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Prioritizing Patterns and Life Satisfaction among Ultra-Orthodox Jews: The Moderating Role of the Sense of Community
Abstract
Recent research suggests that individuals differ in the extent to which they seek
activities that promote hedonic or eudaimonic well-being. Prioritizing positivity describes a
strategy of pursuing happiness by seeking pleasurable activities or circumstances that can
lead to naturally occurring positive emotions, while prioritizing meaning describes a strategy
of cultivating well-being by purposefully seeking activities that are conducive to
experiencing meaning in life. While these notions have been examined among the general
population, little is known about how these prioritizing patterns are linked with well-being in
closed religious groups, who often promote the benefit of the collective group in lieu of the
individual’s personal choices and interests. Based on a sample of 407 Ultra-Orthodox Jewish
individuals (mean age=33.58, SD=8.89), 55.5% of which were women, the results
demonstrated that prioritizing meaning and sense of community were positively associated
with life satisfaction. Moreover, a significant interaction of sense of community × prioritizing
positivity was found, indicating a positive connection between prioritizing positivity and life
satisfaction for individuals with a high sense of community, but a negative connection for
those with a low sense of community. Our findings suggest that even in extremely close-knit
community-oriented societies, a strong sense of belonging to a community enables
individuals to prioritize more hedonic aspects of their lives in order to promote their life
satisfaction.
... The Ultra-Orthodox community in Israel comprises about 12% of the country's total population (The Israel Democracy Institute, 2020). This society can be defined as a "tight" community with unique characteristics (see Russo-Netzer & Bergman, 2020). Everyday life is conducted according to Jewish law and is unique due to the combination of close-knit personal and community ties, linked with a deep sense of belonging (Berman, 2000). ...
... In this regard, the Ultra-Orthodox community can be described as such a society; the Ultra-Orthodox lifestyle requires a great deal of interaction within the community, and its internal structure is largely based on being a part of the community. According to Russo-Netzer and Bergman (2020), this group is characterized by rigorous communal religious practices, behavioral codes, and strict cultural discipline (see also Freund & Band-Winterstein, 2017). Moreover, the relatively high rates of unemployment and large families necessitate reliance on one's community for practical and social support (Berman, 2000;Buchbinder et al., 2015). ...
... Sense of community was assessed by the adapted Hebrew version of the Sense of Community Index II (see Russo-Netzer & Bergman, 2020). Seventeen items (e.g., "being a member of this community makes me feel good") are rated on a scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 4 (completely), and participants are asked to report which community they refer to. ...
The Ultra-Orthodox community in Israel, characterized by close-knit ties and strong community values, has been particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, both epidemiologically and socially. Accordingly, the current study examined whether the connection between the sense of community and life satisfaction in this population is mediated by meaning in life (MIL). Three hundred and fifty-eight Ultra-Orthodox participants (age range: 30−70; M = 49.50, SD = 10.24) filled out scales assessing MIL, sense of community, and satisfaction with life (SWL), as well as sociodemo-graphic and COVID-19-related scales. Sense of community was linked with increased MIL and life satisfaction. Moreover, the connection between sense of community and life satisfaction was mediated by MIL. This study highlights the roles of sense of community and MIL for Ultra-Orthodox individuals and emphasizes the importance of both concepts for maintaining SWL during COVID-19.
... The ultra-orthodox society is perceived as a 'tight' society with unique characteristics, whose everyday life is conducted in accordance with the Jewish law as a way of living (see Russo-Netzer & Bergman, 2020). As its members strictly adhere to the words of the Torah, the commandment of 'Honor your father and your mother' (Exodus 20:12) holds a special spiritual pillar of one's life. ...
... Sense of community was assessed by the Hebrew version of the Sense of Community Index II, which was adapted to the ultra-orthodox community in Israel (see Russo-Netzer & Bergman, 2020). Participants rate 17 items (e.g., 'being a member of this community makes me feel good') on a scale ranging from 1 ('not at all') to 4 ('completely'), and list the community they are referring to. ...
... A mean score was calculated, and high scores reflect high levels of sense of community. This scale was proved to be reliable in similar cohorts (Russo-Netzer & Bergman, 2020), and in the current study, Cronbach's alpha was .98. It should be noted that a small number of participants (n = 10, 2.8%) reported that in response to this scale, they referred to a non-ultra-orthodox community (e.g., secular friends at work). ...
Individuals who care for aging parents or relatives often experience caregiving burden, which is associated with various negative psychological outcomes. During the current COVID-19 pandemic, the conflict between caring for older relatives and taking the necessary personal precautions against infection may be exacerbated among individuals who belong to social groups, which perceive caring for others as an indispensable cultural construct. Accordingly, the current study examined whether feeling a part of one's community moderates the association between caregiving burden and depressive symptoms among the ultra-orthodox society in Israel. A convenience sample of 358 ultra-orthodox participants was collected (age range 30-70; M = 49.50, SD = 10.24), all of whom completed scales assessing caregiving burden, sense of community, and depressive symptoms. Results demonstrated that high caregiving burden and low sense of community were associated with increased depressive symptoms. Moreover, sense of community moderated the caregiving burden-depressive symptoms link, as the latter positive association was significant only among individuals reporting low levels of sense of community. The discussion highlights the importance of sense of community as a beneficial personal and social factor, which mitigates the negative psychological consequences of caregiving burden among such societies.
... This population is characterized by low socioeconomic status and economic hardships related to men's full-time study of religious texts, women's employment in low-paid occupations and having large families (an average of 6.9 children per family). [25,27] The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Ultra-Orthodox population hard. This population suffered from significantly higher incidence of infection in comparison to that of the general Jewish population [21]. ...
Background
COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting disadvantaged populations, with greater representation and worse outcomes in low socioeconomic and minority populations, and in persons from marginalized groups. General health care system approaches to inequity reduction (i.e., the minimization of differences in health and health care which are considered unfair or unjust), address the major social determinants of health, such as low income, ethnic affiliation or remote place of residents. Yet, to effectively reduce inequity there is a need for a multifactorial consideration of the aspects that intersect and generate significant barriers to effective care that can address the unique situations that people face due to their gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic situation.
Main body
To address the health equity challenges of diverse population groups in Israel, we propose to adopt an intersectional approach, allowing to better identify the needs and then better tailor the infection prevention and control modalities to those who need them the most. We focus on the two main ethnic – cultural—religious minority groups, that of Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel and Jewish ultra-orthodox (Haredi) communities. Additionally, we address the unique needs of persons with severe mental illness who often experience an intersection of clinical and sociodemographic risks.
Conclusions
This perspective highlights the need for responses to COVID-19, and future pandemic or global disasters, that adopt the unique lens of intersectionality and equity. This requires that the government and health system create multiple messages, interventions and policies which ensure a person and community tailored approach to meet the needs of persons from diverse linguistic, ethnic, religious, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. Under-investment in intersectional responses will lead to widening of gaps and a disproportionate disease and mortality burden on societies’ most vulnerable groups.
... In general, religious groups in Israel are characterized by a strong sense of commitment to the community. For the religious person, affiliation to a religious community is considered a key mechanism in promoting well-being since it provides people with a social identity and a sense of belonging, and also allows access to essential information, social activities, and social support (Russo-Netzer & Bergman, 2020). That may explain why after we included social influence in the multivariable analysis, religiosity was no longer significantly associated with intention not to vaccinate a child. ...
Background
Parents play the decisive role in children's vaccination. Our study aimed as assessing attitudes of parents toward the COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5–18 and to define sources of influence on these attitudes, the barriers and reasons for hesitation.
Methods
In this cross-sectional study, 138 Israeli parents of 5–18 aged children completed a self-administered structured questionnaire.
Findings
More than a quarter of parents reported that they did not intend to vaccinate their children. Independent of other demographic characteristics, parents who do not vaccinate their children accordingly to the routine vaccinations have five-fold significant odds not to vaccinate with COVID-19 vaccine (OR = 4.8, 95% CI: 1.8–12.7). Greater social influence was significantly and negatively associated with intentions not to vaccinate a child. Among parents who do not intend to vaccinate their children, the most frequent reasons were fear of possible side effects (92%), vaccine novelty (92%) and lack of belief in its effectiveness (69%).
Discussion
This study found that vaccination in the past as part of routine government immunization programs predict a tendency to vaccinate children during the pandemic. Among the factors associated with the intention not to vaccinate, concerns and uncertainty about the necessity of the vaccine, its side effects and reliability have been emphasized.
Application to practice
Cultural-religious adjustments should be applied when implementing interventions aiming to promote vaccination in routines and emergencies. Social influence is important in adopting a positive attitude toward vaccines. Public health professionals should incorporate those parents who have vaccinated their children and have a positive attitude toward vaccination.
... Our findings suggest that prioritizing positivity facilitates the cultivation of positive emotions, yet only when paired with prioritizing meaning, which may provide a more profound exploration and reflection of chosen activities; together they yield a fuller and more sustained sense of well-being. This is also supported in previous studies indicating that by actively organizing daily routines to include activities oriented towards both meaning and positivity, individuals can learn which activities are particularly meaningful and enjoyable to them, and thus prioritize those activities going forward, which may ultimately enhance their well-being (Russo-Netzer, 2019;Russo-Netzer & Bergman, 2019;Russo-Netzer & Shoshani, 2020). More specifically, intentionally looking for circumstances that can lead to naturally-occurring positive emotions and meaning through prioritizing positivity and meaning may have enabled a concrete mindset toward situations, activities and relationships and thus may have encouraged the participants to be more inclined to develop increased sensitivity when asked to reflect on a person to whom they are grateful as part of the 'Gratitude Visit' intervention. ...
The psychological research into gratitude has overwhelmingly focused on the benefits of higher levels of gratitude. However, recent research suggests that positive psychology interventions to enhance gratitude are not always suitable and the effectiveness of an intervention depends on psycho-contextual factors, personal characteristics, and boundary conditions. The current study aimed to explore and compare the effect of two possible boundary conditions (prioritizing positivity and prioritizing meaning) on well-being levels, following a gratitude intervention. Replicating and extending the findings of the seminal 2005 study by Seligman et al., the current study explored the complex dynamics of gratitude and well-being in a sample of 448 participants. This study’s results replicated Seligman et al.’s finding suggesting a significant increase in satisfaction with life following a gratitude intervention. However, this trend was not significant when eudaimonic well-being was used as the dependent variable. Further analysis revealed that the intervention was most beneficial for people who prioritized both meaning and positivity in their lives, whereas those with different prioritizing patterns enjoyed only short-term gains. In addition, those who prioritize neither positivity nor meaning in their lives did not benefit from the intervention. This suggests implications for practitioners, mental health providers and organizations as consciously integrating the prioritization of meaning and positivity into one’s daily routines along with various gratitude activities which are aligned with one’s values and interests may contribute to gratitude interventions’ efficacy.
... Furthermore, belonging to the ultra-Orthodox community appears to buffer the costs of holding pessimistic worldviews. Thus, an affiliation to a close-knit religious community may not only provide its members with a sense of meaning, belonging, and social support (e.g., Diener et al., 2011;Layous et al., 2017;Russo-Netzer & Bergman, 2020); it may also contribute to the regular maintenance of an appreciative and grateful lifestyle. Such protective cultural affiliation may be especially important for individuals who tend to see a gray future ahead. ...
The present research adopted both an individual and a sociocultural approach to
expand previous knowledge of the mechanisms underlying reported variance in life
satisfaction. Given the gratitude-oriented lifestyle and daily rituals of the ultra-Orthodox
Jewish community, gratitude may serve as a central vehicle to its members’ high
reported levels of life satisfaction. Thus, Study 1 explored the mediating role of
gratitude through a cross-cultural comparison between ultra-Orthodox and secular
samples. Study 2 explored the moderating effect of optimism on the relationship
between the sociocultural group and gratitude, which, in turn, affects life satisfaction.
Based on two matched samples of ultra-Orthodox and secular individuals, the findings
indicate that the relationship between cultural group and life satisfaction was fully
mediated by gratitude. Moreover, optimism was found to moderate the relationship
between cultural group and gratitude so that the difference in gratitude levels between
the two cultural groups was higher for individuals with low levels of optimism. The
findings hold significant conceptual and practical implications for a better
understanding of life satisfaction and its contributors.
Purpose
This paper aims to analyze the unique dilemmas and challenges of ultra-orthodox men in academia.
Design/methodology/approach
This research is conducted in the phenomenology approach. It explores the experience and the process that shape the social identity of higher-educated Haredi men through the life stories of twenty individuals.
Findings
The research found the developmental path of Haredi-educated males, till they adopted a hybridist identity. The research uses a new term of hybridist identity, to better analyze the components of this new identity structure that, to the best of the authors knowledge, has not been examined as such in the literature.
Research limitations/implications
The study population is not large and therefore the number of participants is not large.
Practical implications
From this, we can also learn about other conservative groups that integrate into academic institutions.
Social implications
This is a group that has been researched, through which it will be possible to learn about trends of diversity in academia and other public institutions. From the findings, it will be possible to design a policy that will suit the sociological, social and cultural composition of the students, in order to enable access to higher education for more diverse groups.
Originality/value
This is a group that has been researched, through which it will be possible to learn about trends of diversity in academia and other public institutions. From the findings, it will be possible to design a policy that will suit the sociological, social and cultural composition of the students, in order to enable access to higher education for more diverse groups.
The present study sheds light on the phenomenon whereby groups experience adversity, following which they show signs of growth. We propose the conceptualization of post-traumatic growth as a phenomenon that also exists at the group level, “community post-traumatic growth” (CPTG). The concept of CPTG is explained using a case study on the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Israel following the first wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The study describes shared characteristics of Israeli ultra-Orthodox society and the crisis it experienced during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, both in terms of physiological features such as the relatively high proportion of affected people and in terms of psychological characteristics such as the shut-down of synagogues and yeshivas, and the perceived discrimination they experienced from the general population in Israel. The present study views the sense of discrimination as a traumatic factor at the group level. In total, 256 participants completed online questionnaires examining three hypotheses: (1) sense of discrimination (trauma) will be correlated with level of CPTG; (2) the level of identification with the ultra-Orthodox culture will be positively related to CPTG, while the level of identification with Israeli culture will be negatively correlated with CPTG; (3) the level of life satisfaction of the individual will be predicted by CPTG. The results supported the hypotheses and are discussed at length in the discussion section.
The growing power of the media to define social values and perceptions is a conspicuous feature of contemporary life. Radio is one such shaper of social reality perceptions. While much of the media research focuses on secular organisations operating in a Western, liberal context, not much attention has been paid to this tension between religion and modernity within media outlets. This article examines representations of Israel’s Jewish ultra-orthodox minority in Israel’s daily radio satire shows, a popular and intuitive medium. It shows that content is usually based on the broadcasters’ spontaneous feelings contrary to other media. The findings in the article depict an isolated community out of touch with public consensus and mainstream society.
Research indicates that mortality rates are lower among the religious. Israeli ultra-orthodox Jews, called Haredim, have characteristics distinguishing them from the rest of the Jewish population in Israel. These include lower socioeconomic status, higher fertility rates and rates of young marriage, and isolation from the general population. Our retrospective cohort study aims to determine the difference in mortality rates between Haredi and non-Haredi Jews in Israel. We collected data on sociodemographic variables, religious lifestyle, and all-cause mortality for1,230,636 Jewish Israelis (62,674 Haredim) between 1996 and 2016. Using Cox regression and adjusted Kaplan-Meier curves, we constructed models to evaluate the relationship between identifying as Haredi and mortality. The mortality rate was signicantly lower among the Haredi population compared to the non-Haredi population(5.0 percent vs. 8.2 percent). After adjusting for sex, age, marital status, number of children, education, and socioeconomic status, we still found a higher mortality rate among non-Haredim compared to Haredim (HR =1.596; 99 percent CI = 1.519, 1.678). While causal mechanisms could not be analyzed in this study, a likely cause is increased social, psychological, and religious resources, highlighting the need to consider factors other than socioeconomic status when studying religious and other groups with other forms of capital. Keywords: mortality, Haredi, Jewish, Israel, social determinants of health.
Experiencing both positive emotions and meaning is fundamental to human flourishing. The present study aimed to build and expand upon recent attempts to assess prioritizing positivity, which involves habitual ways of incorporating positive emotions in daily life (Catalino, Algoe and Fredrickson 2014), by assessing the prioritization of meaning in daily life and its associations with well-being. Results from two studies, employing adult community samples (N=107 and N=251) demonstrated coherent, replicable factor structure and good internal reliability for the 12-item scale of prioritizing meaning. Prioritizing meaning was positively associated with life satisfaction, happiness, positive emotions, sense of coherence, gratitude and presence of meaning, beyond the effect of prioritizing positivity, thus demonstrating the possibility that prioritizing meaning makes a distinctive contribution to well-being.
Process mediation models showed that prioritizing meaning is associated with the experience of meaning which in turn mediates the beneficial effects of prioritizing meaning on a variety of well-being indicators. Prioritizing meaning was also directly associated with well-being indicators underscoring its potential role in affecting well-being. Furthermore, prioritizing meaning was found to significantly mediate the effect of search for meaning on all indicators of well-being other than sense of coherence. The findings suggest the importance of prioritizing meaning and hold significant conceptual and practical implications for understanding processes of meaning making and their potential effects on individuals’ well-being.
Prioritizing positivity (PP) has been presented as an effective mechanism to increase
positive emotions and reduce negative emotions. The current mixed-method study
sought to explore the role of age as a moderator and identify selected situations
facilitating the likelihood of routinely experiencing positive and negative emotions.
Based on a sample of 604 adults, PP was found to be associated with increasing
positive emotions in old adulthood, but not in young adulthood, and more associated
with decreasing negative emotions in young adulthood than in old adulthood. A
content analysis of 1037 situations revealed that interpersonal interaction is critical in
both increasing positive and reducing negative emotions, across age groups. However,
young adults were more likely to prioritize pleasurable activities as triggers of
positive emotions. Older adults focused on avoiding unfulfilling situations, due to the
negative emotions that they trigger. Integrating both qualitative and quantitative
findings elucidates the role of daily routine situations and activities in the
management of positive and negative emotions across the lifespan.
Biological and cultural inheritance deeply influence daily human behavior. However, individuals actively interact with bio-cultural information. Throughout their lives, they preferentially cultivate a limited subset of activities, values, and personal interests. This process, defined as psychological selection, is strictly related to the quality of subjective experience. Specifically, cross-cultural studies have highlighted the central role played by optimal experience or flow, the most positive and complex daily experience reported by the participants. It is characterized by high involvement, deep concentration, intrinsic motivation, and the perception of high challenges matched by adequate personal skills. The associated activities represent the basic units of psychological selection. Flow can therefore influence the selective transmission of bio-cultural information and the process of bio-cultural evolution.
Community is a complex issue, especially in two particular populations overlap: Haredi society, which embraces cultural codes common to closed communities, and the mental health population characterized by its own unique needs. The present study explores the encounter experience of social workers with the cultural perceptions of mental health clients in the Haredi community in light of Community Cultural Psychiatry. A qualitative-phenomenological approach was adopted. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 social workers, mental health professionals, who are in contact with ultra-Orthodox Jewish clients. Three major themes emerged from the data analysis: (1) Exclusion vs. grace and compassion. (2) Mental health: A professional or cultural arena? (3) Mental health help-seeking changing processes. This study shows that the attitude in the Haredi community toward mental health therapy undergoes a process of change. It is important to strengthen this process, together with preserving existing community informal structures of help.
When it comes to the pursuit of happiness, popular culture encourages a focus on oneself. By contrast, substantial evidence suggests that what consistently makes people happy is focusing prosocially on others. In the current study, we contrasted the mood- and well-being-boosting effects of prosocial behavior (i.e., doing acts of kindness for others or for the world) and self-oriented behavior (i.e., doing acts of kindness for oneself) in a 6-week longitudinal experiment. Across a diverse sample of participants (N = 473), we found that the 2 types of prosocial behavior led to greater increases in psychological flourishing than did self-focused and neutral behavior. In addition, we provide evidence for mechanisms explaining the relative improvements in flourishing among those prompted to do acts of kindness-namely, increases in positive emotions and decreases in negative emotions. Those assigned to engage in self-focused behavior did not report improved psychological flourishing, positive emotions, or negative emotions relative to controls. The results of this study contribute to a growing literature supporting the benefits of prosocial behavior and challenge the popular perception that focusing on oneself is an optimal strategy to boost one's mood. People striving for happiness may be tempted to treat themselves. Our results, however, suggest that they may be more successful if they opt to treat someone else instead. (PsycINFO Database Record
This chapter summarizes the work of Veronika Huta and researchers who have used her measure of eudaimonic and hedonic orientations. Huta collaborated with Waterman to classify definitions of eudaimonia and hedonia into four categories – orientations/motives/values, behaviors, experiences/feelings, and functioning/habits/abilities. In an ongoing study of various measures, Huta performed preliminary analyses showing that hedonic experiences (e.g., positive affect, carefreeness) formed a separate factor from eudaimonic experiences (e.g., feelings of meaning/value, accomplishment, interest); eudaimonic and hedonic orientations also formed distinct factors. Recently, Huta developed an expanded characterization of eudaimonia and hedonia in all four definition categories, including the cell that has heretofore been neglected – healthy hedonic functioning – to complement Ryff’s theory of eudaimonic functioning. In the HEMA scale developed by Huta (Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives for Activities), eudaimonia is defined as an orientation toward authenticity, meaning/broad concerns, excellence/morality, and growth/maturity; hedonia is defined as an orientation toward pleasure/satisfaction and comfort/ease. HEMA eudaimonic and hedonic orientations have correlated with somewhat different niches of personal well-being experience, need satisfaction, health behavior, and functioning; the combination of eudaimonic and hedonic orientations related to higher scores on well-being than either pursuit alone. Eudaimonic pursuits were linked with more positive contributions to others, society, and the environment. Only a eudaimonic orientation related to abstract thinking and future time perspective. Finally, only eudaimonia related to having parents who were responsive and demanding. The chapter concludes with philosophical thoughts on why eudaimonia and hedonia are both good, and how one pursuit is higher while the other is more fundamental.
When an individual has to make the decision to intervene in a given situation, the presence of others generally inhibits his or her reaction. In social psychology, this phenomenon is refered to as the bystander effect. The field study presented in this article examines the bystander effect in the realm of social control behavior. A confederate of the experimenter threw a plastic bottle in the forest while a varying number of hikers passed him. Personal implication was manipulated by the presence or absence of a second confederate who seemed to be the first confederate's friend. A first study has shown that personal implication is high when people face a single individual who litters in a recreational area. However, when that individual is accompanied by a friend, the task to communicate to the first individual that his behavior is socially unacceptable falls upon the friend, and personal implication is low. The results of the present study yield a bystander effect, but only when personal implication is low. When personal implication is high, a constant proportion of hikers intervened, and this proportion did not depend on the number of bystanders. This research shows that the inhibiting effect of the presence of others in the realm of social control behavior can be eliminated when people feel personally implicated by the counter-normative behavior.
The present article focuses on the interface between religion, work, and poverty as reflected in 20 in-depth qualitative interviews with ultra-Orthodox working-poor women and men in Israel. Based on a social constructivist theoretical framework, findings uncover the complex role of religion in the construction of the working poor. Religion demands a set of behaviors and belief systems that hinder the individual’s ability to break out of poverty, while protecting the ultra-Orthodox working poor in providing them with an alternative framework of interpretative beliefs that enables positive and constructive social meaning, even under the difficulties of economic hardship.
The present study was specifically designed to examine the associations among religious commitment, belief in meaning and purpose in life, and psychiatric symptoms among the general public using data from the 2010 Baylor Religion Survey (BRS). The BRS obtained data from a nationwide sample of 1,714 U.S. adults, 1,450 of which are included in the current analyses. The central hypothesis of the study, based on identity theory, was that religious commitment would interact with belief in meaning and purpose in their net associations on psychiatric symptoms: general anxiety, social anxiety, paranoia, obsession, and compulsion. Specifically, it was hypothesized that believing life lacks meaning and purpose will have a more pernicious association among highly religious individuals, than it will among individuals who are less religious. Other hypotheses derived from previous research were also tested. The results confirm the central hypothesis of the study for 4 of the 5 classes of psychiatric symptoms. The results are discussed with respect to identity theory, evolutionary threat assessment systems (ETAS) theory, and the hostile world scenario.
This article investigates the relationship between two well-documented patterns in charitable giving: the positive relationship
between religion and generosity and the growth in the numbers of, and donations to, international aid organizations. I discuss
three modes by which religion shapes Americans' preferences on international aid: values, social norms, and exposure to need.
Using a 2005 national survey of church members, I find that (1) altruistic values, congregational social ties, and exposure
to international needs through one's congregation all are associated with giving to international causes; (2) individuals
with more frequent attendance, those with more social ties in the congregation, and evangelicals and black Protestants are
significantly more likely to prefer church over government aid; and (3) aid organizations affiliated with a religious tradition
enjoy an “in-group” advantage in support.
Aspects of people's identification with groups may be understood by borrowing theoretical ideas and measurement strategies from research on attachment in close relationships. People, have mental models of the self as a group member and of groups as sources of identity and esteem. These models affect thoughts, emotions, and behaviors related to group membership. Three studies show that two dimensions of attachment to groups, attachment anxiety and avoidance, can be assessed with good reliability, validity, and over-time stability. These factors are distinct from relationship attachment and from other measures of group identification. Group attachment predicts several important outcomes, including emotions concerning the group, time and activities shared with a, group, social support, collective self-esteem, and, ways of resolving conflict. This conceptualization provides new insights into the nature of people's psychological ties to groups.
A decade of research reveals the benefits of positive emotions for mental and physical health; however, recent empirical work suggests the explicit pursuit of happiness may backfire. The present study hypothesized that the pursuit of happiness is not inherently self-defeating; in particular, individuals who seek positivity, as exemplified by how they make decisions about how to organize their day-to-day lives, may be happier. This individual difference is labeled prioritizing positivity. In a community sample of young to older adults (N = 233), prioritizing positivity predicted a host of well-being outcomes (positive emotions, depressive symptomology). In addition, people high in prioritizing positivity have greater resources, and these links are explained by more frequent experiences of positive emotions. In sum, the present study suggests that seeking happiness, although a delicate art, may be a worthwhile pursuit. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).
Objective: Research into and the clinical use of mindfulness as a therapeutic intervention have increased in recent years and the results have been promising in a range of illness populations. One area in which mindfulness has been trialled is fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition currently with poor treatment outcomes. The aim of this systematic review was to examine the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions on physical symptoms and psychological distress in patients with fibromyalgia.
Methods: Systematic review: PubMed, PsycINFO, Embase and Scopus were searched for randomised controlled trials and prospective and retrospective studies. A quality assessment and synthesis of the quantitative data (based on guidelines from the Joanna Briggs Institute) was completed on studies using a mindfulness-based intervention with patients with fibromyalgia on outcomes related to physical symptoms and psychological distress and wellbeing.
Results: Ten studies met the inclusion criteria. All included studies used a mindfulness-based group program design. Although outcome measures and data presentation varied, making statistical pooling impossible, the narrative synthesis resulted in overall positive evidence for the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions for patients with fibromyalgia on a range of physical symptom and psychological distress outcome measures.
Conclusion: Mindfulness is a favourable treatment option for patients with fibromyalgia. Whilst demonstrated efficacy was generally positive, the number of studies addressing this topic is small and there was wide variation in outcome measures and data presentation. More research is needed, particularly large-scale randomised controlled trials with consistent methodology, outcome measures and sufficient follow-up time periods.
A number of studies find that religious people are happier than non-religious ones. Yet a number of fundamental questions about that relationship remain unanswered. A critical one is the direction of causality: does religion make people happier or are happier people more likely to have faith in something that is beyond their control? We posit that the relationship between religion and well-being is mediated by factors ranging from intrinsic purpose, to its social aspects, to its role as an insurance mechanism for people who face great adversity. We explore a number of related questions, using world-wide data from the Gallup World Poll. As it is cross-section data, we cannot establish causality; we do, however, explore: how or if the relationship between religion and well-being varies across the two distinct well-being dimensions (hedonic and evaluative); how social externalities mediate the relationship; how the relationship changes as countries and people within them become more prosperous and acquire more means and agency; and how the relationship between religion and well-being varies depending on where respondents are in the well-being distribution. We find that the positive relation between evaluative well-being is more important for those respondents with lower levels of agency, while the positive relation with hedonic well-being holds across the board. The social dimension of religion is most important for the least social respondents, while the religiosity component of religion is most important for the happiest respondents, regardless of religious affiliation or service attendance. As such, it seems that the happiest are most likely to seek social purpose in religion, the poorest are most likely to seek social insurance in religion, and the least social are the most likely to seek social time in religion.
In this paper, we first explore how an exogenous increase in the opportunity cost of religious participation affects an individual’s religious participation and reported happiness, using data from the General Social Survey. The exogenous shift in the cost of religious participation is a result of the repeal of so-called blue laws that restrict retail activity on Sundays. We find that repealing blue laws causes a significant decline in the religious participation of women and in their happiness. For men, we do not observe any effect on happiness, while the estimate of the effect on church attendance is similar in magnitude to that for women but is imprecise. We also use repeal as an instrumental variable for church attendance and provide direct evidence that church attendance has a significant positive effect on happiness.
Interest in eudaimonia (e.g., growth, meaning, authenticity, excellence) and its distinction from hedonia (e.g., pleasure, enjoyment, comfort, absence of distress) is growing rapidly, as researchers recognize that both concepts are central to the study of well-being. Yet research on these concepts faces challenges as well: findings based on different operationalizations can be quite discrepant; definitions of eudaimonia and hedonia sometimes fall into different categories of analysis (e.g. when eudaimonia is described as a way of functioning, hedonia as an experience); and the terms eudaimonia and hedonia are sometimes defined vaguely or applied to concepts that may be mere correlates. To aid in addressing these challenges, we propose the following terminology and classification for discussing conceptual and operational definitions: (1) degree of centrality – differentiating concepts that are core (i.e., definitional), close-to-core (i.e., given some attention but not central), and major correlates; (2) category of analysis– identifying which of the following categories a definition represents: (a) orientations (orientations, values, motives, and goals), (b) behaviors (behavioral content, activity characteristics), (c) experiences (subjective experiences, emotions, cognitive appraisals), (d) functioning (indices of positive psychological functioning, mental health, flourishing); and (3) level of measurement – identifying whether a definition is used for trait and/or state comparisons. The work of scholars with a program of research on eudaimonia or the distinction between eudaimonia and hedonia is reviewed and discussed within the framework of the proposed classification; several points of convergence and divergence across definitions are highlighted; and important questions and directions for future research are identified.
When an individual has to make the decision to intervene in a given situation, the presence of others generally inhibits his or her reaction. In social psychology, this phenomenon is refered to as the bystander effect. The field study presented in this article examines the bystander effect in the realm of social control behavior. A confederate of the experimenter threw a plastic bottle in the forest while a varying number of hikers passed him. Personal implication was manipulated by the presence or absence of a second confederate who seemed to be the first confederate's friend. A first study has shown that personal implication is high when people face a single individual who litters in a recreational area. However, when that individual is accompanied by a friend, the task to communicate to the first individual that his behavior is socially unacceptable falls upon the friend, and personal implication is low. The results of the present study yield a bystander effect, but only when personal implication is low. When personal implication is high, a constant proportion of hikers intervened, and this proportion did not depend on the number of bystanders. This research shows that the inhibiting effect of the presence of others in the realm of social control behavior can be eliminated when people feel personally implicated by the counter-normative behavior.
The primary objectives of this article are (a) to put forth an explicit operational formulation of positive human health that goes beyond prevailing "absence of illness" criteria; (b) to clarify that positive human health does not derive from extant medical considerations, which are not about wellness, but necessarily require a base in philosophical accounts of the "goods" in life; (c) to provoke a change of emphasis from strong tendencies to construe human health as exclusively about the mind or the body toward an integrated and positive spiral of mind-body influences; (d) to delineate possible physiological substrates of human flourishing and offer future directions for understanding the biology of positive health; and (e) to discuss implications of positive health for diverse scientific agendas (e.g., stress, class and health, work and family life) and for practice in health fields (e.g., training, health examinations, psychotherapy, and wellness intervention programs).
People in different cultures have strikingly different construals of the self, of others, and of the interdependence of the 2. These construals can influence, and in many cases determine, the very nature of individual experience, including cognition, emotion, and motivation. Many Asian cultures have distinct conceptions of individuality that insist on the fundamental relatedness of individuals to each other. The emphasis is on attending to others, fitting in, and harmonious interdependence with them. American culture neither assumes nor values such an overt connectedness among individuals. In contrast, individuals seek to maintain their independence from others by attending to the self and by discovering and expressing their unique inner attributes. As proposed herein, these construals are even more powerful than previously imagined. Theories of the self from both psychology and anthropology are integrated to define in detail the difference between a construal of the self as independent and a construal of the self as interdependent. Each of these divergent construals should have a set of specific consequences for cognition, emotion, and motivation; these consequences are proposed and relevant empirical literature is reviewed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Aristotle's concept of eudaimonia and hedonic enjoyment constitute 2 philosophical conceptions of happiness. Two studies involving combined samples of undergraduate and graduate students (Study 1,
n = 209; Study 2,
n = 249) were undertaken to identify the convergent and divergent aspects of these constructs. As expected, there was a strong positive correlation between personal expressiveness (eudaimonia) and hedonic enjoyment. Analyses revealed significant differences between the 2 conceptions of happiness experienced in conjunction with activities for the variables of (1) opportunities for satisfaction, (2) strength of cognitive-affective components, (3) level of challenges, (4) level of skills, and (5) importance. It thus appears that the 2 conceptions of happiness are related but distinguishable and that personal expressiveness, but not hedonic enjoyment, is a signifier of success in the process of self-realization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between religious involvement and attitudinal (importance of helping others and of being socially active) and behavioral components of prosociality (volunteering, charitable giving, and blood donations) in Germany.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical analyses are based on representative, longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, which allows avoiding issues of reverse causality.
Findings
The results suggest for a moderate, positive link between individuals’ religious involvement as measured by church affiliation and church attendance and the prosociality aspects addressed. Despite the historic divide in religion, the results in West and East Germany do not differ substantially in terms of the underlying mechanisms.
Originality/value
The paper complements the growing literature from experimental economics on the relationship between individuals’ religiosity and their prosociality. Based on representative longitudinal data, it contributes by providing evidence for Germany for which there is barely any insight yet and by addressing a wider range of attitudinal and (self-reported) behavioral components of prosociality.
Religion has been a part of human existence and communities since their earliest forms, evolving and transforming in different contexts and during different times. Its role has been central in the history of human compassion, benevolence and charity. These traits permeate all world religions and their texts, although the emphases in different religions vary. For instance, Judaism, Islam and various Oriental religions share a strong obligation to give and to help (Neusner & Chilton, 2005). The tradition of charity in the Middle East, the emphasis on hospitality in ancient Greek culture and the Jewish and Christian doctrines of loving one’s neighbor (Mäkinen, 2002, p. 10) all echo the universal principle of compassion — to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves.
Across two studies, we found evidence supporting a positive feedback loop between positive activities, kindness and well-being. In Study 1, participants were randomly assigned to one of four distinct positive activities (versus a neutral writing activity) before spending three weeks engaging in kind acts. We found that the positive activities served as triggers – that is, they predicted greater prosocial effort, which in turn predicted greater well-being immediately following the intervention and at a two-week follow-up. In Study 2, we explored the specific effects of a gratitude trigger, and extended the intervention period to six weeks. Although, we did not replicate the direct effect of the gratitude trigger on prosocial effort, people who wrote gratitude letters (versus writing about their week) reported relatively greater elevation, which predicted greater prosocial effort during the six weeks. In turn, replicating Study 1, greater effort predicted higher well-being immediately following the study.
Contrary to the typically negative view of ritual found in key psychological texts, this chapter draws on a new trend according to which religious ritual offers a range of positive mental health benefits, from reduced anxiety to meaning in life and sense of community. Adopting a phenomenological perspective, it examines two key rituals: the tranquillity and fulfilment respondents ascribed to Sabbath observance and the strengthening of identity from wearing a headdress for Jewish and Muslim women.
Research on the relationship between religiosity and psychological well-being is increasingly focused on identifying aspects of religious/spiritual involvement that have a beneficial effect on mental health and those that do not. This study examined the religion-well being link within a spiritual means-ends motivational framework utilizing two means dimensions and five ends dimensions. Both moderation and mediation effects were examined using regression analyses with a six-factor model of wellbeing (Ryff and Keyes 1995). Results indicated that spiritual means and ends variables have good ability to predict aspects of spiritual goals that may enhance or harm psychological well-being. Results also confirmed the ability of spiritual means to moderate the relationship between spiritual goals and well-being. Finally, examination of mediation effects revealed that only devotional means mediates the spiritual goals well-being relationship. Overall, the study demonstrated the utility of a means-ends framework for identifying relevant spiritual variables to add to our understanding of the religion-mental health link.
Prioritizing positivity, which reflects the extent to which individuals organize their lives in ways that would maximize their experience of happiness, has been found to be associated with higher levels of well-being via positive emotions. However, previous research on this construct has been cross-sectional in nature which has made the temporal sequence of effects ambiguous. Moreover, previous studies have not explored the reciprocal relations among key constructs. In this study, we addressed these gaps using a three-wave longitudinal study which assessed the extent to which prioritizing positivity relates with positive emotion and life satisfaction among 408 Filipino secondary school students. Cross-lagged analysis indicated that T1 prioritizing positivity positively predicted T2 positive emotions which in turn predicted T3 life satisfaction after controlling for autoregressor effects. Notably, T2 positive emotions mediated the relations between T1 prioritizing positivity and T3 life satisfaction. We also found evidence of reciprocal effects with prior positive emotions predicting subsequent prioritizing positivity. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Aging is associated with progressive declines in multiple aspects of immune function and with corresponding increases in vulnerability to immune-related disease. At the same time, older adults consistently report that they are happier and more satisfied with their lives than adults in middle or early adulthood. There is also growing evidence that well-being is not merely the absence of stress and depression, and that it makes unique contributions to health and longevity, particularly in later life. This chapter examines the intersection of these agerelated phenomena. With a particular emphasis on two different aspects of well-being-hedonic and eudaimonic- we consider the extent to which greater well-being is associated with healthier profiles of integrated immune responses, functions of specific immune cell types, and molecular aspects of immune regulation. Physiological and behavioral mechanisms that may underlie these associations, as well as the potential to improve well-being in later life, are also considered.
Organizational Identity presents the classic works on organizational identity alongside more current thinking on the issues. Ranging from theoretical contributions to empirical studies, the readings in this volume address the key issues of organizational identity, and show how these issues have developed through contributions from such diverse fields of study as sociology, psychology, management studies and cultural studies. The readings examine questions such as how organizations understand who they are, why organizations develop a sense of identity and belonging where the boundaries of identity lie and the implications of postmodern and critical theories' challenges to the concept of identity as deeply-rooted and authentic. Includes work by: Stuart Albert, Mats Alvesson, Blake E. Ashforth, Marilynn B. Brewer, George Cheney, Lars Thoger Christensen, C.H. Cooley, Kevin G. Corley, Barbara Czarniawska, Janet M. Dukerich, Jane E. Dutton, Kimberly D. Elsbach, Wendi Gardner, Linda E. Ginzela, Dennis A. Gioia, E. Goffman, Karen Golden-Biddle, Mary Jo Hatch, Roderick M. Kramer, Fred Rael, G.H. Mead, Michael G. Pratt, Anat Rafaeli, Hayagreeva Rao, Majken Schultz, Howard S. Schwartz, Robert I. Sutton, Henri Taijfel, John Turner, David A. Wherren, and Hugh Willmott. Intended to provide easy access to this material for students of organizational identity, it will also be of interest more broadly to students of business, sociology and psychology.
Most empirical studies have shown that experiencing positive emotions leads to a meaningful life. Yet, there has been a marked scarcity of research that examines dispositional constructs that would either reinforce or stunt the beneficial impact of positive emotions on meaning in life. The present study investigated the moderating effects of maximization (tendency to seek only for the best single option or decision) on the relations between the affective dimensions of subjective well-being (positive affect and negative affect) and meaning in life domains (i.e. presence of and search for meaning in life) in a collectivist context. Filipino college students (N=384) who were enrolled in a private and sectarian university served as participants of the current empirical investigation. The findings showed that maximization positively moderated the association between positive affect and presence of meaning in life which seems to contradict the proposition that maximizing tendencies are maladaptive in nature. To the extent that Filipino adolescents exhaust and search for all the best possible choices in their lives, they would more likely realize the meaning of their lives by experiencing positive emotions. These results therefore point to the beneficial impact of endorsing a maximizing attitude in a collectivist culture. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Meaning in Positive and Existential Psychology presents a broad overview of contemporary empirical research and theoretical work on the meaning/purpose in life construct from two perspectives - Positive psychology and Existential psychology. Although they may have common ground, these perspectives have only recently come into fruitful dialogue. They may, in fact, be viewed as more complementary than strictly opposing. Positive psychology's focus on human strengths tends to emphasize the brighter side of human functioning, whereas existential psychology, traditionally, tends to address the more unsettling aspects of human existence, such as guilt, suffering, and mortality. Despite their different approaches, both positive and existential psychology have come to view meaning and meaning awareness as central psychological (and philosophical) factors, relevant both for human striving and for human coping.
Written by an international and interdisciplinary assembly of leading researchers in existential and positive psychology and related disciplines, this book includes twenty-one chapters on current trends and topics in meaning oriented clinical and theoretical psychology.
This article reviews research and interventions that have grown up around a model of psychological well-being generated more than two decades ago to address neglected aspects of positive functioning such as purposeful engagement in life, realization of personal talents and capacities, and enlightened self-knowledge. The conceptual origins of this formulation are revisited and scientific products emerging from 6 thematic areas are examined: (1) how well-being changes across adult development and later life; (2) what are the personality correlates of well-being; (3) how well-being is linked with experiences in family life; (4) how well-being relates to work and other community activities; (5) what are the connections between well-being and health, including biological risk factors, and (6) via clinical and intervention studies, how psychological well-being can be promoted for ever-greater segments of society. Together, these topics illustrate flourishing interest across diverse scientific disciplines in understanding adults as striving, meaning-making, proactive organisms who are actively negotiating the challenges of life. A take-home message is that increasing evidence supports the health protective features of psychological well-being in reducing risk for disease and promoting length of life. A recurrent and increasingly important theme is resilience - the capacity to maintain or regain well-being in the face of adversity. Implications for future research and practice are considered. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.
Many individuals use prayer to manage negative emotions, but scholars know little about how prayer accomplishes this task. Using in-depth interview data from victims of intimate partner violence, I argue that prayer is an imaginary social support interaction that provides individuals with resources they use to perform individual emotion management strategies. In particular, interactions with God through prayer provide individuals (1) an other to whom one can express and vent anger; (2) positive reflected appraisals that help maintain self-esteem; (3) reinterpretive cognitions that make situations seem less threatening; (4) an other with whom one can interact to “zone out” negative emotion-inducing stimuli; and (5) an emotion management model to imitate. Most of these resources help individuals deal primarily with a particular type of emotion and have an appreciable influence on social action. The analysis presented suggests that scholars should investigate how interactions with imagined others help individuals manage emotions.
Cultures shape the types of goals that students pursue in the classroom. However, research in achievement goal theory seems to have neglected this cultural aspect with its exclusive focus on individualistically-based goals such as mastery and performance goals. This emphasis on mastery and performance goals may reflect Western individualist psychological thinking. Thus, social goals, which may be more salient in collectivist cultures, are relatively neglected. There is a dearth of studies investigating the role of social goals in academic motivation, and the few studies that did explore them are somewhat problematic. This paper reviews research done within the achievement goal theory, considers the need for more studies on social goals, and concludes with the argument that social goals are important in understanding student motivation especially in collectivist cultures.
In this paper, we investigate how the impatience that results from placing a price on time impairs individuals' ability to derive happiness from pleasurable experiences. Experiment 1 demonstrated that thinking about one's income as an hourly wage reduced the happiness that participants derived from leisure time on the internet. Experiment 2 revealed that a similar manipulation decreased participants' state of happiness after listening to a pleasant song and that this effect was fully mediated by the degree of impatience experienced during the music. Finally, Experiment 3 showed that the deleterious effect on happiness caused by impatience was attenuated by offering participants monetary compensation in exchange for time spent listening to music, suggesting that a sensation of unprofitably wasted time underlay the induced impatience. Together these experiments establish that thinking about time in terms of money can influence how people experience pleasurable events by instigating greater impatience during unpaid time.
Although some theory suggests that it is impossible to increase one's subjective well-being (SWB), our ‘sustainable happiness model’ (Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, 2005) specifies conditions under which this may be accomplished. To illustrate the three classes of predictor in the model, we first review research on the demographic/circumstantial, temperament/personality, and intentional/experiential correlates of SWB. We then introduce the sustainable happiness model, which suggests that changing one's goals and activities in life is the best route to sustainable new SWB. However, the goals and activities must be of certain positive types, must fit one's personality and needs, must be practiced diligently and successfully, must be varied in their timing and enactment, and must provide a continued stream of fresh positive experiences. Research supporting the model is reviewed, including new research suggesting that happiness intervention effects are not just placebo effects.
Religious and non-religious individuals differ in theircore beliefs. The religious endorse a supernatural, divinely inspired view of the world, while the non-religious hold largely secular worldviews. As a result they may respond differently to existential threats. Three studies confirmed this prediction. After a mortality salience (MS) or control prime, Canadian participantsread, and respondedto, anessay hostile to Western civilization, allegedly writtenby aradicalMuslimstudent. Results indicated that the non-religious reliably showed the conventional cultural worldview defense by devaluating the content of the message and decreasing support for the civil rights of anti-Western individuals when death was salient. No such effect was found for the religious. Religious and non-religious participants did not differ in self-esteem levels or in death-thought accessibility. These results suggest that a religious stance among believers plays a defensive role against the awareness of death. Copyright # 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This study examined the relation between intrinsic religious faith and psychological well-being in a sample of 210 adult participants. Intrinsic religious faith was defined not as simple agreement with religious doctrine, but as belief in and reliance on a higher power. The study's results indicate that high faith participants have significantly lower anxiety and depression scores, are less likely to exhibit signs of character pathology, and have significantly higher ego strength scores than participants with lower faith scores. Whereas significant differences were generally found between groups of high and low faith participants in terms of functioning, only modest correlations were obtained between overall faith scores and the measures of well-being, suggesting considerable individual variation in the relation between faith and psychological functioning.
There is increasing research evidence that religious involvement is associated both cross-sectionally and prospectively with better physical health, better mental health, and longer survival. These relationships remain substantial in size and statistically significant with other risk and protective factors for morbidity and mortality statistically controlled. In this article, we review the social and psychological factors that have been hypothesized to explain the health-promoting effects of religious involvement. The four potential psychosocial mechanisms that have received empirical attention are health practices, social support, psychosocial resources such as self-esteem and self-efficacy, and belief structures such as sense of coherence. Evidence concerning these potential mediators is mixed and inconsistent, suggesting there is more to be learned about the pathways by which religion affects health. Other possible explanations for the salubrious effects of religious involvement on health and longevity are discussed.
An Introduction to the Psychology of Religion and Coping. Part I: A Perspective on Religion. The Sacred and the Search for Significance. Religious Pathways and Religious Destinations. Part II: A Perspective on Coping. An Introduction to the Concept of Coping. The Flow of Coping. Part III: The Religion and Coping Connection. When People Turn to Religion. When They Turn Away. The Many Faces of Religion in Coping. Religion and the Mechanisms of Coping - The Transformation of Significance. Part IV: Evaluative and Practical Implications. Does it Work? Religion and the Outcomes of Coping. When Religion Fails - Problems of Integration in the Process of Coping. Putting Religion into Practice.
A substantial literature has found that religiosity is positively related to individuals' civic engagement and informal helping behavior. Concurrently, social networks as sources of information and encouragement have been suggested as the mechanism underlying phenomena including successful job searches, improved health and greater subjective well-being. In this paper we use data from the Portraits of American Life Study (PALS) to examine whether religiously based social networks explain the well-established relationship between religion and civic engagement. We test potential mechanisms including beliefs, affiliation, and social networks, and we find that having a strong network of religious friends explains the effect of church attendance for several civic and neighborly outcomes. We suggest this phenomenon may exist in other, non-religious, spheres that also produce strong friendship networks.
The case is made for implementing national accounts of well-being to help policy makers and individuals make better decisions. Well-being is defined as people's evaluations of their lives, including concepts such as life satisfaction and happiness, and is similar to the concept of 'utility' in economics. Measures of well-being in organizations, states, and nations can provide people with useful information. Importantly, accounts of well-being can help decision makers in business and government formulate better policies and regulations in order to enhance societal quality of life. Decision makers seek to implement policies and regulations that increase the quality of life, and the well-being measures are one useful way to assess the impact of policies as well as to inform debates about potential policies that address specific current societal issues. This book reviews the limitations of information gained from economic and social indicators, and shows how the well-being measures complement this information. Examples of using well-being for policy are given in four areas: health, the environment, work and the economy, and social life. Within each of these areas, examples are described of issues where well-being measures can provide policy-relevant information. Common objections to using the well-being measures for policy purposes are refuted. The well-being measures that are in place throughout the world are reviewed, and future steps in extending these surveys are described. Well-being measures can complement existing economic and social indicators, and are not designed to replace them.
The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between church-based social support and satisfaction with health. In the process, an effort was made to see why these constructs may be related. Feelings of belonging in a congregation figured prominently in this respect. Findings from a nationwide survey reveal that people who receive emotional support from their fellow church members tended to feel they belonged in their congregation, and individuals with a strong sense of belonging were, in turn, more satisfied with their health. Negative interaction with fellow church members was also evaluated in an effort to take a more balanced approach to the study of church-based social ties. The findings reveal that negative interaction was not related to feelings of belonging, but respondents who encountered unpleasant interaction in the church tended to be less satisfied with their health.
The pursuit of happiness is an important goal for many people. However, surprisingly little scientific research has focused on the question of how happiness can be increased and then sustained, probably because of pessimism engendered by the concepts of genetic determinism and hedonic adaptation. Nevertheless, emerging sources of optimism exist regarding the possibility of permanent increases in happiness. Drawing on the past well-being literature, the authors propose that a person's chronic happiness level is governed by 3 major factors: a genetically determined set point for happiness, happiness-relevant circumstantial factors, and happiness-relevant activities and practices. The authors then consider adaptation and dynamic processes to show why the activity category offers the best opportunities for sustainably increasing happiness. Finally, existing research is discussed in support of the model, including 2 preliminary happiness-increasing interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)