Well-Being: Definition, Types, & PsychologyWhat is well-being, what are the different types of well-being, and how do we create more well-being in our lives?
Before reading on, if you're a therapist, coach, or wellness entrepreneur, be sure to grab our free Wellness Business Growth eBook to get expert tips and free resources that will help you grow your business exponentially.
Are You a Therapist, Coach, or Wellness Entrepreneur?
Grab Our Free eBook to Learn How to
|
|
These six aspects of well-being include:
|
|
Basically, each of these aspects of well-being operate independently—that is, you can be high in one while being low in the others. That means that creating well-being often requires focusing on multiple different aspects. For example, one might focus on the aspects where they feel their well-being is the lowest.
To learn more about your own well-being, take our well-being quiz here to get your free report.
To learn more about your own well-being, take our well-being quiz here to get your free report.
Video: Well-Being: Definition, Dimensions, & Tips
Why Is Well-Being Important?
Well-being is arguably the most important thing in life. Indeed, Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of The United States, claimed that ‘the pursuit of happiness’ (or more accurately, the pursuit of meaningful life) should be a human right.
In addition, it is also the desire to move towards greater well-being that motivates the majority of human behavior—everything from the jobs we work to the relationships we make to the hobbies we fill our time with. Well-being is the purpose of life, even though we define and experience well-being in an infinite number of ways.
In addition, it is also the desire to move towards greater well-being that motivates the majority of human behavior—everything from the jobs we work to the relationships we make to the hobbies we fill our time with. Well-being is the purpose of life, even though we define and experience well-being in an infinite number of ways.
Types of Well-Being (Dimensions of Well-Being)
Although we’ve already touched on different types of well-being, it can be helpful when seeking to optimize our well-being to look at broader categories. This can help us pinpoint the areas where we most struggle.
Emotional Well-Being
Emotional well-being is the aspect of well-being that involves our emotions and satisfaction with life (Langeland, 2022). When researchers talk about well-being, emotional well-being is usually what they are referring to. However, the lines are blurry in the research, and emotional well-being often also includes social and mental characteristics. In the mainstream, however, well-being is far broader and includes a variety of components that can lead to a better life. We’ll now go into some of these.
Social Well-Being
Social well-being is defined as our self-reported relationship quality with others. Interestingly, though, other aspects of social well-being depend upon how we compare ourselves to others (Keyes & Shapiro, 2004). For example, we evaluate and therefore form opinions of our well-being based on comparisons to neighbors, friends, and even people we see on TV. Therefore, we may report relatively higher (or lower) well-being depending on how well (or not well) others are doing. Letting go of these comparisons is a great first step in increasing our social well-being.
Mental Well-Being
Mental well-being—which might also be called cognitive well-being or intellectual well-being—has to do with the well-being of the mind. Again, there is an overlap between mental well-being and the other types of well-being, but poor mental well-being might involve things like rumination, minimizing, or suppression. On the flip side, positive mental well-being might include not getting caught up in negative thoughts, accepting our thoughts, and effectively processing our thoughts.
Financial Well-Being
Financial well-being is less often discussed as part of the science of well-being. This is a shame because finances have such a huge impact on personal well-being. In fact, one study showed that lottery winners showed sustained increases in well-being for over a decade (Lindqvist et al., 2020). However, the impact of money on well-being is not straight-forward at all, and money doesn’t increase well-being in all circumstances (Diener & Biswas-Diener, 2002). Nevertheless, it’s clear that increasing income up to a certain amount ($75,000 in 2010 dollars) is correlated with parallel increases in well-being. Increasing income beyond this amount does not seem to influence well-being (Kahneman & Deaton, 2010).
Economic Well-Being
Economic well-being can be defined as the overall financial well-being of people in a given area. For example, per capita disposable real income may be used as a measure of economic well-being (Osbery, 1985). Economic growth of a nation appears to have little impact on well-being. However, poverty puts people at high risk for poor well-being (Diener & Biswas-Diener, 2002). This suggests that while alleviating poverty is quite important for well-being, money (or economic prosperity) is unlikely to increase the well-being of those not living in poverty.
Spiritual Well-Being
Although spiritual well-being is rarely the focus of research in the psychology field, aspects of spirituality overlap considerably with other areas of psychology, especially positive psychology. For example, one study defined spiritual well-being as having four parts. These parts were:
Although ‘connection with God’ was not correlated with well-being, the other 3 aspects were correlated with well-being (Gomez & Fisher, 2003). This is not surprising given that the concept of well-being in psychology overlaps significantly with concepts of spirituality and enlightenment. For example, Buddhist and Hindu texts allude to the pursuit of ‘sukha’, which translates to happiness, pleasure, ease, joy, and bliss, and it is thought to be a characteristic of spiritual awakening. To me, this sounds an awful lot like well-being, don’t ya think?
Holistic Well-Being
Holistic well-being can be defined as the multidimensional concept of overall well-being that includes all the types of well-being described above (and perhaps a few others) (Chan et al., 2014). In the mainstream, holistic well-being is generally thought to be an approach to well-being that not only considers the many aspects of well-being but how they interact and affect each other. For example, poor social well-being is very likely to contribute to poor emotional well-being. Similarly, poor physical well-being (which we’ll talk about next) is likely to contribute to poor emotional well-being and vice versa.
Emotional Well-Being
Emotional well-being is the aspect of well-being that involves our emotions and satisfaction with life (Langeland, 2022). When researchers talk about well-being, emotional well-being is usually what they are referring to. However, the lines are blurry in the research, and emotional well-being often also includes social and mental characteristics. In the mainstream, however, well-being is far broader and includes a variety of components that can lead to a better life. We’ll now go into some of these.
Social Well-Being
Social well-being is defined as our self-reported relationship quality with others. Interestingly, though, other aspects of social well-being depend upon how we compare ourselves to others (Keyes & Shapiro, 2004). For example, we evaluate and therefore form opinions of our well-being based on comparisons to neighbors, friends, and even people we see on TV. Therefore, we may report relatively higher (or lower) well-being depending on how well (or not well) others are doing. Letting go of these comparisons is a great first step in increasing our social well-being.
Mental Well-Being
Mental well-being—which might also be called cognitive well-being or intellectual well-being—has to do with the well-being of the mind. Again, there is an overlap between mental well-being and the other types of well-being, but poor mental well-being might involve things like rumination, minimizing, or suppression. On the flip side, positive mental well-being might include not getting caught up in negative thoughts, accepting our thoughts, and effectively processing our thoughts.
Financial Well-Being
Financial well-being is less often discussed as part of the science of well-being. This is a shame because finances have such a huge impact on personal well-being. In fact, one study showed that lottery winners showed sustained increases in well-being for over a decade (Lindqvist et al., 2020). However, the impact of money on well-being is not straight-forward at all, and money doesn’t increase well-being in all circumstances (Diener & Biswas-Diener, 2002). Nevertheless, it’s clear that increasing income up to a certain amount ($75,000 in 2010 dollars) is correlated with parallel increases in well-being. Increasing income beyond this amount does not seem to influence well-being (Kahneman & Deaton, 2010).
Economic Well-Being
Economic well-being can be defined as the overall financial well-being of people in a given area. For example, per capita disposable real income may be used as a measure of economic well-being (Osbery, 1985). Economic growth of a nation appears to have little impact on well-being. However, poverty puts people at high risk for poor well-being (Diener & Biswas-Diener, 2002). This suggests that while alleviating poverty is quite important for well-being, money (or economic prosperity) is unlikely to increase the well-being of those not living in poverty.
Spiritual Well-Being
Although spiritual well-being is rarely the focus of research in the psychology field, aspects of spirituality overlap considerably with other areas of psychology, especially positive psychology. For example, one study defined spiritual well-being as having four parts. These parts were:
- Connection with self
- Connection with God
- Connection with the environment
- Connection with others
Although ‘connection with God’ was not correlated with well-being, the other 3 aspects were correlated with well-being (Gomez & Fisher, 2003). This is not surprising given that the concept of well-being in psychology overlaps significantly with concepts of spirituality and enlightenment. For example, Buddhist and Hindu texts allude to the pursuit of ‘sukha’, which translates to happiness, pleasure, ease, joy, and bliss, and it is thought to be a characteristic of spiritual awakening. To me, this sounds an awful lot like well-being, don’t ya think?
Holistic Well-Being
Holistic well-being can be defined as the multidimensional concept of overall well-being that includes all the types of well-being described above (and perhaps a few others) (Chan et al., 2014). In the mainstream, holistic well-being is generally thought to be an approach to well-being that not only considers the many aspects of well-being but how they interact and affect each other. For example, poor social well-being is very likely to contribute to poor emotional well-being. Similarly, poor physical well-being (which we’ll talk about next) is likely to contribute to poor emotional well-being and vice versa.
Well-Being and Health
Well-being and health are highly correlated and sometimes even thought of as the same thing. And sometimes the term physical well-being is used interchangeably with the term physical health.
Physical Well-Being
Although well-being research tends to focus on emotional aspects more than physical aspects, there is no doubt that physical health is a part of, or contributor to, well-being. Some aspects of physical well-being might include self-reported physical health, illness symptoms, and health-related behaviors like smoking or alcohol use (McKee-Ryan et al., 2005).
Well-Being vs Wellness
There are no hard-and-fast rules here, but in the mainstream, the term well-being tends to be used for social and emotional topics whereas wellness tends to be used for diet and exercise-related topics.
Physical Well-Being
Although well-being research tends to focus on emotional aspects more than physical aspects, there is no doubt that physical health is a part of, or contributor to, well-being. Some aspects of physical well-being might include self-reported physical health, illness symptoms, and health-related behaviors like smoking or alcohol use (McKee-Ryan et al., 2005).
Well-Being vs Wellness
There are no hard-and-fast rules here, but in the mainstream, the term well-being tends to be used for social and emotional topics whereas wellness tends to be used for diet and exercise-related topics.
Personal Well-Being vs Societal Well-Being
We’ve primarily been talking about personal well-being so far, but there are some who are interested in societal well-being too—that is, the overall or average level of well-being of a community or nation. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) defines well-being as both the personal aspects as well as societal aspects of well-being. They state:
“Well-being is a positive state experienced by individuals and societies. Similar to health, it is a resource for daily life and is determined by social, economic, and environmental conditions. Well-being encompasses quality of life and the ability of people and societies to contribute to the world with a sense of meaning and purpose.”
Additionally, many nations are now finding that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a poor way to assess the success or well-being of a nation. This has resulted in the development of new measures to assess the overall well-being of nations and communities (Chaaban et al., 2016).
“Well-being is a positive state experienced by individuals and societies. Similar to health, it is a resource for daily life and is determined by social, economic, and environmental conditions. Well-being encompasses quality of life and the ability of people and societies to contribute to the world with a sense of meaning and purpose.”
Additionally, many nations are now finding that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a poor way to assess the success or well-being of a nation. This has resulted in the development of new measures to assess the overall well-being of nations and communities (Chaaban et al., 2016).
Well-Being Tips
When we look at research (in any field), we have to remember that it’s based on assumptions. One of the assumptions about psychosocial well-being is that each individual has a set point based on our genetics and personality. Our life events and efforts can move us up and down from this set point, but the assumption is that we will tend to return to this original level of well-being over time (Kammann, 1983).
This is a very strange assumption for a field that simultaneously focuses on researching things that increase well-being. Luckily, plenty of research has suggested that, in certain circumstances and as a result of certain efforts, our well-being can indeed change over time (Easterlin, 2005). So let’s talk about how to create more well-being in your life.
How to Balance Well-Being
One approach for balancing well-being might involve focusing on the aspects of well-being that you find to be most lacking. Assuming you make progress in these areas, this approach is likely to give you the greatest bang for your buck—that is, your efforts can make a big impact on your well-being.
You might, alternatively, focus on aspects of well-being that you are most interested in. This approach is also a good one as we are likely to stay more motivated to work on things that we enjoy.
Another approach is drawn from spiritual texts and involves working through issues associated with the lower chakras and then ascending upward to the higher chakras (The Law of One, 1981-1984). Although the science on chakras is limited, the spiritual texts outline another possible model of well-being—splitting well-being into different dimensions (in a very similar way as the academic and mainstream approaches). If these dimensions of well-being resonate with you, working your way through them can be a useful way of organizing and planning your pathway fo personal growth.
I’ve used the chakras to provide a customizable map to personal well-being in my Secret Keys book here.
This is a very strange assumption for a field that simultaneously focuses on researching things that increase well-being. Luckily, plenty of research has suggested that, in certain circumstances and as a result of certain efforts, our well-being can indeed change over time (Easterlin, 2005). So let’s talk about how to create more well-being in your life.
How to Balance Well-Being
One approach for balancing well-being might involve focusing on the aspects of well-being that you find to be most lacking. Assuming you make progress in these areas, this approach is likely to give you the greatest bang for your buck—that is, your efforts can make a big impact on your well-being.
You might, alternatively, focus on aspects of well-being that you are most interested in. This approach is also a good one as we are likely to stay more motivated to work on things that we enjoy.
Another approach is drawn from spiritual texts and involves working through issues associated with the lower chakras and then ascending upward to the higher chakras (The Law of One, 1981-1984). Although the science on chakras is limited, the spiritual texts outline another possible model of well-being—splitting well-being into different dimensions (in a very similar way as the academic and mainstream approaches). If these dimensions of well-being resonate with you, working your way through them can be a useful way of organizing and planning your pathway fo personal growth.
I’ve used the chakras to provide a customizable map to personal well-being in my Secret Keys book here.
More Ways to Create Well-Being
On this website, we have tons of different strategies to help you create more well-being in your life. Here are a few of my favorite well-being topics to get you started. Just click on the links below to view a deep dive on each topic.
Emotional Well-Being
Emotional Well-Being
- Loving yourself
- Emotion regulation
- Get to know your emotions
- Positive thinking
- Savoring
- Cultivate gratitude
- Passive income
- Living simply
- Get clear on your personal goals
Well-Being Activities
In addition to the deep dives above, you may want to explore some well-being-boosting activities that you can easily implement in your daily life. Here are a few of my favorite well-being-boosting activities:
- Loving-kindness meditation
- Random acts of kindness
- Asking others deep questions
- Create your bucket list
- Explore your positive qualities
- Daily journaling
Mental Health vs Well-Being
Researchers have argued that mental health and well-being are not the same thing. In fact, a person can have positive mental health while having low well-being and vice versa (Keller, 2020). One researcher argued that increases in well-being make you better off in some way—and this may include a wide variety of ways. This might involve happiness, contentment, and healthy relationships.
This researcher further suggests that positive mental health focuses specifically on the mental (or mind) aspects of health (Keller, 2020). Indeed, historically, mental health has focused on mental illness (versus the absence of mental illness) while well-being has focused more on promoting positive outcomes (Slade, 2010).
These definitional differences don’t really matter so much if we desire to improve our mental health and well-being. However, it can be helpful for us to understand that mental health approaches have focused on decreasing negative emotions and outcomes while well-being approaches have focused on increasing positive emotions and outcomes. We’ll need to do a bit of both of these on our well-being journey, but knowing these differences can help us focus on what’s most likely to be most helpful in each phase of our lives.
This researcher further suggests that positive mental health focuses specifically on the mental (or mind) aspects of health (Keller, 2020). Indeed, historically, mental health has focused on mental illness (versus the absence of mental illness) while well-being has focused more on promoting positive outcomes (Slade, 2010).
These definitional differences don’t really matter so much if we desire to improve our mental health and well-being. However, it can be helpful for us to understand that mental health approaches have focused on decreasing negative emotions and outcomes while well-being approaches have focused on increasing positive emotions and outcomes. We’ll need to do a bit of both of these on our well-being journey, but knowing these differences can help us focus on what’s most likely to be most helpful in each phase of our lives.
Opposite of Well-Being
Given the definitions of well-being we’ve discussed so far, poor well-being might involve relatively high levels of negative emotions (and low levels of positive emotions) and a low level of satisfaction with life. It might also involve being low in any one (or several) of the aspects of well-being described above. Given low well-being can come from a number of different areas, this can make it tricky to figure out what, exactly, we should do to create more well-being in our lives.
The Science of Well-Being (Well-Being In Psychology)
In recent years, well-being has become a pretty hot topic for study in the field of psychology. So let’s dive in to learn more about the science of well-being.
Eudaimonic Well-Being & Hedonic Well-Being
The ideas of eudaimonic well-being and hedonic well-being go all the way back to the ancient Greeks (Ryff et al., 2021). They spoke about maximizing happiness and pleasure (hedonic well-being). Aristotle then spoke of living in alignment with the soul and achieving the best within us, an experience he termed ‘eudaimonic’.
Present research on well-being includes both hedonic and eudaimonic aspects of well-being. Hedonic well-being focuses on happiness and eudaimonic well-being focuses on potential (Ryff et al., 2021). There are also other aspects of well-being, such as optimism, not included in these categories.
Eudaimonic Well-Being & Hedonic Well-Being
The ideas of eudaimonic well-being and hedonic well-being go all the way back to the ancient Greeks (Ryff et al., 2021). They spoke about maximizing happiness and pleasure (hedonic well-being). Aristotle then spoke of living in alignment with the soul and achieving the best within us, an experience he termed ‘eudaimonic’.
Present research on well-being includes both hedonic and eudaimonic aspects of well-being. Hedonic well-being focuses on happiness and eudaimonic well-being focuses on potential (Ryff et al., 2021). There are also other aspects of well-being, such as optimism, not included in these categories.
Subjective Well-Being
In the psychology field, well-being is often considered to be ‘subjective well-being’. All this means is that our measures of well-being are based on our self-reported personal experience. Although neuroscience, psychophysiology, and behavioral observation are sometimes used to measure well-being, so far the research suggests that our personal report on our well-being (i.e., subjective well-being) is the best way to measure well-being.
Video: What is Well-Being?
Examples of Well-Being
There is a near-infinite number of ways that one might create well-being in their life. Below are a few examples that demonstrate more well-being versus less well-being.
- Optimism - Pessimism: Someone who is optimistic is likely to have higher well-being due to their habit of looking at their life situation positively.
- Positive emotions - Negative emotions: Although one can experience both positive and negative emotions at the same time, in general, those who tend to experience more positive emotions are likely to report greater well-being. These experiences of joy, happiness, contentment, and excitement may all contribute to greater well-being.
- Kind - hostile: On average, those who are kind are likely to have greater well-being than those who are hostile. Kindness makes us feel good while hostility likely comes from deep anger or unresolved resentment, which may thwart well-being.
Quotes for Well-Being
- “Self-care is not selfish. You cannot serve from an empty vessel.” – Eleanor Brown
- “It’s not until you get tired that you see how strong you really are.” – Shaun T
- “You can’t control what goes on outside, but you can control what goes on inside.” – Unknown
- “Take care of your body, it’s the only place you have to live.” – Jim Rohn
- “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn
- “Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.” – Oprah Winfrey
Other Words for Well-Being (Well-Being Synonyms)
Although each of the words means slightly different things, each of these words represents aspects of well-being:
healthy, happy, welfare, comfort, wellness, security, safety, protection, prosperity, success, bliss, satisfaction.
healthy, happy, welfare, comfort, wellness, security, safety, protection, prosperity, success, bliss, satisfaction.
Articles Related to Well-Being
Want to learn more about well-being? Check out these articles:
Books Related to Well-Being
If you’d like to keep learning more about well-being, here are a few books that you might be interested in.
Final Thoughts on Well-Being
Now you've discovered the gigantic topic that is well-being. Hopefully, you have a better sense of what well-being is and why it has become such a popular topic in the field of psychology. If you dabble in the resources provided for building well-being, I’m sure you’ll find something that makes your life at least a little bit better. And if you dive in, like I did, you might just wake up one day and realize that your life is completely different—something like a magical dream that you never saw coming.
Don't Forget to Grab Our Free eBook to Learn How to
Grow Your Wellness Business Exponentially!
References
- Chaaban, J., Irani, A., & Khoury, A. (2016). The composite global well-being index (CGWBI): A new multi-dimensional measure of human development. Social Indicators Research, 129, 465-487.
- Chan, C. H., Chan, T. H., Leung, P. P., Brenner, M. J., Wong, V. P., Leung, E. K., ... & Chan, C. L. (2014). Rethinking well-being in terms of affliction and equanimity: Development of a holistic well-being scale. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 23(3-4), 289-308.
- Diener, E., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2002). Will money increase subjective well-being?. Social indicators research, 57, 119-169.
- Easterlin, R. A. (2005). Building a better theory of well-being. Economics and happiness: Framing the analysis, 29-64.
- Gomez, R., & Fisher, J. W. (2003). Domains of spiritual well-being and development and validation of the Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire. Personality and individual differences, 35(8), 1975-1991.
- Kahneman, D., & Deaton, A. (2010). High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being. Proceedings of the national academy of sciences, 107(38), 16489-16493.
- Kammann, R. (1983). Objective circumstances, life satisfactions, and sense of well-being: Consistencies across time and place. New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 12(1), 14-22.
- Keller, S. (2020). What does mental health have to do with well‐being?. Bioethics, 34(3), 228-234.
- Keyes, C. L., & Shapiro, A. D. (2004). Social well-being in the United States: A descriptive epidemiology. How healthy are we, 350-372.
- Langeland, E. (2022). Emotional well-being. In Encyclopedia of quality of life and well-being research (pp. 1-3). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
- Lindqvist, E., Östling, R., & Cesarini, D. (2020). Long-run effects of lottery wealth on psychological well-being. The Review of Economic Studies, 87(6), 2703-2726.
- McKee-Ryan, F., Song, Z., Wanberg, C. R., & Kinicki, A. J. (2005). Psychological and physical well-being during unemployment: a meta-analytic study. Journal of applied psychology, 90(1), 53.
- Osberg, L. (1985). The measurement of economic well-being. University of Toronto Press.
- Ryff, C. D., Boylan, J. M., & Kirsch, J. A. (2021). Eudaimonic and hedonic well-being. Measuring well-being, 92-135.
- Ryff, C. D., & Keyes, C. L. M. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of personality and social psychology, 69(4), 719.
- Slade, M. (2010). Mental illness and well-being: the central importance of positive psychology and recovery approaches. BMC health services research, 10(1), 1-14.
- The Law of One (The Ra Material). (1981-1984). https://www.lawofone.info.
- WHO. https://www.who.int/activities/promoting-well-being
Are You a Therapist, Coach, or Wellness Entrepreneur?
Grab Our Free eBook to Learn How to Grow Your Wellness Business Fast!