Today’s societies are characterised by a host of opportunities and challenges. The pace of life is quicker than ever before, and the changes and developments in societies, science and technology come about faster every day. One of the major challenges for human beings is to make a myriad of choices on a daily basis, which will define their place in society, in life and in the world altogether. To make prudent and sensible decisions is, therefore, one of the key competencies for a successful and good life. This study revisits the idea of an education focused on the personal development and well-being of human beings instead of economic growth. Drawing on philosophical ideas about the good life -- especially Schmid’s art of living concept Lebenskunst -- and recent research in positive psychology, an argument is made for a shift of focus in education and schooling towards a good life and an art of living for today's students. Possible implications of this change of focus for educational practice are discussed, including suggestions for curricula and school subjects, the structure of schools and learning environments, teaching methods, and teacher training. The original contributions to knowledge in this study are: a critique of Schmid's concept from an educational point of view; a comparison of positive psychology research and philosophical concepts of the art of living with a focus on Schmid's work; the development of an educational approach to the art of living, including a discussion of schooling in relation to the art of living; and consequent first steps towards the development of an education for life concept.

Although online social connectedness is increasing, many assumptions about online social network use still remain. For example, that offline social connectedness is superior to online social connectedness. This cross-sectional study addresses these assumptions by studying online and offline social connectedness in relation to happiness, in a sample of 293 young adults from Sweden, between the ages 18-48. Results show that both online and offline social connectedness was associated to happiness. Moreover, three groups varying on happiness did not differ on various forms of social connectedness; however, very happy individuals reported having more genuine online friends than all other groups. The implications of the study and future directions are discussed.

In the past few years social researchers have focused a considerable amount of attention on the relationships between religion and psychological well-being. The purpose of this paper is to examine further relationships among a sample of the Middletown population. More specifically, the paper explores gender differences which may be found in the impact of religion, as measured by church attendance and the presence of fundamentalist beliefs, on three indices of subjective psychological well-being. The findings, as indicated by a series of multiple regressions, demonstrate a significantly stronger relationship between religion and well-being for men than for women. Men who attended church frequently and who professed fundamentalist beliefs were more likely to report positive feelings of well-being. In most cases, religion had little or no effect on women's self-reported well-being. / Department of Sociology

One of the great challenges for positive psychology is that academics, researchers and authors are yet to reach agreement on the terminology, constructs and methodology of the various positive psychological concepts and interventions. One such concept that has been ambiguously and often inconsistently conceptualised is happiness. Interventions that are structured around these conceptualisations have produced mixed results, which are attributable to various aspects such as the unidimensional conceptualisation of the concept, inconsistent measurement, psychometric measuring instruments that have not been validated for the population in question, and fragmented intervention methodologies. Research was, therefore, needed regarding happiness and the development of interventions aimed at increasing happiness. Therefore, this thesis aimed to investigate the concept, manifestation, measurement and development of happiness and positive psychological interventions (PPIs) within a tertiary educational environment. A mixed method research approach was followed to reach the research objectives. The first study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of positive psychological assessment measures, and to determine the relationship between flourishing and academic performance within a tertiary educational institution. A quantitative cross-sectional survey design was used to address this objective. The Mental Health Continuum Long Form, Positive and Negative Affect Scale and Satisfaction with Life Scale were administered and indicated acceptable levels of internal consistency. The MHC-LF would need to be adapted for future studies within the tertiary educational environment. No significant correlations could be established between academic performance and flourishing. However, cross-tabulation indicated some evidence of the impact that flourishing/languishing had on academic performance. Individuals with moderate levels of flourishing typically performed in the „above average‟ to „excelling academically‟ range. Languishing individuals performed at the lower levels of the academic performance spectrum. The results indicated that a large number of individuals within this tertiary educational environment were languishing. Flourishing students experienced higher levels of positive affect and satisfaction with life, as well as lower levels of negative affect than their languishing and moderately flourishing counterparts. The second study aimed to investigate the main streams of research on happiness, the approaches/models flowing from these philosophies and the methodology of happiness interventions. A quantitative meta-analysis of the literature was used to address the aforementioned research objective. Seeing that the literature presents with such incongruent findings regarding the effectiveness of PPIs, research was needed to establish how happiness should be conceptualised, which moderating factors should be addressed in this conceptualisation, and what the content of PPIs should be. A qualitative meta-analysis of the literature indicated that happiness is approached from either a hedonic, eudaimonic or integrated approach. These philosophies gave birth to a stream of scientific literature regarding happiness and its various conceptualisations, namely (a) Subjective well-being; (b) Hedonic well-being; (c) Eudaimonic well-being; (d) Psychological well-being; (e) Flourishing, and (f) Authentic happiness. Furthermore, the results highlighted three causes for failing interventions: (a) unidimensional models/approaches towards happiness, (b) targeting the concept of happiness instead of the mediating factors; and (c) fragmented methodological interventions. The study suggested a multidimensional model for happiness and happiness interventions. Furthermore, the study proposed a multifaceted methodology for happiness interventions, comprising self-administered intentional activities, group-administered interventions and individual coaching. The third study aimed to evaluate a PPI aimed at increasing happiness of students in a tertiary educational institution. A longitudinal pre-experimental research design was used to address the aforementioned research objective. Qualitative data were used to explore the findings further. The results indicated that the overall happiness of a student may be increased through developing individuals on both an emotional and psychological level. The results showed some scientific merit to a multifaceted approach towards PPIs. The PPI affected all the aspects conceptualised in this study except for two components of authenticity, namely authentic behaviour and relational orientations. / PhD, Industrial Psychology, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012

Sammanfattning Den här studiens syfte har varit att undersöka vilka uppfattningar pedagogerna har om barns kroppsliga rörelser i verksamheten, både i den fria spontana leken och i de planerade rörelseaktiviteterna. De har även fått dela med sig av sina tankar om barns möjligheter till rörelser i verksamheten och hur de ser att det påverkar barnens motoriska utveckling, inlärning och rörelseglädje. Detta har möjliggjorts genom att använda sig av det fenomenologiska perspektivets ”glasögon” där människan erfar världen genom kropp och sinne. Tidigare forskning visar att det finns ett samband mellan rörelse, utveckling och inlärningsförmåga. Metoden som användes var kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta pedagoger från tre olika förskolor. Resultatet visade att pedagogerna ansåg att barnen har ett stort rörelsebehov och att de har stora möjligheter att få utlopp för det i utomhusmiljön i verksamheten. I resultatet framkom även att barn behöver både spontan fri lek och planerade rörelseaktiviteter för att få röra på hela sin kropp och få öva de grundläggande rörelserna som bidrar till ett lättare lärande i det längre perspektivet. / Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the teachers’ views on children's body movements at preschool, both in free and spontaneous play and in planned motion activities. They have also shared their thoughts on children's opportunities to movement at preschool and how they see it affecting the children's motor development, learning, and the joy of motion. This has been made possible by looking through the phenomenological perspectives "eye-glasses", a perspective in which the individual experiences the world through body and mind. Previous research shows that there is a connection between movement, development and learning ability. The method used was qualitative semi-structured interviews with eight teachers from three different preschools. The results showed that teachers felt that the children have a need to be active and that they have great opportunity to do so in the outdoor environment. The result also revealed that children need both spontaneous free play and planned motion activities to get the whole body in motion and to practice the basic movements that contribute to an easier long-term learning.

Several studies have already reported that ministers are experiencing high levels of stress due to career demands, role conflict and personal situations (Roux, 1992:227; Scholtz, 1996:134; Kellerman, 2000:28). Stress is detrimental to general health and is the primary reason why ministers leave the ministry (Andrew, 1997:15, Virginia, 1998:50; Swart et al., 2000:339; Bisschoff & Schoeman, 2003:52). Research showed that regular physical activity and maintaining a good level of physical fitness has positive effects on physical and psycho-emotional health (Paffenbarger, 1994:860; Margetts et al., 1999:97; Botha, 200237; Fourie, 2002:7). In this respect, it became clear that participation in physical activity may decrease the risk of developing coronary heart disease and other illness through it's likely buffering effect against the negative effects of stress (Barlow et al., 1990:392; Bouchard & Despres, 1995:270; Stofan et al., 1998: 1808; Le Roux, 2000:59; Schlebusch, 2000:50). The objective of this study was firstly to determine interaction of physical activity on the relationship between coronary risk index and happiness and quality of life of South African Dutch Reformed ministers. Secondly, to determine the interaction of physical activity with coronary risk index in respect of years of service, congregation size, co ministership and congregation type, and thirdly, to study the interaction of physical activity with happiness and quality of life in respect of the last mentioned demographic parameters. The subjects were 340 male ministers of the Dutch reformed church, who volunteered to participate in the study. The quality of participation in physical activity was determined with Sharkey's (1997:432) physical activity index. The risk of developing coronary heart disease was determined by Bjurnstrom and Alexiou's (1978:524-525) coronary risk index assessment, while happiness or quality of life was measured by using the Affectometer 2 of Kammann and Flett (1983:259). The mean index of physical activity participation was 33.81 ± 32.30 which could be classified as fair, although 32.2% of the subjects fell in the low activity group. The coronary risk index showed that 19.9% of the population indicated a high risk of developing coronary artery disease, while 48.9% indicated a low level of happiness and quality of life. Significant (p10.05) relationships between physical activity, coronary risk index, happiness and quality of life were found among the high activity and low activity groups. Physical activity indicated a positive effect on the coronary risk index, independent of happiness and quality of life, as well as years of service, congregation size, co-ministership and congregation type. Physical activity also indicated a positive effect on happiness and quality of life, independent of years of service, congregation size, co-ministership and congregation type. In most cases physical activity also showed a significant interaction on the relationships between coronary risk index and years of service, congregation size, co-ministership and congregation type, as well as on the relationships between happiness and quality of life and the last mentioned demographic parameters. This study indicated that the ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church who participated in this study operated in a danger zone regarding their happiness and quality of life. Physical activity can be regarded as a salutogenic and preventative modality on the interaction of physical activity among the relationships between demographic factors, coronary risk index, happiness and quality of life of Dutch Reformed ministers. It was also concluded that physical activity can be regarded as a salutogenic modality in the physical and psychological wellness of South African ministers of religion. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Human Movement Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

In this paper, I discuss the connection between happiness and reason in the work of Herder, Kant, and Hegel. First, I consider Herder’s integration of satisfaction and rationality and Kant’s complete separation of rational imperatives from particular experience. I discuss (and partially endorse) Kant’s critique of Herder as arbitrary and overly reliant on analogy. I then turn to Hegel’s response to this debate. I argue that Hegel’s Phenomenology provides an integration of happiness (in the broad, Aristotelian sense) and reason that is not subject to the same pitfalls as Herder’s solution. I examine two examples of rational critique in the Phenomenology and conclude with brief remarks about happiness and the rational society in Hegel’s work.

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Past research has suggested that up-regulating displays of happiness leads to positive social outcomes. In my dissertation research, I suggest that whether the up-regulation of displays of happiness leads to positive outcomes depends on observers’ culture. I developed and tested a model of how one aspect of observers’ culture, analytic-holistic thinking, influences the relation between expressers’ displays of happiness and observers’ prosocial behavior. In two studies, I examined how observers’ analytical-holistic thinking moderates the effect of expressers’ inauthentic displays of happiness (regulated through surface acting) and expressers’ authentic displays of happiness (regulated through deep acting) on observers’ prosocial behavior and trust inferences. In a laboratory experiment (Study 1), observers’ analytical-holistic thinking moderated the effect of project leaders’ inauthentic displays of happiness (vs. neutral emotional displays) on observers’ trust in the expresser, but not on observers’ prosocial behavior (time taken to edit a cover letter). In a field fundraising experiment (Study 2), observers’ analytical-holistic thinking moderated the effect of fundraisers’ inauthentic displays of happiness (vs. authentic displays of happiness) on observers’ trust in fundraisers, intentions to volunteer for the charity organization, and monetary donations to the charity organization. Further, observers’ trust in fundraisers mediated the moderating effect of observers’ analytical-holistic thinking on the relation between fundraisers’ inauthentic displays of happiness and observers’ intention to volunteer. Contributions to the literature on the social effects of emotions and to the literature on fundraising and helping as well as practical implications are discussed.

The responsiveness of organizational leaders regarding suggestions related to various managerial techniques has led to the coinage of the ‘management fashion’ idiom. It has been convincingly argued that phenomena like management control systems are prone to trends, and that such trends permeate into the daily life of managers through the use of persuasive rhetoric. This thesis is a theory-generating study of change in management control systems. More precisely, its purpose is to seek an understanding of how fashions within the field of management control emerge through processes of interaction and co-production. By asking the question “how do the forces involved in the shaping of a market for management control systems interact and combine in order to create management fashions?” the thesis seeks to generate a comprehensive conjecture on the management fashion setting process. The thesis is based on an empirical case study completed with extensive literature readings. In order to generate theory, a methodology based on abductive reasoning has been produced. Theoretically, the thesis borrows from micro sociological theory on imitation and co-production but extends also into such fields as psychology, aesthetics, rhetoric and economics; aside from the obvious management control and management accounting themes. The thesis concludes by producing a comprehensive model of the management fashion setting process. The contribution of the thesis can be understood as either providing an alternative to or completing the dominant interpretation of the phenomena. The main difference between the arrived at suggestion and the prevailing interpretation is the role of the actors which is changed from norm following consumers of fashion to creative producers of fashion. This change represents a change in scientific traditions and necessitates the adoption of additional frames of reference when studying management fashion phenomena.