Skip to main content
Disciplines
Automotive Business IT + Informatics Construction + Real Estate Electrical Engineering + Electronics Energy + Sustainability Insurance + Risk Finance + Banking Management + Leadership Marketing + Sales Mechanical Engineering + Materials
Events
DE
EN
Books
Journals
Topic Page
Marketing
Start single access now
Access for companies
EXTENDED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Journal of Happiness Studies
Published in: Journal of Happiness Studies 5/2009

01-10-2009

Happiness Revisited: Ontological Well-Being as a Theory-Based Construct of Subjective Well-Being

Author: Ömer Faruk Şimşek

Published in: Journal of Happiness Studies | Issue 5/2009

Log in

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config
loading …

Abstract

The current model of subjective well-being (SWB) has been operationalized as the unity of affective and cognitive dimensions concerning the evaluation of one’s life, called emotional well-being and life satisfaction, respectively. There has been no theoretical framework, however, by which the unity is explained. The present paper offers a new construct of subjective well-being in an attempt to show that the cognitive and affective dimensions of SWB can be unified using the concept of goal. The concept of goal refers to the life as a project when the concern is the evaluation of life as a whole. The evaluation of the whole life, moreover, should take a whole-time perspective into account if it is supposed to be ‘whole’. Ontological well-being (OWB) construct is structured in a theoretical framework by which the cognitive and affective components of the current conceptualization of SWB are reframed and interpreted in a whole time perspective. By taking as base the historical and philosophical resources of the affective and cognitive dimensions of subjective well-being, this new construct defines subjective well-being as one’s evaluation of life in both past and future time perspectives in addition to the present.
next article Market Openness, Transition Economies and Subjective Wellbeing

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 102.000 Bücher
  • über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Automobil + Motoren
  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
  • Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
  • Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 67.000 Bücher
  • über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Versicherung + Risiko




Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now
Literature
Aristotle. (1991a). Nicomachean ethics. On world’s greatest classic books. Ottowa, ON: Corel Corporation.
Aristotle. (1991b). Physics. On world’s greatest classic books. Ottowa, ON: Corel Corporation.
Austin, J. T., & Vancouver, J. B. (1996). Goal constructs in psychology: Structure, process, and content. Psychological Bulletin, 120(3), 338–375.CrossRef
Bluck, S., & Habermas, T. (2001). Extending the study of autobiographical memory: thinking back about life across the life span. Review of General Psychology, 5(2), 135–147.CrossRef
Boniwell, I., & Zimbardo, P. G. (2004). Balancing one’s time perspective in pursuit of optimal functioning. In P. A. Linley & S. Joseph (Eds.), Positive psychology in practice. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Bostic, T. J., & Ptacek, J. T. (2001). Personality factors and the short-term variability in subjective well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 2, 355–373.CrossRef
Bradburn, N. M. (1969). The structure of psychological well-being. Chicago: Aldine.
Bradley, R. H., & Corwyn, R. F. (2004). Life satisfaction among European American, African American, Chinese American, Mexican American, and Dominician American adolescents. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 28(5), 385–500.CrossRef
Caplan, R. D., Tripathi, R. C., & Naidu, R. K. (1985). Subjective past, present, and future fit: Effects on anxiety, depression, and other indicators of well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48(1), 180–197.CrossRef
Carstensen, L. L., Isaacowitz, D. M., & Charles, S. T. (1999). Taking time seriously: A theory of socioemotional selectivity. American Psychologist, 54(3), 165–181.CrossRef
Carstensen, L. L., & Mikels, J. A. (2005). At the intersection of emotion and cognition. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14(3), 117–214.CrossRef
Carter, S. D. (2004). Reexamining the temporal aspects of affect: Relationships between repeatedly measured affective state, subjective well-being, and affective disposition. Personality and Individual Differences, 36, 381–391.CrossRef
Christopher, J. C. (1999). Situating psychological well-being: Exploring the cultural roots of its theory and research. Journal of Counseling and Development, 77(2), 141–152.
Collings, P. (2001). “If you got everything, it’s good enough”: Perspectives on successful aging in a Canadian Inuit community. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 16, 127–155.CrossRef
Dapkus, M. A. (1985). A thematic analysis of the experience of time. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49(2), 408–419.CrossRef
Davern, M. T., Cummings, R. A., & Stokes, M. A. (2007). Subjective well-being as an affective-cognitive construct. Journal of Happiness Studies, 8, 429–449.CrossRef
Derrida, J. (1973). Speech and phenomena and other essays on Husserl’s theory of signs (D. B. Allison & N. Garver, Trans.). Evanston: Northwestern University Press
Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95(3), 542–575.CrossRef
Diener, E., & Diener, M. (1995). Cross-cultural correlates of life satisfaction and self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 653–663.CrossRef
Diener, E., & Lucas, R. E. (2000). Subjective emotional well-being. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (2nd ed., pp. 325–337). New York: Guilford.
Diener, E., Sapyta, J. J., & Suh, E. M. (1998). Subjective well-being is essential to well-being. Psychological Inquiry, 9(1), 33–37.CrossRef
Diener, E., Suh, E., & Oishi, S. (1997). Recent findings on subjective well-being. Indian Journal of Clinical Psychology, 24(1), 25–41.
Elliot, A. J., & Thrash, T. M. (2002). Approach-avoidance motivation in personality: Approach and avoidance temperaments and goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(5), 804–818.CrossRef
Emmons, R. A. (1986). Personal strivings: An approach to personality and subjective well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(5), 1058–1068.CrossRef
Erikson, E. H. (1959). Identity and the life cycle. In G. S. Klein (Ed.), Psychological issues. New York: International Universities Press.
Eronen, S., & Nurmi, J. (1999). Life events, predisposing cognitive strategies and well-being. European Journal of Personality, 13, 129–148.CrossRef
Fleeson, W., & Baltes, P. B. (1998). Beyond present-day personality assessment: An encouraging exploration of the measurement properties and predictive power of subjective lifetime personality. Journal of Research in Personality, 32, 411–430.CrossRef
Frankl, V. (1959). Man’s search for meaning. Boston: Beacon Press.
Frijda, N. H. (1994). Varieties of affect: emotions and episodes, moods, and sentiments. In P. Ekman & R. J. Davidson (Eds.), The nature of emotion: Fundamental questions (pp. 59–67). New York: Oxford University Press.
Fung, H. H., Rice, C., & Carstensen, L. L. (2005). Reactive and proactive motivational changes across adulthood. In W. Greeve, K. Rothermund & D. Wentura (Eds.), The adaptive self: Personal continuity and intentional self-development. New York: Hogrefe/Huber.
Gallese, V., & Metzinger, T. (2003). Motor ontology: the representational reality of goals, actions, and selves. Philosophical Psychology, 16(3), 365–388.CrossRef
Hale, C. S. (1993). Time dimensions and the subjective experience of time. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 33(1), 88–105.CrossRef
Heidegger, M. (1996). Being and time (J. Macquarrie & E. Robinson, Trans.). Oxford: Blackwell.
Hultsch, D. F., & Bortner, R. W. (1974). Personal time perspective in adulthood: A time-sequential study. Developmental Psychology, 10(6), 835–837.CrossRef
Irwin, T. H. (1998). Aristotle. Routledge encyclophedia of philosophy. London & New York: Routledge.
Ivey, A. E. (1986). Developmental theory: Theory into practice. California: Jossey Bass.
Johnson, M. K., & Sherman, S. J. (1990). Constructing and reconstructing the past and the future in the present. In E. T. Higgins & R. M. Sorrentino (Eds.), Handbook of motivation and cognition. New York: The Guilford Press.
Jokisaari, M. (2004). Regrets and subjective well-being: A life course approach. Journal of Adult Development, 11(4), 281–288.CrossRef
Kafka, G. J., & Kozma, A. (2001). The construct validity of Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-Being (SPWG) and their relationship to measures of subjective well-being. Social Indicators Research, 57, 171–190.CrossRef
Karniol, R., & Ross, M. (1996). The motivational impact of temporal focus: Thinking about the future and the past. Annual Review of Psychology, 47, 593–620.CrossRef
Keyes, C. L. M., Shmotkin, D., & Ryff, C. D. (2002). Optimizing well-being: the empirical encounter of two traditions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(6), 1007–1022.CrossRef
Kim, Y., Kasser, T., & Lee, H. (2003). Self-concept, aspirations, and well-being in South Korea and the United States. Journal of Social Psychology, 143(3), 277–290.CrossRef
Kimweli, D. M. S., & Stilwell, W. E. (2002). Community subjective well-being, personality traits and quality of life therapy. Social Indicators Research, 60, 193–225.CrossRef
Kwan, V. S. Y., Bond, M. H., & Singelis, T. M. (1997). Pancultural explanations for life satisfaction: Adding relationship harmony to self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 1038–1051.CrossRef
Lavalee, L. F., & Campbell, J. D. (1995). Impact of personal goals on self-regulation processes elicited by daily negative events. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(2), 341–352.CrossRef
Ledoux, J. E. (1994). Cognitive-emotional interactions in the brain. In P. Ekman & R. J. Davidson (Eds.), The nature of emotion: Fundamental questions (pp. 216–223). New York: Oxford University Press.
Lent, R. W. (2004). Toward a unifying theoretical and practical perspective on well-being and psychological adjustment. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51(4), 482–509.CrossRef
Lewin, K. (1948). Time perspective and morale. In W. Lewin (Ed.), Resolving social conflicts (pp. 103–124). New York: Harper & Row.
Lewin, K. (1951). Field theory in social science. New York: Harper & Row.
Lu, L. (2001). Understanding happiness: A look into the Chinese folk psychology. Journal of Happiness Studies, 2, 407–432.CrossRef
Lyddon, W. J. (1999). Forms and facets of constructivist psychology. In R. A. Neimeyer & M. J. Mahoney (Eds.), Constructivism in psychotherapy (pp. 69–92). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Lyubomirsky, S., King, L., & Diener, E. (2005). The benefits of frequent positive affect: Does happiness lead to success? Psychological Bulletin, 131(6), 803–855.CrossRef
Makinen, J. A., & Pychyl, T. A. (2001). The differential effects of project stress on life-satisfaction. Social Indicators Research, 53, 1–16.CrossRef
Martin, P., & Martin, M. (2002). Proximal and distal influences on development: The model of developmental adaptation. Developmental Review, 22, 78–96.CrossRef
McAdams, D. P. (2001). The psychology of life stories. Review of General Psychology, 5(2), 100–122.CrossRef
McAllister, C. H., & Wolff, M. C. (2002). Letters never sent: Tending to unfinished business. Journal of Poetry Therapy, 15(4), 187–193.CrossRef
McGregor, I., & Little, B. R. (1998). Personal projects, happiness, and meaning: On doing well and being yourself. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(2), 494–512.CrossRef
McIntosh, C. N. (2001). Report on the construct validity of the temporal satisfaction with life scale. Social Indicators Research, 54, 37–56.CrossRef
Oishi, S., Diener, E., Lucas, L. E., & Suh, E. (1999). Cultural variation in predictors of life satisfaction: A perspective from needs and values. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25, 980–990.CrossRef
O’Leary, E., & Nieuwstraten, I. M. (2001). The exploration of memories in gestalt reminiscence therapy. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 14(2), 165–179.CrossRef
Omodei, M. M., & Wearing, A. J. (1990). Need satisfaction and involvement in personal projects: Toward an integrative model of subjective well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59(4), 762–769.CrossRef
Puentes, W. J. (2002). Simple reminiscence: A stress-adaptation model of the phenomenon. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 23, 497–511.CrossRef
Ranst, N. V., & Marcoen, A. (1997). Meaning in life of young and elderly adults: an examination of the factorial validity and invariance of the life regard index. Personality and Individual Differences, 22(6), 877–884.CrossRef
Reker, G. T., & Fry, P. S. (2003). Factor structure and invariance of personal meaning measures in cohorts of younger and older adults. Personality and Individual Differences, 35, 977–993.CrossRef
Robinson, M. D., & Kirkeby, B. S. (2005). Happiness as a belief system: individual differences and priming in emotion judgments. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31(8), 1134–1144.CrossRef
Robinson, M. D., & Ryff, C. D. (1999). The role of self-deception in perceptions of past, present, and future happiness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25(5), 596–608.CrossRef
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2001). On happiness and human potentials: A review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 141–166.CrossRef
Ryff, C. D. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(6), 1069–1081.CrossRef
Ryff, C. D., & Heidrich, S. M. (1997). Experience and well-being: Explorations on domains of life and how they matter. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 20(2), 193–206.CrossRef
Ryff, C. D., & Keyes, C. L. M. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(4), 719–727.CrossRef
Ryff, C. D., & Singer, B. (1998). The contours of positive human health. Psychological Inquiry, 9, 1–28.CrossRef
Salovey, P., Detweiler, J. B., & Steward, W. T. (2001). Affect and health-relevant cognition. In J. Forgas (Ed.), Handbook of affect and social cognition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrance Erlbaum and Associates.
Schumutte, P. S., & Ryff, C. D. (1997). Personality and well-being: Reexamining methods and meanings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(3), 549–559.CrossRef
Schwarz, N., & Strack, F. (1991). Evaluating one’s life: a judgment model of subjective well-being. In F. Strack, M. Argyle & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Subjective well-being: An interdisciplinary perspective (pp. 27–47). New York: Pergamon.
Seidlitz, L., & Diener, E. (1993). Memory for positive versus negative events: Theories for the differences between happy and unhappy persons. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 654–664.CrossRef
Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American Psychologist, 55(1), 5–14.CrossRef
Sheldon, K. M., Elliot, A. J., Ryan, R. M., Chirkov, V., Kim, Y., Wu, C., et al. (2004). Self-concordance and subjective well-being in four countries. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 35(2), 209–223.CrossRef
Singer, J. A. (1995). Seeing one’s self: locating narrative memory in a framework of personality. Journal of Personality, 63(3), 429–457.CrossRef
Sink, J. R. (2000). Why can’t we measure happiness? American Psychologist, 55(10), 1162–1163.
Smith, N. D. (2001). Some thoughts about the origins of “Greek Ethics”. The Journal of Ethics, 5, 3–20.CrossRef
Staudinger, U. M. (2001). Life reflection: a social-cognitive analysis of life review. Review of General Psychology, 5(2), 148–160.CrossRef
Staudinger, U. M., Bluck, S., & Herzberg, P. Y. (2003). Looking back and looking ahead: adult age differences in consistency of diachronous ratings of subjective well-being. Psychology and Aging, 18(1), 13–24.CrossRef
Steel, P., & Ones, D. S. (2002). Personality and happiness: A national-level analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(3), 767–781.CrossRef
Steverink, N., Lindenberg, S., & Ormel, J. (1998). Towards understanding successful ageing: Patterned change in resources and goals. Ageing and Society, 18, 441–467.
Strack, F., Schwarz, N., & Gschneidinger, E. (1985). Happiness and reminiscing: the role of time perspective, affect, and mode of thinking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49(6), 1460–1469.CrossRef
Suh, E., Diener, E., Oishi, S., & Triandis, H. C. (1998). The shifting basis of life satisfaction judgments across cultures: Emotions versus norms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(2), 482–493.CrossRef
Taylor, S. E., & Brown, J. D. (1988). Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective on mental health. Psychological Bulletin, 103(2), 193–210.CrossRef
Tiberius, V. (2004). Cultural differences and philosophical accounts of well-being. The Journal of Happiness Studies, 5(3), 293–314.CrossRef
Veenhoven, R. (2003). Hedonism and happiness. journal of Happiness Studies, 4(437–457).
Vitterso, J. (2004). Subjective well-being versus self-actualization: Using the flow-simplex to promote a conceptual clarification of subjective quality of life. Social Indicators Research, 65, 299–331.CrossRef
Waterman, A. S. (1984). The psychology of individualism. New York: Praeger.
Waterman, A. S. (1993). Two conceptions of happiness: contrasts of personal expressiveness (eudaimonia) and hedonic enjoyment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64(4), 678–691.CrossRef
Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1063–1070.CrossRef
Wrosch, C., Bauer, I., & Scheier, M. F. (2005). Regret and quality of life across the adult life span: the influence of disengagement and available future goals. Psychology and Aging, 20(4), 657–670.CrossRef
Zika, S., & Chamberlain, K. (1992). On the relation between meaning in life and psychological well-being. British Journal of Psychology, 83, 133–145.
Zimbardo, P. G., & Boyd, J. N. (1999). Putting time in perspective: A valid, reliable individual-difference metric. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(6), 1271–1288.CrossRef
Metadata
Title
Happiness Revisited: Ontological Well-Being as a Theory-Based Construct of Subjective Well-Being
Author
Ömer Faruk Şimşek
Publication date
01-10-2009
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Published in
Journal of Happiness Studies / Issue 5/2009
Print ISSN: 1389-4978
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7780
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-008-9105-6

Other articles of this Issue 5/2009

Journal of Happiness Studies 5/2009 Go to the issue

Book Review

An Entertaining Travelogue

Research Paper

Market Openness, Transition Economies and Subjective Wellbeing

Research Paper

Sub-national Fiscal Activity as a Determinant of Individual Happiness: Ideology Matters

ReviewPaper

Youth Life Satisfaction: A Review of the Literature

Research Paper

Please May I Have a Bike? Better Yet, May I Have a Hug? An Examination of Children’s and Adolescents’ Happiness