Abstract
There are many indicators of a person’s well-being that could be used for policy purposes. Few would argue that any single indicator of well-being is appropriate in all contexts and, increasingly, social scientists are attempting to integrate the various indicators. Further successful integration depends on understanding how the various indicators of well-being relate to one another in a dynamic way. This paper attempts to connect indicators of what people anticipate to indicators of what is actually experienced and, in so doing, inform the normative debate about the appropriateness of different indicators in policy contexts.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
J. Adams (1995) Risk UCL Press London
I. Ajzen (1988) Attitudes, Personality and Behaviour Dorsey Chicago
E. Allardt (1976) ArticleTitle‘Dimensions of welfare in a comparative Scandanavian study’ Acta Sociologically 19 227–239
M. Argyle (1999) ‘Causes and correlates of happiness’ D. Kahneman E. Diener N. Schwarz (Eds) Well-Being The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology. Russell Sage Foundation New York
Aristotle: 1998, Nicomanchean Ethics (W.D. Ross, J.W. Ackrill and J.O. Urmson Trans.). Oxford University Press, Oxford (Original work dated circa 350 BC).
A. Bandura (1982) ArticleTitle‘Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency’ American Psychologist 37 122–147
J.A. Bargh T.L. Chartrand (1999) ArticleTitle‘The unbearable automaticity of being’ American Psychologist 54 462–479 Occurrence Handle10.1037/0003-066X.54.7.462
Brazier, J., R. Akehurst, A. Brennan, P. Dolan, K. Claxton, C. McCabe, A. O’Hagan, M. Sculpher and A. Tsuchiya: 2004, Should Patients Have a Greater Role in Valuing Health States: Whose Well-Being is it Anyway? University of Sheffield Discussion Paper 04/03.
Brickman P. D. Coates R. Janoff-Bulman (1978) ArticleTitle‘Lottery winners and accident victims: is happiness relative?’ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 36 917–927
J. Broome (1991) Weighing Goods Blackwells Oxford
J.T. Cacioppo S.L. Crites G.G. Berntson M.G.H. Coles (1993) ArticleTitle‘If attitudes affect how stimuli are processed, should they not affect the event-related brain potentials’ Psychological Science 4 108–112
N Cantor C.A. Sanderson (1999) ‘Life task participation and well-being: The importance of taking part in daily life’ D. Kahneman E. Diener N. Schwarz (Eds) Well-Being. The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology Russell Sage Foundation New York
M. Csikszentmihalyi (1990) Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience Harper & Row New York
M Csikszentmihalyi J. Hunter (2003) ArticleTitle‘Happiness in everyday life: The uses of experience sampling’ Journal of Happiness Studies. 4 185–199 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1024409732742
R. Dar D. Ariely H. Frenk (1995) ArticleTitle‘The effect of past injury on pain threshold and tolerance’ Pain. 60 189–193 Occurrence Handle10.1016/0304-3959(94)00108-Q
R.J. Davidson (2000) ArticleTitle‘Affective style, psychopathology and resilience: Brain mechanisms and plasticity’ American Psychologist. 55 1196–1214 Occurrence Handle10.1037/0003-066X.55.11.1196
R.J. Davidson (2004) ArticleTitle‘Well-being and affective style: Neural substrates and biobehavioural correlates’ Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences. 359 1395–1411 Occurrence Handle10.1098/rstb.2004.1510
E.L. Deci R.M. Ryan (1985) Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behaviour Plenum New York
E.L. Deci R.M. Ryan (2000) ArticleTitle‘The “What” and “Why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behaviour’ Psychological Inquiry. 11 227–268 Occurrence Handle10.1207/S15327965PLI1104_01
E. Diener (1984) ArticleTitle‘Subjective well-being’ Psychological Bulletin. 95 542–575
E. Diener R.J. Larsen (1984) ArticleTitle‘Temporal stability and cross situational consistency of affective, behavioural, and cognitive responses’ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 47 580–592
E. Diener M.E.P. Seligman (2004) ArticleTitle‘Beyond money: Toward an economy of well-being’ Psychological Science in the Public Interest. 5 IssueID1 1–31 Occurrence Handle10.1111/j.0963-7214.2004.00501001.x
E. Diener E.M. Suh (1997) ArticleTitle‘Measuring quality of life: Economic, social and subjective indicators’ Social Indicators Research. 40 189–216 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1006859511756
E. Diener E.M. Suh R.E. Lucas H.L. Smith (1999) ArticleTitle‘Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress’ Psychological review. 125 276–302
Dolan P. (2000) ‘The measurement of health-related quality of life for use in resource allocation decisions in health care’ A.J. Culver J.P. Newhouse (Eds) Handbook of Health Economics, vol 1. Elsevier Science BV Amsterdam 1724–1760
P Dolan J.A. Olsen (2002) Distributing Health Care: Economic and Ethical Issues University Press Oxford
E.W. Dunn T.D. Wilson D.T. Gilbert (2003) ArticleTitle‘Location, location, location: The misprediction of satisfaction in housing lotteries’ Personality and Social Psychological Bulletin. 29 IssueID11 1421–1432
C.S. Dweck E.L. Leggett (1988) ArticleTitle‘A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality’ Psychological Review. 95 256–273 Occurrence Handle10.1037/0033-295X.95.2.256
R.A. Easterlin (2001) ArticleTitle‘Income and happiness: Towards a unified theory’ Economic Journal. 111 465–484 Occurrence Handle10.1111/1468-0297.00646
Edgar, A., S. Salek, D. Shickle and D. Cohen: 1998, ‘The ethical QALY: Ethical issues in healthcare resource allocations’, Euromed Communications.
B.S. Frey A. Stutzer (2002) Happiness and Economics: How the Economy and Institutions Affect Human Well-Being Princeton University Press Princeton
Fromm, E.: 1976/2002, To Have or To Be? (Abacus, St Ives)
Gilbert, D.T., E.C. Pinel, T.D. Wilson, S.J. Blumberg and T.P. Wheatley, (2002), ‘Durability bias in affective forecasting’, in T. Gilovich, D. Griffin and D. Kahneman (eds.), Heuristics and Biases: The Psychology of Intuitive Judgement (CUP, Cambridge), pp. 292–312
M.E. Gold L.B. Russell Siegal M.C. Weinstein (1996) Cost-effectiveness in Health and Medicine Oxford University Press New York
P.M. Gollwitzer (1990) ‘Action phases and mind sets’ E.T. Higgins R.M. Sorrentino (Eds) Handbook of Motivation and Cognition: Foundations of Social Behaviour, vol. 2. Guilford New York 53–92
P.M. Gollwitzer G. Oettigen (1998) ArticleTitle‘The emergence and implementation of health goals’ Psychology and Health. 13 687–715
Hadorn, D.: 1991, ‘Setting health care priorities in Oregon: cost-effectiveness meets the rule of rescue’, Journal of the American Medical Association 265.
H. Heckhausen (1991) Motivation and Action Springer Heidelberg
E.T. Higgins (1999) ‘Promotion and prevention focus as a motivational duality: Implications for evaluative processes’ S. Chaiken Y. Trope (Eds) Dual-Process Theories in Social Psychology Guildford Press New York 503–525
R. Inglehart. H.D. Klingeman (2000) ‘Genes, culture, democracy, and happiness’ Diener Suh (Eds) Culture and Subjective Well-Being. MIT Press Cambridge
D. Kahneman (1999) ‘Objective happiness’ D. Kahneman E. Diener N. Schwarz (Eds) Well-being The foundations of hedonic psychology. Russell Sage Foundation New York
D. Kahneman (2000) ‘Experienced utility and objective happiness: A moment based approach’ Kahneman ( Tversky (Eds) Choices, Values & Frames. CUP Cambridge
Kahneman, D., A.B. Krueger, D.A. Schkade, N. Schwarz and A.A. Stone: in press, ‘A survey method for characterising daily life experience: The day reconstruction method (DRM)’, American Economic Review.
D. Kahneman PP. Wakker R. Sarin (1997) ArticleTitle‘Back to Bentham? Explorations of experienced utility’ Quarterly Journal of Economics. 112 375–406 Occurrence Handle10.1162/003355397555235
T Kasser R.M. Ryan (1993) ArticleTitle‘A dark side of the American dream: Correlates of financial success as a central life aspiration’ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 65 IssueID2 410–422 Occurrence Handle10.1037/0022-3514.65.2.410
T. Kasser R.M. Ryan (1996) ArticleTitle‘Further examining the American dream: Differential correlates of intrinsic and extrinsic goals’ Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 22 IssueID3 280–287
A.W. Kruglanski (1996) ‘Motivated social cognition: Principles at the interface’ E.T. Higgins A.W. Kruglanski (Eds) Social Psychology: Handbook of Basic Principles. Guildford Press London
R.J. Larsen B.L. Fredrickson (1999) ‘Measurement issues in emotion research’ D. Kahneman E. Diener N. Schwarz (Eds) Well-Being. The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology. Russell Sage Foundation New York
H.S. Lepper (1998) ArticleTitle‘Use of other-reports to validate subjective well-being measures’ Social Indicators Research. 44 367–379 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1006872027638
S. Lichtenstein P. Slovic B. Fischhoff M. Layman B. Combs (1978) ArticleTitle‘Judged frequency of lethal events’ Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Learning and Memory. 4 551–578
G. Loewenstein D. Schkade (1999) ‘Wouldn’t it be nice? Predicting future feelings’ D. Kahneman E. Diener N. Schwarz (Eds) Well-Being. The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology Russell Sage Foundation New York
R.E. Lucas S.E. Clark Y. Georgellis E. Diener (2003) ArticleTitle‘Re-examining adaptation and the set point model of happiness: Reactions to changes in marital status’ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 84 IssueID3 527–539
A.H. Maslow (1954/1970) Motivation and Personality Harper & Row London
J. March (1978) ArticleTitle‘Bounded rationality, ambiguity, and the engineering of choice’ Bell Journal of Economics 9 587–608
P. Menzel P. Dolan J. Richardson J.A. Olsen (2003) ArticleTitle‘The role of adaptation to disability and disease in health state valuation: A preliminary normative analysis’ Social Science and Medicine 55 2149–2158
A.C. Michalos (1985) ArticleTitle‘Multiple discrepancies theory (MDT)’ Social Indicators Research 16 347–413 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00333288
A.C. Michalos (2004) ArticleTitle‘Social indicators research and health-related quality of life research’ Social Indicators Research 65 27–72 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1025592219390
W.N. Morris (1999) ‘The mood system’ D. Kahneman E. Diener N. Schwarz (Eds) Well-Being. The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology Russell Sage Foundation New York
T. Mussweiler (2003) ArticleTitle‘Comparison processes in social judgment: Mechanisms and consequences’ Psychological Review 110 472–489
S. Oishi E. Diener R.E. Lucas E.M. Suh (1999) ArticleTitle‘Cross-cultural variations in predictors of life satisfaction: Perspectives from needs and values’ Personality and Social Psychological Bulletin 25 980–990
J.M. Olson O. Buhrmann N.J. Roese (2000) ‘Comparing comparisons. An integrative perspective on social comparisons and counterfactual thinking’ J. Suls L. Wheeler (Eds) Handbook of Social Comparisons. Theory and Research Kluwer Academic New York
Peterson, C., N. Park and M.E.P. Seligman: in press, ‘Orientations towards happiness and life satisfaction: The full life versus the empty life’, Journal of Happiness Studies
D Redelmeier D. Kahneman (1996) ArticleTitle‘Patient’s memories of painful treatment medical treatments: Real time and retrospective evaluations of two minimally invasive procedures’ Pain 116 3–8
W.G. Runcimann (1966) Relative Deprivation and Social Justice: A Study of Attitudes to Social Inequality in 20th Century England University of California Press Berkeley
E. Sandvik E. Diener L. Seidlitz (1993) ArticleTitle‘Subjective well-being: The convergence and stability of self-report and non-self-report measures’ Journal of Personality 61 317–342
Sapolski, R.M., (1999), in D. Kahneman, E. Diener and N. Schwarz (eds.), Well-Being. The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology (Russell Sage Foundation, New York)
N. Schwarz Clore (1983) ArticleTitle‘Moods, misattribution, and judgements of well-being: Informative and directive functions of affective states’ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 45 513–523 Occurrence Handle10.1037//0022-3514.45.4.884
N. Schwarz F. Strack (1999) ‘Reports of subjective well-being: Judgemental processes and their methodological implications’ D. Kahneman E. Diener N. Schwarz (Eds) Well-Being. The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology Russell Sage Foundation New York
N. Schwarz F. Strack H.P. Mai (1991) ArticleTitle‘Assimilation and contrast effects in part-whole question sequences: A conversational logic analysis’ Public Opinion Quarterly 55 3–23
N. Schwarz F. Strack D. Kommer D. Wagner (1987) ArticleTitle‘Soccer, rooms, and the quality of life: Mood effects on judgements of satisfaction with life in general and with specific life domains’ European Journal of Social Psychology 17 69–79
Seligman, M.E.P., (2002), Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfilment (Free Press)
A., Sen (1987) On Ethics and Economics Blackwell Oxford
C. Starr (1969) ArticleTitle‘Social benefit versus technological risk’ Science 165 1232–1238
A.A. Stone S.S. Shiffman M.W. Vries ParticleDe (1999) ‘Ecological momentary analysis’ D. Kahneman E. Diener N. Schwarz (Eds) Well-Being. The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology Russell Sage Foundation New York
J. Suls L. Wheeler (2000) Handbook of Social Comparisons. Theory and Research Kluwer Academic New York)
A. Tiffany J.T. Cacioppo (1999) ‘The psychophysiology of utility appraisals’ D. Kahneman E. Diener N. Schwarz (Eds) Well-Being. The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology Russell Sage Foundation New York
T.R. Tyler H.J. Smith (1998) ‘Social justice and social movements’ D.T. Gilbert S.T. Fiske G.T. Lindzey (Eds) Handbook of Social Psychology EditionNumber4 McGraw Hill New York
A. Tversky D. Griffin (2000) ‘Endowments and contrast in judgements of well-being’ Kahneman Tversky (Eds) Choices, Values and Frames CUP Cambridge
P.A. Ubel G. Loewenstein C. Jepson (2003) ArticleTitle‘Whose quality of life? A commentary exploring discrepancies between health state evaluations of patients and the general public’ Quality of Life Research 12 599–607 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1025119931010
B.M.S. Praag Particlevan P. Frijters A. Ferrer-I-Carbonell (2003) ArticleTitle‘The anatomy of subjective well-being’ Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organization 51 29–49
R. Veenhoven (2000) ArticleTitle‘The four qualities of life: Ordering concepts and measures of the good life’ Journal of Happiness Studies 1 1–39
W. Viscusi (1993) ArticleTitle‘The value of risk to life and health’ Journal of Economic Literature 31 IssueID4 1912–1946
T.D. Wilson D.B. Centerbar N. Brekke (2002) ‘Mental contamination and the debiasing problem’ T. Gilovich D. Griffin D. Kahneman (Eds) Heuristics and Biases: The Psychology of Intuitive Judgement CUP Cambridge
A.E. Wilson M. Ross (2000) ArticleTitle‘The frequency of temporal and social comparisons in people’s personal appraisals’ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 78 IssueID5 928–942
T.D. Wilson D. Gilbert (2003) ArticleTitle‘Affective forecasting’ Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 35 345–411
D. Wirtz J. Kruger C.N. Scollon E. Diener (2003) ArticleTitle‘What to do on spring break? Predicting future choice based on online versus recalled affect’ Psychological Science 14 520–524 Occurrence Handle10.1111/1467-9280.03455
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dolan, P., White, M. Dynamic Well-Being: Connecting Indicators of what People Anticipate with Indicators of what they Experience. Soc Indic Res 75, 303–333 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-004-6298-x
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-004-6298-x