Keyes’s Model of Well-Being
Psychologists in the field of positive psychology and the broader field
of psychology have come up with a number of models through which people can
understand happiness. Of these models, Corey Keyes’s is especially impressive
in its thoroughness in exploring the life that yields happiness. Keyes, an
internationally acclaimed scholar in sociology and psychology, is known for his
interdisciplinary approach to the study of mental health and living well. His
model outlines what a flourishing life consists of. Many scholars and policy
makers dealing with mental health and well-being issues have adopted this model
for use in studying well-being and creating and evaluating social policies
respectively.[1]
Providing a full “strengths and weaknesses” analysis of the model is beyond the
scope of this thesis. So is exploring or comparing the many models of happiness
and flourishing that are in use. For the purposes of my thesis, I will list and
discuss the elements of well-being in Keyes’s model and later use them to build
and discuss my main claims that shame is a major threat to happiness and that
flourishing requires resilience to shame.
Corey Keyes traces his own ideas to two ancient patterns of thought
about happiness. These are best represented in the Greek words “hedonia”
and “eudaimonia”. “Hedonia” is the etymological root for the
English word Hedonic that means pleasure. Eudaimonia is a term that was
popularized in ancient Rome by Aristotle. It refers to the sense of pleasure
that one gets from personal growth or living out one’s life, which for
Aristotle meant growing in virtue. Eudaimonia is the pleasure one feels after
doing something honorable as opposed to hedonia, the pleasure from
physical sensations. Flourishing, for Keyes, is the combination of Hedonic
Well-being and Eudaimonic Well-Being, that is, feeling good and functioning
well respectively.
Keyes lists thirteen signs of Mental Well-Being or Flourishing. These
can be divided into three main classes: feeling good, private well-being and
public well-being. Feeling good constitutes what he calls “hedonia”
while the other two make up Eudaimonia. Below is a list of the thirteen signs
of Flourishing.
1
Excitement or interest in life
2
Satisfaction with one’s life
3
Social Contribution
4
Social Integration
5
Social Growth and Potential
6
Social Acceptance
7
Social Coherence
8
Self-acceptance
9
Environmental Mastery
10 Positive
intimate relationships
11 Personal
growth
12 Autonomy
13 Purpose
in life
Keyes and others who follow his model look for those thirteen signs to
determine the level of Flourishing. In terms of the actual measurement, the
researchers do not look for the amount of episodes or their quality. Rather
they ask one to evaluate one’s own experience using the questions shown in the
table. Each question represents a component from the list of thirteen we made.
The measurements exist along a continuum but one needs “Almost every day”
(Scale 5) or “Every day” (Scale 6) for at least half of these thirteen
questions. Without delving too deep into the technicalities of the method of
measuring and evaluating the measurements, one can notice that this model does
offer a detailed and very extensive framework for thinking about happiness and
living well. It is difficult to conceive a form of happiness that is not
included in this model.
[1] Scottish Government's National Program for Improving Mental
Health and Well-being 2008; Canadian Association of College and University
Students Services 2012. Keyes has also participated in
conferences and publications on Mental Health with the World Health
Organization, U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health
Canada and the United Kingdom’s National Health Services.
No comments:
Post a Comment