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Upenieks L, Krause NM. Transcendental Awe of God and Dimensions of Well-Being: Exploring the Mediating Role of Meaning in Life. JOURNAL OF RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY & AGING 2022; 36:5-25. [PMID: 38221937 PMCID: PMC10782926 DOI: 10.1080/15528030.2022.2114575] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2024]
Abstract
Scholars have long speculated that experiencing awe-an emotional state where people believe they are in the presence of something grand-might be beneficial for well-being. We explore a manifestation of awe that is unique to religion-awe of God. Drawing on a national sample from the United States, being in awe of God was associated with lower depression, higher life satisfaction, and better self-rated health, associations partially mediated by the sense of meaning in life. Awe of God may bolster well-being by allowing people to view their life according to the vastness and complexity of a divine plan.
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Chamorro-Garrido A, Ramírez-Fernández E, Ortega-Martínez AR. Autobiographical Memory, Gratitude, Forgiveness and Sense of Humor: An Intervention in Older Adults. Front Psychol 2021; 12:731319. [PMID: 34970181 PMCID: PMC8712764 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.731319] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2021] [Accepted: 11/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Research has shown that happiness and well-being play a fundamental role in the health of older adults. For this reason, programs based on Positive Psychology seek to improve quality of life, preventing and reducing the appearance of emotional disorders. The objective of this study was to verify whether an intervention based on Autobiographical Memory, Forgiveness, Gratitude, and Sense of humor would increase quality of life in institutionalized older adults. We used a quasi-experimental design with pre- and post-intervention measures and follow-on measures at 3, 6, and 12 months. A total of 111 institutionalized older adults participated in the study and were randomly assigned to one of three groups: experimental (n = 36), placebo (n = 39), and control (n = 36). Measurements were taken of depression, subjective happiness, satisfaction with life, psychological well-being, and specific memories. Program duration was 11 weeks, followed by refresher sessions of the activities that had been conducted. The results showed that the intervention was effective, producing lasting increase in the participating adults' well-being, maintained for the following 12 months, in contrast to the other two groups. In conclusion, the proposed intervention proved to be a novel tool that was effective, easily applied, and able to improve quality of life and emotional disorders in older adults.
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Mansourian Y. Joyful information activities in serious leisure: looking for pleasure, passion and purpose. ASLIB J INFORM MANAG 2021. [DOI: 10.1108/ajim-01-2021-0002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
PurposeThis paper provides selective findings from a broader research project on information behaviours in serious leisure. This paper focuses on the positive feelings of information seeking and sharing in this context, aiming to capture and contextualise the joy of information embedded in and inspired by leisure activities.Design/methodology/approachThe required data were obtained using semi-structured interviews with 20 serious leisure participants from Wagga Wagga city in Australia, recruited via a maximum variation sampling technique. The data were fully transcribed and analysed based on a qualitative thematic analysis method.FindingsThe joy of information is embedded within a wide spectrum of information activities in serious leisure ranging from information seeking and browsing to information sharing and information creation. Among all these activities, information sharing with peers and a broader audience is the most joyful experience because it often generates social engagement, a sense of belonging and friendship. Moreover, serious leisure is a productive ground to transform hedonic wellness into eudaimonic well-being, while continuous information seeking and sharing play a significant role in achieving this goal.Practical implicationsInformation system designers can use the findings to consider the emotional aspects of information seeking and sharing to improve the usability of their products. At the policy level, cultural policy writers and decision-makers can make more informed decisions to support serious leisure.Originality/valueThis study explores the joyful aspects of information behaviour in a unique context. Exploring the joy of information is an emerging topic in human information behaviour scholarship, and the existing knowledge on this issue is still limited. This paper can contribute to creating new knowledge in this emerging area.
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Chirico A, Gaggioli A. The Potential Role of Awe for Depression: Reassembling the Puzzle. Front Psychol 2021; 12:617715. [PMID: 33981268 PMCID: PMC8107378 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.617715] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2020] [Accepted: 03/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Recently, interest in the unique pathways linking discrete positive emotions to specific health outcomes has gained increasing attention, but the role of awe is yet to be elucidated. Awe is a complex and transformative emotion that can restructure individuals' mental frames so deeply that it could be considered a therapeutic asset for major mental health major issues, including depression. Despite sparse evidence showing a potential connection between depression and awe, this link has not been combined into a proposal resulting in specific intervention guidelines. The aim of this perspective was three-fold: (i) to provide a new unifying model of awe's functioning-the Matryoshka model; (ii) to show systematic and explicit connections between this emotion and depression; and (iii) to suggest specific guidelines of intervention utilizing the potential therapeutic role of awe for mental health, specifically for depression. This theoretical endeavor in its entirety has been framed within the health domain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alice Chirico
- Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Andrea Gaggioli
- Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan, Milan, Italy
- Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab, Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy
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Portocarrero FF, Gonzalez K, Ekema-Agbaw M. A meta-analytic review of the relationship between dispositional gratitude and well-being. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2020.110101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Botha B, Mostert K, Jacobs M. Exploring indicators of subjective well-being for first-year university students. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY IN AFRICA 2019. [DOI: 10.1080/14330237.2019.1665885] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Bianca Botha
- WorkWell Research Unit, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa
| | - Karina Mostert
- WorkWell Research Unit, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa
| | - Melissa Jacobs
- WorkWell Research Unit, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa
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Jo H, Ou YY, Kung CC. The neural substrate of self- and other-concerned wellbeing: An fMRI study. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0203974. [PMID: 31574083 PMCID: PMC6772049 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0203974] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2018] [Accepted: 09/04/2019] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Happiness, or Subjective Well-Being (SWB), is generally considered as a peaceful and satisfied state accompanied by consistent and optimistic mood. Due to its subjective and elusive nature, however, wellbeing has only been scarcely investigated in the neuroimaging literature. In this study, we investigated its neural substrates by characterizing two different perspectives: self- or other-concerned wellbeing. In the present study, 22 participants evaluated the subjective happiness (with button presses 1 to 4) to 3 categories (intra- and inter-personal and neutral) of pre-rated pictures in a slow event-related fMRI. Because wellbeing is constantly featured by pleasure feelings after self-inspection, we predict that happier conditions, featured by “intra-personal vs. neutral” and “inter-personal vs. neutral” conditions, should yield higher BOLD activities in overlapping reward- and self-related regions. Indeed, medial prefrontal (mPFC), pregenual ACC (pACC), precuneus and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) were revealed both by General Linear Model (GLM) (categorical contrasts) and parametric modulations (correlations with rating 1-4s), specifically, more connectivity between nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and mPFC, via additional psychophysiological interaction, or PPI, analyses. More interestingly, GLM and multivariate searchlight analyses jointly reveal the subdivision of mPFC and the PCC/precuneus, with anterior mPFC and dorsal PCC/precuneus more for interpersonal, posterior mPFC and ventral PCC/precuneus more for intrapersonal, SWB, respectively. Taken together, these results are not only consistent with the “cortical midline hypothesis of the self”, but also extending the “spatial gradients of self-to-other-concerned processing” from mPFC to including both mPFC and PCC/precuneus, making them two “hubs” of self-to-other-concerned wellbeing network.
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Affiliation(s)
- HanShin Jo
- Dept. of Psychology, National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Tainan, Taiwan
- Inst. Of Medical Informatics, NCKU, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Yang-Yen Ou
- Dept. of Electrical Engineering, NCKU, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Chun-Chia Kung
- Dept. of Psychology, National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Tainan, Taiwan
- Mind Research and Imaging (MRI) Center, Tainan, Taiwan
- * E-mail:
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Borst RT. Comparing Work Engagement in People-Changing and People-Processing Service Providers: A Mediation Model With Red Tape, Autonomy, Dimensions of PSM, and Performance. PUBLIC PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT 2018; 47:287-313. [PMID: 30135612 PMCID: PMC6088520 DOI: 10.1177/0091026018770225] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Due to the increasing demanding work environment, public managers need their employees to be proactive and dedicated and feel energetic in their work to reach high performance-that is, public organizations need engaged workers. However, there is a dearth of research examining work engagement in the public sector context in general and in different institutional contexts (e.g., education vis-à-vis central government) in particular. The goal of this study is to examine the relationship between antecedents and outcomes of work engagement in the public sector in general and the within-public sector differences including institutional contexts in particular. Based on the analysis of a large data set, it can be concluded that public servants have different personalities and work in different institutional contexts, and these differences influence their work engagement. The importance of work engagement research in public administration is further confirmed because it leads to higher performance and job satisfaction across sectors.
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Luo Y, Qi S, Chen X, You X, Huang X, Yang Z. Pleasure attainment or self-realization: the balance between two forms of well-beings are encoded in default mode network. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2018; 12:1678-1686. [PMID: 28985373 PMCID: PMC5647812 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsx078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2016] [Accepted: 06/07/2017] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
What is a good life and how it can be achieved is one of the fundamental issues. When considering a good life, there is a division between hedonic (pleasure attainment) and eudaimonic well-being (meaning pursuing and self-realization). However, an integrated approach that can compare the brain functional and structural differences of these two forms of well-being is lacking. Here, we investigated how the individual tendency to eudaimonic well-being relative to hedonic well-being, measured using eudaimonic and hedonic balance (EHB) index, is reflected in the functional and structural features of a key network of well-being—the default mode network (DMN). We found that EHB was positively correlated with functional connectivity of bilateral ventral medial prefrontal cortex within anterior DMN and bilateral precuneus within posterior DMN. Brain morphometric analysis showed that EHB was also positively correlated with gray matter volume in left precuneus. These results demonstrated that the relative dominance of one form of well-being to the other is reflected in the morphometric characteristics and intrinsic functions of DMN.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yangmei Luo
- Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Behavior and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710062, China.,Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality of Ministry of Education, School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Senqing Qi
- MOE Key Laboratory of Modern Teaching Technology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710062, China
| | - Xuhai Chen
- Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Behavior and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710062, China
| | - Xuqun You
- Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Behavior and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710062, China
| | - Xiting Huang
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality of Ministry of Education, School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Zhen Yang
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
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Tsang JA, Martin SR. Four experiments on the relational dynamics and prosocial consequences of gratitude. JOURNAL OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2017.1388435] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Jo-Ann Tsang
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA
| | - Stephen R. Martin
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA
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