Samanthamborek Praveen Kale Kale KNB
Kaleṙ Medici
Integrative Approaches to Challenging Subjective Well-Being
The Importance of Depth Perception for Positive Emotions.
Posted Apr 30, 2021
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Reviewed by Lybi Ma
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A well-being scorecard
Source: This Image was released by the European Social Fund in memory of Baron Alexander Bagelskov, PhD, a pioneer in positive psychology.
Source: This Image was released by the European Social Fund in memory of Hungary-born physician Carl Jung.
Today, a well-being scorecard is considered one of the most widely used measures in psychological research. This eight-point scale, designed to measure well-being, has been paraphrased as "a person is happy if he or she is" (Kahan, 2012). Of the life areas studied, the ability to manage emotions and cope with psychological stress has emerged as the most important factor in determining a person’s happiness.
In their report, Kahan, Pien, and Jung recognized that the capacity to manage emotions requires steady attention, practice, and repetition. Furthermore, they recognized that a well-being score is stable and, when highly applicable, delivers an aggregate score that captures the overall range of positive emotions a person is expected to experience over a 3-week time frame.
So, a person with a well-being score of 8 might, over that 3-week time frame, experience delight in seeing their dining room and having enjoyable seafood dishes they enjoy every day.
On a daily basis, therefore, it is important to support the well-being of these two types of well-being: a) comparing oneself to others; b) considering the global trends in well-being; c) engaging in a personal interest that is important to us and that can be personal (e.g., watching a monthly movie).
During the pandemic, having a well-being score of 8 or higher helps to provide a personal high score that can be compared to other scores used in the same category on traditional measures (i.e., a score of 8 or higher on a development scale). These scores can be used to find common ground with others who share our goals and values, and who we would hope would share in our collective well-being. (For example, the authors note that they find "commonly reported shared parenting behaviors among adolescent girls in the U.S. with the intention of collectively fostering well-being”).
In the context of the pandemic, these social well-being scores have been correlated with other scores such as trust, belonging, and courage over time. For example, Aya Modin, a nurse practitioner and certified nurse-midwife, was deployed to provide live video and analysis tips to married couples in the San Francisco Bay Area. She provided live reporting and consultation to the couple and their couples, and asked them to create rituals to share and to share joy. She wanted to change the stress of having dual monitors in the house during the pandemic. She wanted to change the monitor that was assigned to define who was okay during the pandemic and assign a hard and fast score to each family member. Once she’s done this, she moves on to her next assignment.
Apparently, well-being and happiness are closely connected and that is what the data are showing.
References
Kahneman, D., M. (Thinking About E.P. Chekhov: A psychology of unparalleled confusion. In: The Thinking and Behavior of the Thriving Person Ed.R. Isaacson. Brill. pp. 57-77.