Authors: Maike Luhmann Louise C Hawkley John T Cacioppo
Publish Date: 2013/05/24
Volume: 15, Issue: 4, Pages: 757-781
Abstract
In two studies participants reported what they had been thinking about while completing measures of subjective wellbeing SWB These thought reports were analyzed with respect to life domain valence and how strongly they were related to actual levels of SWB Most people focused on their life circumstances eg career rather than on dispositional predictors eg personality of SWB The domains mentioned most frequently career family romantic life were also the ones that were most strongly related to actual SWB indicating that most of people think about things that actually contribute to their SWB Some domains are predominantly mentioned in positive contexts eg family whereas others are predominantly mentioned in negative contexts eg money On average people thought more about positive than about negative things a result that is magnified for respondents high in extraversion or emotional stability In sum these findings provide insight into what people think contributes to their SWB beliefs that may guide them as they make important decisionsThis work was supported by the National Institute on Aging R01AG036433 R01AG033590 and R01AG034052 and by the Department of the Army Defense Medical Research and Development Program Award W81XWH1120114We thank Angela McCoy Shannon Ehlert and Sarah Short for their assistance in coding the open responses and Elizabeth Necka for feedback on an earlier draft
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