This study examined the relationship between the religious orientation quest and well-being using the 1998 General Social Survey. In addition to the religious orientation quest the extrinsic and intrinsic religious orientations were also investigated. Analysis of the data indicated that there was a slight negative association between quest and general well-being, while also demonstrating a strong positive association between quest and inner peace. These results underscore the supposition that quest is an orientation that is complex and ultimately deserves further attention.

This dissertation uncovers a strand in early twentieth century British literature that is currently missing from readings of modernism - a fascination with portraying meditative states of mind. Modernist authors were intrigued by the mind's capacity to be in constant movement between the present, past, and future - what they represented as a stream of consciousness. This study examines the potential of the "still," calm, and concentrated mind in modernist visions of consciousness by exploring how the meditative mind takes a different shape in theme and form in the writings of Virginia Woolf, D.H. Lawrence, and Aldous Huxley. Drawing from the works' preoccupation with physical practices such as spiritual and ritual dance, relaxation techniques, Yoga, the Alexander Technique, and meditative walking, this study highlights the role of the body in views on consciousness in modernist literature. This dissertation argues that looking at modernism through the lens of meditation allows us to see the period not only in terms of the split, wounded self in the fast-paced modern metropolis but reveals its yearning for what the authors in this study call "wholeness," "mind-body harmony," and "the spirit of peace" - a search for peace attainable within, if not without, an attempt to cure the self in the fracturing modern world through experiencing the mind at peace.

The Self-Determination Theory (SDT) claims that autonomous motivation is a basic psychological need for all humans across cultures. When this need is met, individuals are predicted to experience well-being. However, it has been argued that autonomous motivation is not a basic need in the Chinese culture due to their philosophical background. Furthermore, commonly used instruments to measure well-being have been criticised for not measuring low arousal positive affect such as “harmony” or “peace of mind” which have been argued to more accurately target well-being for the Chinese population. The aim of this thesis is to give an overview of the psychological and cognitive neuroscientific research relating to intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, well-being and the associated cultural controversy. Additionally, a questionnaire-based study is reported which examine motivation type and well-being of 183 university students in China and in Sweden through self-reported data. The results support the SDT by showing that intrinsic motivation is correlated to well-being for both samples. Furthermore, the Swedish students experienced higher well-being compared to the Chinese students measured by the traditional “western” instruments. However, the Swedish and the Chinese students reported very similar peace of mind. This indicates that the commonly used instruments might not target well-being accurately universally. Limitations of the study and directions of future research is suggested in the discussion.

Landau, Univ., Abt. Landau, Diss.--Koblenz, 2002. / Literaturverz. S. XV - XXXVIII.