This book brings together leading researchers on wellbeing science to provide a multidisciplinary approach to psychological wellbeing with implications for the interconnected societal challenges we face today, including loneliness, neoliberalism, inequality and anthropogenic climate change. Its authors present new and innovative models for understanding, building and improving our understanding of the complex construct of wellbeing. The capacity for individual positive change is explored, as well as the scope for such change to impact on the communities and environments within which we live. Further, the book places individual wellbeing within a broader context that also addresses societal needs and challenges. In doing so, it provides a novel synthesis of individual, societal and environmental perspectives on wellbeing and human flourishing.
In the face of an urgent need to build stronger, sustainable and more resilient communities, this book demonstrates how wellbeing science can link the individual with the community through appropriate health and wellbeing policies and offers a guide to a new way for individuals to connect with the world. It will appeal to researchers and professionals working across the fields of psychology, environmental science, public health and public policy.
Author(s): Andrew H. Kemp, Darren J. Edwards
Publisher: Palgrave Pivot
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 185
City: Cham
Foreword: From Positive Psychology to a Wellbeing Science: Past Successes and Future Promise
Positive Psychology Critiques
We Cannot Reduce Positive Psychology to Hedonism
Positive Psychology Is Sensitive to Context
Positive Psychology Does Not Ignore Negative Experience
Positive Psychology Offers Something New
The Next Steps in Positive Psychology and Wellbeing Science
Dynamic Linking of Positive and Negative
Evidence-Based Processes Instead of Packages
Process and Dimensions at Multiple Levels of Scale
Conclusion
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
Chapter 1: An Introduction to the Complex Construct of Wellbeing, Societal Challenges and Potential Solutions
Societal Challenges to Wellbeing
Emerging Solutions to Societal Challenges
References
Chapter 2: Shifting the Paradigm of Positive Psychology: Toward an Existential Positive Psychology of Wellbeing
Introduction
The Universality of Suffering
New Developments in Wellbeing Research Within Psychology
Contrasting Two Different Approaches to Wellbeing
The Thread of Self-Transcendence
Implications for Research and Practice
Conclusion
References
Chapter 3: Beyond Us: Building Collective Wellbeing
Post-COVID-19: Looking to Context
Egalitarianism: Supporting Social Wellbeing
Climate Action: Wellbeing Demands It
Conclusion
References
Chapter 4: Towards a Culture of Care for Societal Wellbeing: A Perspective from the Healthcare Sector
Reflecting on the Challenges Facing Healthcare
Building More Holistic Models of Healthcare
Systems-Informed Promotion of Wellbeing
A Concrete Example of System Transformation
Discussion and Conclusion
References
Chapter 5: ACTing for Society: The Promotion and Nurturance of Prosocial Behavior at Scale
A Solution Based on Intrinsic Values Identification and Prosocial Behavior
Conclusion
References
Chapter 6: The Relationship Between Nature Connectedness and Human and Planetary Wellbeing: Implications for Promoting Wellbeing, Tackling Anthropogenic Climate Change and Overcoming Biodiversity Loss
Introduction
Nature Connectedness
Extinction of Experience
Nature Re-connection
A Nature Connected Society
So What?
Next Steps
References
Chapter 7: A Modern Framework of Wellbeing from the Perspective of Positive Environments
Introduction
Wellbeing
Positive Environments
Elements of a Positive Environment
Environmental Resources
Wellbeing-Resources Relationship
Pro-environmental Enablers
Environmental Challenges
Sustainable Behaviors
Wellbeing as Balance Between Elements of the Positive Environment
Future Directions
References
Chapter 8: A Public Health Perspective on Wellbeing
Introduction
About Public Health and Health Promotion
Wellbeing in Public Health and Health Promotion
Health (and Wellbeing) in All Policies
Mental Wellbeing Impact Assessment (MWIA)
Expanding the Role of the HIA and MWIA in Addressing Complex Societal Challenges
Conclusion
References
Chapter 9: The Economics of Individual Wellbeing and the Transformation of Society
Introduction
Other-Regarding or Self-Interest?
There Is an Alternative
Social Ties in the Evidence Base
Are We Moving in the Right Direction?
Recommendations and Conclusions
References
Chapter 10: Social and Material Foundations of Wellbeing: Beyond the Neoliberal Model of Development
Introduction
Alienation and Wellbeing
Transcending the Precarity of Neoliberal Globalisation: Creating Alternative Material and Social Foundations for Planetary Wellbeing
Descent Towards the Abyss
Emerging from the Wreckage: So What … Is To Be Done
Concluding Comments: “So What”
References
Chapter 11: Discussion: Broadening the Scope of Wellbeing Science
Shifting the Landscape of Wellbeing Science
Applying Psychological Interventions at Higher Levels of Scale
Reflecting on the Role of Nature for the Construct of Wellbeing
Reflecting on Systems and Their Transformation to Promote Societal Wellbeing
References
Index
