The Exploration of Happiness

Part I. Individual Well-Being: Theory and Research

1. The Exploration of Happiness: Present and Future Perspectives
Antonella Delle Fave

2. Objective Explanations of Individual Well-Being
Jukka Varelius

3. Paradoxes of Happiness
Mike W. Martin

4. Integrating the Diverse Definitions of Happiness: A Time-Sequential Framework of Subjective Well-Being
Chu Kim-Prieto, Ed Diener, Maya Tamir, Christie Scollon, Marissa Diener

5. Subjective Well-Being, Homeostatically Protected Mood and Depression: A Synthesis
Robert A. Cummins

6. Know Thyself and Become What You are: A Eudaimonic Approach to Psychological Well-Being
Carol D. Ryff, Burton H. Singer

7. Living Well: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective on Eudaimonia
Richard M. Ryan, Veronika Huta, Edward L. Deci

8. The Multiple Determination of Well-Being: Independent Effects of Positive Traits, Needs, Goals, Selves, Social Supports, and Cultural Contexts
Kennon M. Sheldon, Tan H. Hoon

9. Orientations to Happiness and Life Satisfaction: The Full Life Versus the Empty Life
Christopher Peterson, Nansook Park, Martin E. P. Seligman

10. The Pleasant Life, the Engaged Life, and the Meaningful Life: What About the Balanced Life?
M. Joseph Sirgy, Jiyun Wu

Part II. Socio-Economic and Cultural Issues

11. The Four Qualities of Life Ordering Concepts and Measures of the Good Life
Ruut Veenhoven

12. The Mixed Blessings of Material Progress: Diminishing Returns in the Pursuit of Happiness
Richard Eckersley

13. Searching for Happiness: The Importance of Social Capital
Ambrose Leung, Cheryl Kier, Tak Fung, Linda Fung, Robert Sproule

14. Cultural Constructions of Happiness: Theory and Empirical Evidence
Yukiko Uchida, Vinai Norasakkunkit, Shinobu Kitayama

15. Development as Happiness: The Subjective Perception of Happiness and UNDP’s Analysis of Poverty, Wealth and Development
Jörg Schimmel

16. Should Happiness-Maximization be the Goal of Government?
Grant Duncan

17. Greater Happiness for a Greater Number: Some Non-controversial Options for Governments
Jan Ott

Keywords: Social Sciences, Quality of Life Research, Positive Psychology, Economic Systems, Philosophy of the Social Sciences