Why your personal definition of happiness matters more than objective facts
In short: Is happiness a measurable fact or a personal judgment? Science suggests it is the latter. Subjective well-being isn't a single metric; it is a label for how individuals evaluate their own lives, balancing fleeting emotions against long-term life satisfaction and a deeper sense of purpose.
Subjective well-being (SWB) is not a universal definition of happiness. Instead, researchers treat it as an umbrella term for two distinct psychological frameworks: hedonism and life satisfaction. Hedonism focuses on the 'hedonic balance'—the aggregation of momentary affective experiences like pleasure versus pain. In contrast, life satisfaction is a cognitive evaluation based on the recall and assessment of past experiences. Because there is no objective way to define happiness, individuals must use their own internal criteria to evaluate their actual lives.
Contemporary studies highlight that SWB consists of three primary elements: hedonic measures (affect), cognitive measures (life satisfaction), and a feeling of purpose and meaning (eudaimonia). While affect can be influenced by immediate situations—such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which lowered emotional well-being by 74%—life satisfaction is considered a more 'stable' component. Interestingly, these components are often measured independently; for instance, a person might have high life satisfaction but low current positive affect.
The quest to measure these internal states faces significant hurdles. Self-reports are the most common method but are prone to social desirability bias, where participants may lie to please researchers. To counter this, scientists use 'Experience Sampling Methods' (ESM) to record moods in real-time via random beepers, or 'Day Reconstruction Methods' where participants diary their previous day's activities. Other methods include informant reports from friends and family, though these have been found ineffective for assessing the well-being of children.
Finally, the origins of our well-being may be rooted in biology. 'Set Point Theory' suggests that hereditary characteristics may determine a person's baseline equilibrium for happiness at birth. Behavior-genetic studies have shown high heritability for both positive and negative affectivity—40% and 55% respectively. However, while these genetic predispositions exist, they do not rule out the possibility of significant long-term changes in an individual's well-being.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Subjective well-being
- Also: Frontiers in public health — Academic performance and college students' subjective well-being. · CC BY
- Also: Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) — The Effect of Menopausal Symptoms on Subjective Well-Being. · CC BY
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