One of the key insights from Global Prosperity Survey It was found that while the overall assessment of life and financial security is higher in high-income countries, other aspects of well-being, such as meaning, pro-social behavior and relationships, are often higher in middle-income countries. This raises important questions about how we can achieve economic development without compromising meaning, character and relationships. An important, albeit difficult, step in this regard would be to measure such aspects of well-being in a truly global context.
Eudaimonia
Concepts of character have been central to the understanding of well-being throughout time and tradition. In the western context, Aristotle— is often cited, but sometimes in contemporary well-being literature– from “prosperity” or “enlightenment”eudaimonia” as it is concentrated, but not only, in action according to virtue. However, the importance of the concepts of character and virtues can be seen. throughout philosophical, cultural and religious traditions. A well-grounded character promotes the growth of self and others; Although the measurement is certainly not simple.
In the evaluation efforts on well-being, a the difference it is sometimes drawn between so-called “eudaimonic” approaches, which focus more on the realization of human potential, and hedonic or evaluative approaches, which focus either on how one feels happy or unhappy, or on a cognitive evaluation of one’s life or one’s satisfaction with it. In Contemporary Psychology Literature, Carol Riff argued to distinguish and propose a eudaimonic understanding of mental well-being based on the concepts of purpose, personal development, self-acceptance, positive relationships, autonomy and mastery of the environment; and others they followed him.
Both the welfare aspects are certainly important and both should be evaluated. However, it depends on what one evaluates context and available resources. In some cases only a assessment of one item becomes possible; elsewhere, much broader measures may be desirable.
Practical assessment
When thinking about well-being and identifying the strengths and areas for development of individuals and communities, seeing who needs help and in what ways, it is important to gather information. Measurement can also generate research insights that are important for policy and practice. For example, the feeling of being an outsider growing up is surprisingly related to overall poor evaluation of life in adulthood, but has a more profound effect on it. happiness and life satisfaction. Or in relation to meaningwe see consistently across countries that childhood attending a religious service can create a sense of meaning in adulthood. Or about relationswhile in most countries women report higher relationship quality than men, the reverse is true in Kenya. Or about characterwhile childhood adversity often predicts worse outcomes, voluntary and charity are among the few outcomes where beneficial relationships appear, suggesting some potential for personal growth amid adversity. Such insights help us understand the distribution of well-being and what can be done to improve it.
Looking ahead
Later this year, we plan to begin collecting annual data at the national level in the United States on multiple aspects of development, including national-level assessments. welfare of societyand also love (neighborly love and from the enemy), to create the National Prosperity State Report. Many institutions are coming together to expand their quantitative data collection efforts to include questions about life satisfaction, meaning, character, relationships, love, and more. A recent meeting at the Vatican called for such a coordinated assessment effort, it would be richer in meaning and an important step forward in this regard.
With better measurement, policy and cooperationwe can promote prosperity and development of the whole person and the whole society.
