The Science of Well-Being

The Science of Well-Being

Social Indicators Research Series Volume 37 General Editor: ALEX C. MICHALOS University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, Canada Editors: ED DIENER University of Illinois, Champaign, U.S.A. WOLFGANG GLATZER J.W. Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany TORBJORN MOUM University of Oslo, Norway MIRJAM A.G. SPRANGERS University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands JOACHIM VOGEL Central Bureau of Statistics, Stockholm, Sweden RUUT VEENHOVEN Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands This new series aims to provide a public forum for single treatises and collections of papers on social indicators research that are too long to be published in our journal Social Indicators Research. Like the journal, the book series deals with statistical assessments of the quality of life from a broad perspective. It welcomes the research on a wide variety of substantive areas, including health, crime, housing, education, family life, leisure activities, transportation, mobility, economics, work, religion and environmental issues. These areas of research will focus on the impact of key issues such as health on the overall quality of life and vice versa. An international review board, consisting of Ruut Veenhoven, Joachim Vogel, Ed Diener, Torbjorn Moum, Mirjam A.G. Sprangers and Wolfgang Glatzer, will ensure the high quality of the series as a whole. For futher volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/6548

Ed Diener Editor The Science of Well-Being The Collected Works of Ed Diener 123

Editor Prof. Ed Diener University of Illinois Dept. Psychology 603 E. Daniel St. Champaign IL 61820 USA ediener@uiuc.edu ISSN 1387-6570 ISBN 978-90-481-2349-0 e-isbn 978-90-481-2350-6 DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-2350-6 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2009926874 c Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Cover design: Boekhorst Design BV Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)

Contents Introduction The Science of Well-Being: Reviews and Theoretical Articles by Ed Diener... 1 Ed Diener Subjective Well-Being... 11 Ed Diener In Pursuit of Happiness: Empirical Answers to Philosophical Questions. 59 Pelin Kesebir and Ed Diener Personality and Subjective Well-Being... 75 Richard E. Lucas and Ed Diener Beyond the Hedonic Treadmill: Revising the Adaptation Theory of Well-Being...103 Ed Diener, Richard E. Lucas and Christie Napa Scollon Will Money Increase Subjective Well-Being?: A Literature Review and Guide to Needed Research...119 Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diener The Well-Being of Nations: Linking Together Trust, Cooperation, and Democracy...155 William Tov and Ed Diener The Optimum Level of Well-Being: Can People Be Too Happy?...175 Shigehiro Oishi, Ed Diener, and Richard E. Lucas Beyond Money: Toward an Economy of Well-Being...201 Ed Diener and Martin E.P. Seligman Conclusion: The Well-Being Science Needed Now...267 Ed Diener v

Contributors Robert Biswas-Diener Center for Applied Positive Psychology, robert@cappeu.org Ed Diener Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820, USA, ediener@uiuc.edu Pelin Kesebir University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820, USA, kesebir@uiuc.edu Richard E. Lucas Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA, lucasri@msu.edu Shigehiro Oishi Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, soishi@virginia.edu Christie Napa Scollon School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University, Singapore 178903, cscollon@smu.edu.sg Martin E.P. Seligman Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA, seligman@psych.upenn.edu William Tov School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University, Singapore 178903, williamtov@smu.edu.sg vii

Endorsements Over the past several decades Professor Diener has contributed more than any other psychologist to the rigorous research of subjective well-being. The collection of this work in this series is going to be of invaluable help to anyone interested in the study of happiness, life-satisfaction, and the emerging discipline of positive psychology Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Professor of Psychology and Management, Claremont Graduate University Ed Diener, the Jedi Master of the world s happiness researchers, has inspired and informed all of us who have studied and written about happiness. His life s work epitomizes a humanly significant psychological science. How wonderful to have his pioneering writings collected and preserved for future students of human wellbeing, and for practitioners and social policy makers who are working to promote human flourishing. David G. Myers, Hope College, and author, The Pursuit of Happiness Ed Diener s work on life satisfaction theory and research has been groundbreaking. Having his collected works available will be a great boon to psychologists and policy-makers alike. Christopher Peterson, Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan By looking at happiness and well-being in many different cultures and societies, from East to West, from New York City to Calcutta slums, and beyond, Ed Diener has forever transformed the field of culture in psychology. Filled with bold theoretical insights and rigorous and, yet, imaginative empirical studies, this volume ix

x Endorsements will be absolutely indispensable for all social and behavioral scientists interested in transformative power of culture on human psychology. Shinobu Kitayama, Professor and Director of the Culture and Cognition Program, University of Michigan Ed Diener is one of the most productive psychologists in the world working in the field of perceived quality of life or, as he prefers, subjective wellbeing. He has served the profession as a researcher, writer, teacher, officer in professional organizations, editor of leading journals, a member of the editorial board of still more journals as well as a member of the board of the Social Indicators Research Book Series. As an admirer of his work and a good friend, I have learned a lot from him, from his students, his relatives and collaborators. The idea of producing a collection of his works came to me as a result of spending a great deal of time trying to keep up with his work. What a wonderful public and professional service it would be, I thought, as well as a time-saver for me, if we could get a substantial number of his works assembled in one collection. In these three volumes we have not only a fine selection of past works but a good number of new ones as well. So, it is with considerable delight that I write these lines to thank Ed and to lend my support to this important publication. Alex C. Michalos, Ph.D., F.R.S.C., Chancellor, Director, Institute for Social Research and Evaluation, Professor Emeritus, Political Science, University of Northern British Columbia

Editor s note concerning source publications Diener: Subjective Well-Being: Psychological Bulletin, 95/3 (1984), American Psychological Association Kesebir & Diener: In Pursuit of Happiness: Empirical Answers to Philosophical Questions, Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3/2 (2008), Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Diener & Lucas: Personality and Subjective Well-Being, (O.P. John, R.W. Robins, L.A. Pervin) Handbook of Personality, Third Edition: Theory and research, 2008, Guilford Press Diener, Lucas, & Scollon: Beyond the Hedonic Treadmill: Revising the Adaptation Theory of Well-Being, American Psychologist, 61/4 (2006), American Psychological Association Diener & Biswas-Diener: Will Money Increase Subjective Well-Being?, Social Indicators Research, 57/2 (2002), Springer SBM Tov & Diener: The Well-Being of Nations: Linking Together Trust, Cooperation, and Democracy, Cooperation, (B.A. Sullivan, M. Snyder, J.L. Sullivan): The Political Psychology of Effective Human Interaction, 2008, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Oishi, Diener, & Lucas: The Optimum Level of Well-Being: Can People Be Too Happy?, Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2/4 (2007), Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Diener & Seligman: Beyond Money: Toward an Economy of Well-Being, Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 5/1 (2004), Wiley-Blackwell Publishing xi