Open AccessMeasuring eudaimonic and non-eudaimonic goods in the pursuit of the good life: The Riverside Eudaimonia Scale and the Rich & Sexy Well-Being Scale
Author(s) -
Seth Margolis,
Eric Schwitzgebel,
Daniel J. Ozer,
Ramona Martínez,
Sonja Lyubomirsky
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
international journal of wellbeing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1179-8602
DOI - 10.5502/ijw.v12i1.1575
Subject(s) - eudaimonia , psychology , well being , social psychology , scale (ratio) , positive psychology , life satisfaction , perception , beauty , aesthetics , epistemology , philosophy , psychotherapist , physics , quantum mechanics , neuroscience
Well-being science has largely focused on subjective well-being, defined in terms of life satisfaction and positive and negative emotions. However, some philosophical accounts of well-being, like “eudaimonia” accounts, emphasize the attainment of goods, such as having deep social relationships and achieving one’s creative potential. We supplement psychological measures of eudaimonia by developing two self-report measures of well-being informed by the philosophical literature. The Riverside Eudaimonia Scale (RES) was designed to measure people’s perceptions of their eudaimonic well-being along several dimensions emphasized in the philosophical literature on eudaimonia. The Rich & Sexy Well-Being Scale (RSWBS) was designed to measure people’s perceptions of their attainment of other commonly valued goods that have received less attention in the literature on eudaimonic well-being: sex life, wealth, personal physical beauty, and social status. In three studies, we develop and validate these scales.