Conditions of Happiness

Veenhoven, Ruut

doi:10.1007/978-94-009-6432-7

Cited by 650 publications

(309 citation statements)

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“…This concept is delineated in more detail in Veenhoven (1984) and is also labeled as "happiness." The focus of this chapter is on present satisfaction with life.…”

Section: Dependent Variable: Life Satisfactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Leisure Activities on Life Satisfaction: The Importance of Holiday Trips

Nawijn

Veenhoven

2011

The Human Pursuit of Well-Being

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“…This concept is delineated in more detail in Veenhoven (1984) and is also labeled as "happiness." The focus of this chapter is on present satisfaction with life.…”

Section: Dependent Variable: Life Satisfactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Leisure Activities on Life Satisfaction: The Importance of Holiday Trips

Nawijn

Veenhoven

2011

The Human Pursuit of Well-Being

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“…To mark these differences, Veenhoven (1984Veenhoven ( , 2009) distinguishes between overall happiness and components of happiness and among the latter an affective component called 'hedonic level of affect' and a cognitive component called 'contentment.' This conceptualization forms the basis of the World Database of Happiness.…”

Section: Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Or we may have surpassed our aspirations but nevertheless feel miserable. Using the word 'happiness' in both these cases would result in three different kinds of happiness, an overall judgment commonly denoted with the term happiness and two more specific appraisals of one's life.To mark these differences, Veenhoven (1984Veenhoven ( , 2009) distinguishes between overall happiness and components of happiness and among the latter an affective component called 'hedonic level of affect' and a cognitive component called 'contentment.' This conceptualization forms the basis of the World Database of Happiness.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Contentment

Veenhoven

2014

Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research

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SYNONYMSGetting what you want; Goal-achievement gap; Meeting aspirations; Satisfaction DEFINITIONContentment is the degree to which one perceives one's wants are being met. It involves a cognitive judgment in which perceptions of life-as-it-is are compared with notions of how-lifeshould-be. This estimate of success in meeting wants figures in the overall evaluation of one's life. In this context it is referred to as the 'cognitive component' of happiness. DESCRIPTIONThe term 'contentment' is often used as a synonym for 'happiness' and is then used to denote our subjective satisfaction with our life as a whole. Yet the term is also used in a more specific sense for a component of happiness. This lemma is about that specific use of the word 'contentment.' When estimating how much we like the life we live, we tend to use two more or less distinct sources of information: our affects and our thoughts. One can observe that one feels fine most of the time and one can also judge that life seems to meet ones (conscious) demands. These appraisals do not necessarily coincide. We may feel fine generally but nevertheless be aware that we failed to realize our aspirations. Or we may have surpassed our aspirations but nevertheless feel miserable. Using the word 'happiness' in both these cases would result in three different kinds of happiness, an overall judgment commonly denoted with the term happiness and two more specific appraisals of one's life.To mark these differences, Veenhoven (1984Veenhoven ( , 2009) distinguishes between overall happiness and components of happiness and among the latter an affective component called 'hedonic level of affect' and a cognitive component called 'contentment.' This conceptualization forms the basis of the World Database of Happiness. (Veenhoven 2012a) In this lemma the cognitive component of happiness is described in more detail. The affective component of happiness is described in the lemma Affective Component of Happiness. ConceptContentment is the degree to which a person perceives that his/her aspirations are being met. Michalos (1985, p. 404) calls this the 'goal-achievement gap.' The concept presupposes that an individual has developed conscious wants and has formed an idea about the realization of.

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“…Though it is often difficult to disentangle causal effects at this level, the data bear no indications of negative effects. This means that there is no great conflict between individual and society, at least not at the present stage of societal development (Veenhoven, 2009). Shortage of time-series data limits longitudinal analysis as yet.…”

Section: Macrolevelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is also evidence for beneficial effects of happiness on several aspects of psychological functioning, such as on perceived fate control. Likewise there is good evidence of positive effects of happiness on physical health, one of the manifestations being that happy people live longer (Diener & Chan 2011;Veenhoven, 2008).…”

Section: Microlevelmentioning

confidence: 99%