Connections And ConversationsApril 5th 2014

Eranda Jayawickreme, Assistant Professor, Psychology

What Puts The “Well” In Well-Being?

Why Are People Satisfied with Their Lives? Two accounts

◦ Bottom-up approaches◦ “Getting what you want”◦ Situations, Events, Context

◦ Top-down approaches◦ “Wanting what you have”◦ Personality, Genetics, Stability

Bottom-Up or Top-Down?Initial popularity of Bottom-Up modelsShift towards Top-Down model

◦ Set-Point theory

But is it all top-down?◦ Does my marriage matter?◦ What can I do to change?

MIDUS I (1995) & II (2005)

Jayawickreme, Karlen, Johnson, McSwiggan & Fleeson, in preparation

DATA WITHHELD UNTIL PUBLICATION

A Combination◦ Bottom-up processes matter

◦ Affording change◦ “What is to be done?”

◦ But thank goodness for top-down processes◦ Responding to ethnopolitical warfare◦ Coping and meaning-making◦ Beliefs about growth

What Puts the “Well” in Well-Being?

What I DoThe Good Life

◦ Happiness (Jayawickreme & Seligman, 2012; Jayawickreme, Pawelski & Seligman, 2008; Forgeard, Jayawickreme, Kern & Seligman, 2011)

◦ Meaning (Jayawickreme & Blackie, 2014; Blackie, Jayawickreme, Forgeard & Jayawickreme, 2014; Roepke, Jayawickreme, & Riffle 2013)

◦ Morality (Jayawickreme, Meindl, Helzer, Furr & Fleeson, 2014; Jayawickreme & Chemero, 2008; Jayawickreme & DiStefano, 2012)

What Puts the “Well” in Well-Being at Wake Forest?

Acknowledgements Sara Dahill-Brown, Assistant Professor, Politics & Int’l Affairs

Wiiliam Fleeson, Ollen R. Nalley Professor, Psychology

Christian Miller, Asssociate Professor, Philosophy

Penny Rue, PhD, Vice-President for Student Life

Andy Chan, Vice-President, Personal and Career Development

Phil Handwerk, Director, Office of Institutional Research

Others

Our proposed model

Student Well-Being

Emotional Well-Being

Subjective Well-Being

Meaning/Purpose

Relational Well-Being

Belongingness Commitment to Others

Intellectual Well-Being

Grit/Perseverance

Physical Well-Being

Physical Vitality