognitive and affective
evaluations of their lives.”
Veenhoven (1997, p. 34) describes it similarly: “how good [life] feels, how well it
meets expectations, how desirable it is deemed to be, etc.”
In general, the concept involves two broad elements (Kashdan, 2004):
‘Cognitive appraisal’ describes how we consider our global (overall) life
satisfaction and our satisfaction with specific domains (e.g., family life, career,
and so forth).
‘Affective appraisal’ concerns our emotional experience. High SWB is the
experience of frequent and intense positive states (e.g., joy, hope, and pride) and
the general absence of negative ones (e.g., anger, jealousy, and disappointment).
When we think about and appraise our lives, we compare our perceived status
against our own standards of desirability. This is the subjective element of
cognitive appraisal.
Likewise, different things are associated with positive affect for different people.
This is the subjective aspect of affective appraisal.
SWB encompasses a vast array of different concepts, from fleeting experiences in
our day-to-day lives to much broader global judgments that we make about our
lives as a whole (Kim-Prieto, Diener, Tamir, Scollon, & Diener, 2005). It is typically
considered a hedonic as opposed to a eudaimonic concept (Deci & Ryan, 2008;
Huta & Waterman, 2014).
Diener and SWB Theory
Professor Ed Diener is one of the world’s foremost SWB researchers, coining the
construct in his seminal 1984 article Subjective Well-Being.
Ever since, he has continued to study the subject from a positive psychology
perspective. With a career spanning more than 25 years, his vast contributions to
the field have earned him the nickname “Dr. Happiness.”
Notable early work
Diener & Diener (1996) found that most people reported a positive level of SWB
and satisfaction with important life domains. In 86% of the 43 nations examined,
average subjective wellbeing was higher than neutral.
Focusing on very happy individuals, Diener and Seligman (2002) screened US
undergraduate students for happiness to examine factors that might influence
high levels of happiness.
Using multiple instruments that included the Satisfaction With Life Scale, their
findings revealed that “while there appears to be no single key to high
happiness… very happy people have rich and satisfying social relationships and
spend little time alone relative to average people” (Diener & Seligman, 2002,
p.83).
So if we wanted to measure our SWB, what precisely would we evaluate?
SWB as three distinct components
SWB is most often thought of as having three components (Diener, 1984; Busseri
& Sadava, 2011; Tov & Diener, 2013):
1. Frequent positive affect
2. Infrequent negative affect
3. Cognitive evaluations of life satisfaction
The diagram below is one possible way to represent the three components
visually, where LS = life satisfaction, PA = positive affect, and NA = negative affect.
Source: Busseri & Sadava, 2011, p. 292
They are considered distinct but interrelated because individuals tend to make
judgments of satisfaction (e.g., “My life is fantastic”) using their emotional
experiences (e.g., “I’m feeling great right now”; Tov & Diener, 2013).
Together, the three components make up the tripartite model of SWB (Busseri &
Sadava, 2011). The two affect components are typically assessed independently of
the life satisfaction component, using different scales.
Psychological well-being refers to an individual’s emotional health and overall
functioning. It consists of positive social relationships, autonomy, environmental
mastery, self-acceptance, a sense of purpose, and personal growth. 1
The absence of distress does not necessarily indicate a person has high
psychological well-being. High psychological well-being is about feeling happy and
doing well. People with high psychological well-being report feeling
capable, happy, well-supported, and satisfied with life.
Components of Psychological Well-Being
One popular model describes psychological well-being as being made up of six key
components:
1. Self-acceptance: Having a positive attitude about the self
2. Purpose in life: Having goals and a sense that life has meaning and purpose
3. Autonomy: A sense of independence and freedom from social pressure
4. Positive social relationships: Having meaningful connections with others
marked by reciprocal affection, empathy, intimacy, and trust
5. Environmental mastery: Feeling capable and having opportunities to
manage an individual's environment
6. Personal growth: Learning, having new experiences, and taking on
challenges that lead to growth
According to this perspective, psychological well-being is more than just feeling
good, finding pleasure, and being happy—although those are obviously
important, too! Instead, it takes what is known as a eudaimonic perspective,
which stresses the importance of things like personal growth, purpose, meaning,
and self-realization.
