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Well-Being in its Natural Habitat: Orientations to Happiness and the Experience of Everyday Activities

Peterson, Park, and Seligman (2005) have proposed that individuals seek to increase their well-being through three behavioural orientations; via pleasure, meaning, and engagement. The current study investigated how orientations to happiness influenced the pursuit and experience of daily activities using an experience sampling methodology (ESM). Daily activities were experienced as a blend of both hedonic and eudaimonic characteristics. Dominant orientation to happiness did not predict engaging in different daily activities. Trait orientations to happiness had some influence on the momentary experience of behaviour. Those scoring highest on all three orientations to happiness also rated their daily activities highest on momentary pleasure, meaning, engagement, and happiness. The results suggest that increasing all three orientations is a pathway to the full life and a balanced well-being portfolio.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:canterbury.ac.nz/oai:ir.canterbury.ac.nz:10092/8040
Date January 2013
CreatorsGrimm, Carsten
PublisherUniversity of Canterbury. Psychology
Source SetsUniversity of Canterbury
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic thesis or dissertation, Text
RightsCopyright Carsten Grimm, http://library.canterbury.ac.nz/thesis/etheses_copyright.shtml
RelationNZCU

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