Goals as Cornerstones of Subjective Well-being - Linking Individuals and Cultures.

Chapter V

Goals as Cornerstones of Subjective Well-being

Linking Individuals and Cultures

The definition of “the good life” sends a mixed message to different individuals. This message is often vague and sometimes difficult to interpret. So exactly what is “the good life”? Commercials shown in America contribute to the on-going debate of what is the good life. If one plays hard, work hard, have fun, and drink beer with beautiful women, then they are having a good life according to commercials aired in the United States. Does these examples serve as a universal form of the good life or are they specific to American culture. This chapter will attempt to analyze the role of culture and explore the descriptors of well-being.

Psychological well-being has a few predictors that complement the self-determination model of well-being. These needs that serves as a key predictor for psychological well-being are autonomy, namely, and competence. The pursuit of personal goals such as personal growth, and enhancement of others, provides people with a deep satisfaction. Extrinsic goals such as financial success and physical attractiveness, does not provide people with that type of satisfaction. The consistency of the self-determination model of well-being along with the importance of self-acceptance and community feelings has a positive association with self-actualization and a negative association with behavioral problems. The importance of financial success also is negatively associated with self-actualization, and positively associated with behavioral problems. The importance of physical attractiveness, financial success, and fame has a positive correlation with depression, anxiety, and a host of other physical symptoms. The importance of community feeling and self-acceptance are negatively associated with psychological ill-being indexes.

Another universalist model of well-being proposed by whiff is based on the literature of human development. Her main focus is that traditional well-being is focused on emotional well-being and that this provides a vague conclusion of what it means to be psychological well. Ryff insists that self-acceptance, personal growth, purpose in life, positive relations with others, environmental mastery, and autonomy should be used to determine ones well-being. These six factors prove that well-being can vary and change during ones life span.

The previous to models of psychological well-being focused on some of the same factors such as purpose ...

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The previous to models of psychological well-being focused on some of the same factors such as purpose in life and self-regard. Another approach used by many is the goal-oriented approach to well-being. Goals are defined as desired states internalized by individuals according to the book. High ordered goals are classified as those goals that are considered to be guiding principles in life. Lower ordered goals are classified as personal strivings. Personal strivings is defined as what individuals are characteristically trying to do daily in life. This approach method believes that well-being varies amongst individuals according to their goals. College students were studied during the early parts of this study to determine the correlation between goals and well-being. The results proved that those striving for achievement experienced more positive emotions. The goal moderator model is difficult to perform accurate results due to the fact that people have different goals and values, which leads to different sources of satisfaction.

Despite the three models mentioned earlier and their different views of well-being, there are two hypothesis that discusses the determinants of subjective well-being. Positive self-regard correlates with life satisfaction across cultures between individualist and collectivists. A recent study was performed on individuals in cross cultures. The study is used to test psychologically well-functioning individuals in diverse cultures and the universality of the self-determination theory. Questions such as, “Are individuals who pursue goals related to financial success and social reputation lower in psychological well-being across cultures?” and “what makes people happy”. were tested through out the study. After a number of college students, which differed in age, sex, and gender, were gathered a study was conducted. The study delineated the question what makes people happy.

In conclusion, this chapter expressed the many different models of well-being. The three models which consisted of the self determination model, multi-dimensional model, and the goal oriented model still present an unclear perception of well-being. There are far to many different cultures who possess many different goals and values.