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What is subjective well-being?
Why is subjective well-being important?
What are the causes of subjective well-being?
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Jump to section
What is subjective well-being?
Why is subjective well-being important?
What are the causes of subjective well-being?
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Life satisfaction—or subjective well-being—affects many areas of our lives. Take the time to consider your overall happiness, and what you can do to improve it. How happy are you? How satisfied are you with your life?
Most of us want to be happy—or happier. But have you tried defining what happiness really means to you? Or have you tried talking to someone about it? It is not a straightforward answer and you may need to pause to think about it.
Happiness and life satisfaction are concepts that mean something different to each and every one of us. It’s subjective; based on your personal feelings. The scientific term to describe this is subjective well-being.
Professor Ed Diener, one of the world’s foremost subjective well-being researchers, defines it as “people’s cognitive and affective evaluations of their lives.” In layman’s terms, subjective well-being means thinking and feeling that your life is going very well.
What makes us think or believe that our life is going well?
How satisfied are you with your life, generally speaking, and about specific areas of your life, such as your work or your health?
This can feel like a super-charged reflection to go through on your own. Try using a visual tool, such as the Wheel of Life tool, to help you think about and score your satisfaction in the different areas of life. Does it look balanced? Are there obvious high points and low points, or are you relatively satisfied in most aspects of your life? In parallel, without overthinking it, what would you say about your overall life satisfaction at this point in time, on a scale from 1 (not at all satisfied) to 10 (it couldn’t get any better)? Does this overall rating fit with what you see on the wheel?
What makes us feel that our life is going well?
Are the feelings and emotions we experience pleasant (positive) or unpleasant (negative)? For example, joy is a positive emotion, while anger and guilt are negative ones.
Subjective well-being influences subjects such as physical health and mental health, not only at the individual level but through our relationships. The cumulative effect on the physical and mental health of individuals rolls up to have a significant impact on groups and organizations and communities as well.
Subjective well-being can have a direct impact on our physical health. Here are the most ground-breaking outcomes from studies:
Mental health and subjective wellbeing are interlinked. Happy people report lower levels of mental health conditions, and individuals with low levels of mental health conditions report feeling happier.
Subjective wellbeing also influences the well-being, happiness, and mental health of others. Happiness can spread through social networks: people with happy social contacts are more likely to be happy themselves.5 Researchers theorize that the spread of happiness in social networks may be due to emotional contagion. In effect, people catch emotional states from those near to them, either emotionally or physically close.
Subjective well-being is also important in the context of our quality of life. The way we perceive our emotional wellbeing and experiences directly impacts our quality of life. For example, individuals who feel satisfied with their lives, and who frequently experience positive feelings such as joy, contentment, hope, are more inclined to be seen as enjoying a high quality of life.
Diener and other researchers have identified several internal and external factors in people’s happiness.
Internal causes include:
External causes include:
Subjective well-being is often measured by self-report assessments of three types of happiness. Each is independent and should be measured separately. should be measured separately.
There are three main types of happiness:
As you can see, there is not one single cause to happiness. Some people may experience the three types of happiness outlined above, some only one. For example, someone may enjoy life a lot, but also be prone to anxiety and stress.
In the chart below are several different methods, scales, and questionnaires that are commonly used to measure each of the 3 components of subjective wellbeing.
Life satisfaction | Positive feelings | |
Self-report assessment | The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWL) questionnaire | The Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) questionnaire |
The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ) | The Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE) | |
Experience Sampling Method (ESM) | A random-interval written recording (often in a journal) of the respondent’s mood, feelings, emotions, and satisfaction over a period of time. | |
Other methods |
|
Like with any self-reported measures, there are concerns over the accuracy of the results given the number of factors that could influence us as we go through the questionnaire. For example, the environment we are in, our understanding of the scoring system or of the language used, or our mood when we take the questionnaire.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to be happier, as everyone may have different needs—but here are some common things others do to feel happier:
A Core Values Clarification exercise can help you clarify the things you hold most meaningful and important. Once we get clear on our values, we get clear on what is in alignment — or not — in our lives. The more aligned we are to our core values, the more it positively influences our happiness.
The Broaden-and-Build Theory shows that positive emotions expand our awareness and encourage us to think and behave in newer, more varied ways. Here’s how you can use it to be happier:
Research shows that the happiest people are often those who help others. Random acts of kindness make the receiver happy, and it makes you happy too! Here are some ideas to get you started:
There are many different ways to perform random acts of kindness. Find what works best for you.
Using positive affirmations daily is a simple yet powerful way to bring happiness into your life. Much of what makes us feel low stems from the negative chatter that runs through our mind daily. Positive affirmations shut down this chatter and give us a happiness boost. Over time and with repetition, your go-to thoughts will become more positive. Here’s how:
Mindfulness is a quiet yet powerful technique that not only allows you to be more present in the moment, but also allows you to see negative thoughts as just that: thoughts. A regular mindfulness practice allows you to find anchors, such as the breath, to bring you back to a mindful state. Over time and with practice, this can come in handy for stressful situations. Here is an audio track, to get you started.
Do not underestimate the value of fun. And for the high achievers out there, know that having fun is time well spent. Sure, there are plenty of other things you could be doing, but spending time talking with a friend or doing a hobby has been shown to boost happiness.
Many studies show that when you engage in a physical activity, the happy hormones called endorphins are released. Exercise can take many forms, from a walk or a round of golf, to high-intensity interval training or kickboxing. Do what works best for you.
Anger, rage, and resentment can be consuming. They are strong emotions that can take over the body, physically and emotionally. It is natural to feel irritated and angry from time to time, but the irony is that if we hold on to anger, it will create more damage to us than the situation or person we are angry with.
The antidote to deeply felt anger is forgiveness: the decision to let go of feelings and resentment. You chose to forgive someone who has hurt you, though you may not condone what they have done. The deeper the anger and resentment are, the more you may need to repeat the process of forgiveness to cope with the negative memories and feelings.
Challenge your anger by asking yourself the following questions:
Stay up to date with new resources and insights.
Thank you for your interest in BetterUp.
Our life satisfaction—or subjective well-being—is an important aspect of overall health and wellness. Take the time to consider your overall happiness, and what you can do to improve it. This may be a lot of little things, from positive affirmations and random acts of kindness, to bigger things, like picking up a new hobby or reconsidering your career trajectory. There’s no right or wrong approach to happiness, so do what works for you. Remember, happiness is subjective.
1 Barak (2006). The immune system and happiness.
2 Cohen, Doyle, Turner, Alper & Skoner (2003). Emotional style and susceptibility to the common cold.
3 Kiecolt-Glaser, Marucha, Malarkey, Mercado & Glaser (1995). Slowing of wound healing by psychological stress.
4 De Neve, Diener, Tay & Xuereb (2013). The objective benefits of Subjective Wellbeing.
5 Fowler & Christakis (2008). Dynamic spread of happiness in a large social network: longitudinal analysis over 20 years in the Framingham Heart Study.
6 Diener & Seligman, 2004. Beyond Money: Toward an economy of well-being.
Fiorenza works with global leaders and emerging leaders to maximize their impact in their leadership journey. Fiorenza specializes in periods of career transitions and supports the development of resilience, agile leadership skills, communication skills across cultures, and healthy work-life balance. Fiorenza is also a global facilitator, podcast host, mindfulness teacher, and MBTI practitioner.
Fiorenza is multicultural and multilingual in French, English, and Italian, and works in the 3 languages. She currently lives in London, England. She co-hosts The Belonging Project podcast which explores how belonging can show up in so many different ways, what it feels like to belong and the impact of truly belonging.
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