Centeredness Theory: Understanding and Measuring Well-Being Across Core Life Domains

Viewpoint: Measuring and understanding subjective well-being

Increasing attention is being paid in academic, policy, and public arenas to subjective measures of well-being. This promising trend represents a shift towards measuring positive outcomes in psychology and greater realism in the study of economic behaviour. We describe the main measures of subjective well-being (SWB) and provide examples of policy-relevant research findings, including new accou...

Facilitating Optimal Motivation and Psychological Well- Being Across Life’s Domains

Self-determination theory (SDT) differentiates motivation, with autonomous and controlled motivations constituting the key, broad distinction. Research has shown that autonomous motivation predicts persistence and adherence and is advantageous for effective performance, especially on complex or heuristic tasks that involve deep information processing or creativity. Autonomous motivation is also...

Pets, attachment, and well-being across the life cycle.

Using an ethological framework of attachment developed by Bowlby and the social provisions of relationships delineated by Weiss, this article explores the ways in which family pets, in particular dogs and cats, provide certain components of attachment that contribute to emotional and social well-being throughout the life cycle. Pets may supply ongoing comfort and reduce feelings of loneliness d...

World benevolence beliefs and well-being across the life span.

Do people's worldviews change across the life course? Beliefs in the benevolence (goodness) of the world and their relations with age and well-being were examined in a 2-year study of a nationally representative sample (N = 2,138) ranging in age from 18 to 101 years. Multilevel modeling analyses controlling for demographics, mental health history, prior experience with stressful life events, an...

Understanding Human Well - being