Subjective Well-Being

Subjective Well-Being PDF

Author: Panel on Measuring Subjective Well-Being in a Policy-Relevant Framework

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2014-01-01

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13: 0309294479

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Subjective well-being refers to how people experience and evaluate their lives and specific domains and activities in their lives. This information has already proven valuable to researchers, who have produced insights about the emotional states and experiences of people belonging to different groups, engaged in different activities, at different points in the life course, and involved in different family and community structures. Research has also revealed relationships between people's self-reported, subjectively assessed states and their behavior and decisions. Research on subjective well-being has been ongoing for decades, providing new information about the human condition. During the past decade, interest in the topic among policy makers, national statistical offices, academic researchers, the media, and the public has increased markedly because of its potential for shedding light on the economic, social, and health conditions of populations and for informing policy decisions across these domains. Subjective Well-Being: Measuring Happiness, Suffering, and Other Dimensions of Experience explores the use of this measure in population surveys. This report reviews the current state of research and evaluates methods for the measurement. In this report, a range of potential experienced well-being data applications are cited, from cost-benefit studies of health care delivery to commuting and transportation planning, environmental valuation, and outdoor recreation resource monitoring, and even to assessment of end-of-life treatment options. Subjective Well-Being finds that, whether used to assess the consequence of people's situations and policies that might affect them or to explore determinants of outcomes, contextual and covariate data are needed alongside the subjective well-being measures. This report offers guidance about adopting subjective well-being measures in official government surveys to inform social and economic policies and considers whether research has advanced to a point which warrants the federal government collecting data that allow aspects of the population's subjective well-being to be tracked and associated with changing conditions.

Well-Being

Well-Being PDF

Author: Daniel Kahneman

Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation

Published: 1999-07-08

Total Pages: 608

ISBN-13: 161044325X

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The nature of well-being is one of the most enduring and elusive subjects of human inquiry. Well-Being draws upon the latest scientific research to transform our understanding of this ancient question. With contributions from leading authorities in psychology, social psychology, and neuroscience, this volume presents the definitive account of current scientific efforts to understand human pleasure and pain, contentment and despair. The distinguished contributors to this volume combine a rigorous analysis of human sensations, emotions, and moods with a broad assessment of the many factors, from heredity to nationality, that bear on our well-being. Using the tools of experimental science, the contributors confront the puzzles of human likes and dislikes. Why do we grow accustomed and desensitized to changes in our lives, both good and bad? Does our happiness reflect the circumstances of our lives or is it determined by our temperament and personality? Why do humans acquire tastes for sensations that are initially painful or unpleasant? By examining the roots of our everyday likes and dislikes, the book also sheds light on some of the more extreme examples of attraction and aversion, such as addiction and depression. Among its wide ranging inquiries, Well-Being examines systematic differences in moods and behaviors between genders, explaining why women suffer higher rates of depression and anxiety than men, but are also more inclined to express positive emotions. The book also makes international comparisons, finding that some countries' populations report higher levels of happiness than others. The contributors deploy an array of methods, from the surveys and questionnaires of social science to psychological and physiological experiments, to develop a comprehensive new approach to the study of well-being. They show how the sensory pleasures of the body can tells us something about the higher pleasures of the mind and even how the effectiveness of our immune system can depend upon the health of our social relationships.

Neurobiology of Sensation and Reward

Neurobiology of Sensation and Reward PDF

Author: Jay A. Gottfried

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2011-03-28

Total Pages: 458

ISBN-13: 142006729X

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Synthesizing coverage of sensation and reward into a comprehensive systems overview, Neurobiology of Sensation and Reward presents a cutting-edge and multidisciplinary approach to the interplay of sensory and reward processing in the brain. While over the past 70 years these areas have drifted apart, this book makes a case for reuniting sensation a

The Oxford Handbook of Stress, Health, and Coping

The Oxford Handbook of Stress, Health, and Coping PDF

Author: Susan Folkman

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 486

ISBN-13: 0195375343

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Few publications have changed the landscape of contemporary psychology more than Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman's landmark work, Stress, Appraisal, and Coping. Its publication in 1984 set the course for years of research on the dynamic processes of psychological stress and coping in human beings.Now more than a quarter-century later, The Oxford Handbook of Stress, Health, and Coping pushes the field even further with a comprehensive overview of the newest and best work in this dynamic subject. Edited by Susan Folkman and comprising chapters by the field's leading scientists, this new volume details the expanded knowledge base that has emerged from extensive research on stress and coping processes over the last several decades.Featuring 22 topic-based chapters -- including two by Folkman -- this volume offers unprecedented coverage of the two primary research topics related to stress and coping: mitigating stress-related harms and sustaining well-being in the face of stress. Both topics are addressed within their relevant contexts, including chronic illness, calamity, bereavement, and social hardship.The Oxford Handbook of Stress, Health, and Coping is an essential reference work for students, practitioners, and researchers across the fields of health psychology, medicine, and palliative care.

Nutrition and Sensation

Nutrition and Sensation PDF

Author: Alan R. Hirsch

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2022-08-25

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 1000599531

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Nutrition and Sensation, Second Edition continues to explore how sensations unravel the hidden sensory universe which acts to control our appetite and nutritional desires. The sensory influence on food is found everywhere—whether it is the color of soda, the viscosity of maple syrup, or the aroma of chocolate—the sensory experience fuels consumption. This book continues to discuss the impact of olfaction, gustation, retronasal olfaction, vision, vestibular function, hearing, and somatosensory and tactile nature on nutrition. It also focuses on the use of the sensory system to treat nutritional disorders including obesity, with attention to the mechanisms encompassing smell and taste and how this can influence satiety and weight. Nutrition and Sensation, Second Edition provides a deeper understanding of the fascinating link between the sensory system and nutrition.

Hedonism, Utilitarianism, and Consumer Behavior

Hedonism, Utilitarianism, and Consumer Behavior PDF

Author: Daniele Scarpi

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-05-28

Total Pages: 207

ISBN-13: 3030438767

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This book investigates the effects of utilitarian and hedonic shopping behavior, drawing on original empirical research. Consumers have been shown to shop in one of two ways: they are either mainly driven by fun, escapism, and variety, or by need and efficiency. While previous literature has focused on the drivers of hedonic or utilitarian shopping, this book explores the consequences of these styles of shopping and addresses their impact on perceived value, money spent, and willingness to return to the store in future. The author synthesizes theories from previous studies, applying them to two key retailing contexts – intensive distribution and selective distribution. Ultimately, this book highlights the need for retailers to adopt a more consumer-based perspective to improve shopping experiences. It will prove useful for academics who want to gain a better understanding of hedonic and utilitarian behavior, and also offers practitioners with useful insights on how to target different customer segments.

Pleasures of the Brain

Pleasures of the Brain PDF

Author: Morten L. Kringelbach

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 0195331028

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Pleasure is fundamental to well-being and the quality of life, but until recently, was barely explored by science. Current research on pleasure has brought about ground-breaking developments on several fronts, and new data on pleasure and the brain have begun to converge from many disparate fields. The time is ripe to present these important findings in a single volume, and so Morten Kringelbach and Kent Berridge have brought together the leading researchers to provides a comprehensive review of our current scientific understanding of pleasure. The authors present their latest neuroscientific research into pleasure, describing studies on the brain's role in pleasure and reward in animals and humans, including brain mechanisms, neuroimaging data, and psychological analyses, as well as how their findings have been applied to clinical problems, such as depression and other disorders of hedonic well-being. To clarify the differences between their views, the researchers also provide short answers to a set of fundamental questions about pleasure and its relation to the brain. This book is intended to serve as both a starting point for readers new to the field, and as a reference for more experienced graduate students and scientists from fields such as neuroscience, psychology, psychiatry, neurology, and neurosurgery.

Multisensory Flavor Perception

Multisensory Flavor Perception PDF

Author: Betina Piqueras-Fiszman

Publisher: Woodhead Publishing

Published: 2016-04-14

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 008100351X

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Multisensory Flavor Perception: From Fundamental Neuroscience Through to the Marketplace provides state-of-the-art coverage of the latest insights from the rapidly-expanding world of multisensory flavor research. The book highlights the various types of crossmodal interactions, such as sound and taste, and vision and taste, showing their impact on sensory and hedonic perception, along with their consumption in the context of food and drink. The chapters in this edited volume review the existing literature, also explaining the underlying neural and psychological mechanisms which lead to crossmodal perception of flavor. The book brings together research which has not been presented before, making it the first book in the market to cover the literature of multisensory flavor perception by incorporating the latest in psychophysics and neuroscience. Authored by top academics and world leaders in the field Takes readers on a journey from the neurological underpinnings of multisensory flavor perception, then presenting insights that can be used by food companies to create better flavor sensations for consumers Offers a wide perspective on multisensory flavor perception, an area of rapidly expanding knowledge