Three ways to ask how well a life is going

Step 1 Warm-up

There is no earlier lesson to recall, so make a prediction. Complete this sentence in your own words: “A person is doing well when…”. Keep it for Step 9.

A person is doing well when…

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Step 2 Learning goal

By the end of this lesson you can:

• name and define the hedonic, evaluative and eudaimonic accounts of well-being (Foundation);
• match a short description of a person to the account it speaks to (Core);
• explain why one person can score high on one account and low on another (Core).

Step 3 A familiar example

Three students finish the same exam week. Ayo slept well and laughed with friends most days, but says he is unsure his degree is the right one. Lina was tired and anxious most evenings, but says her life overall is going the way she planned. Tomas felt flat, yet runs a volunteer tutoring group that he finds deeply worthwhile.

Ask “How are they doing?” and each answer is true. Each answers a different question.

Step 4 Clear explanation

Researchers separate three questions.

The three are related but separable, which is why one week can give Ayo, Lina and Tomas three different answers. In this course, flourishing is the umbrella word for doing reasonably well across all three. No single definition of flourishing is agreed: researchers such as Seligman and Keyes use the word differently, and Module 7 returns to the disagreement.

Step 5 Worked example (4 marks)

Sofia works nights in a hospital. She says she rarely feels cheerful at work. She believes her work matters and she would choose it again. Asked “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life?”, she answers 8 out of 10. Which account does each part speak to?

1. “Rarely cheerful”: hedonic (low positive affect). 1 mark.
2. “Her work matters, and she would choose it again”: eudaimonic (purpose, meaning). 1 mark.
3. “8 out of 10”: evaluative (judgement of life as a whole). 1 mark.
4. Conclusion: no single score summarises Sofia, because the three accounts point in different directions. 1 mark.

Step 6 Learner practice (instant-marked)

Match each statement to hedonic, evaluative or eudaimonic.

Written task (2 marks, self-marked). Write two sentences describing a person who would rate high on the evaluative account and low on the hedonic account.

Your two sentences

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Step 7 Answer explanations

The explanations for items 1 to 5 appear after you answer each one. For the written task:

Step 8 Recap

• Hedonic well-being is about feeling: pleasant versus unpleasant, moment by moment.
• Evaluative well-being is a whole-life judgement against one’s own standards.
• Eudaimonic well-being is about functioning, growth and purpose.
• The three are related but separable, so one number cannot stand for all of them.

Step 9 Exit ticket (ungraded)

Look at your sentence from Step 1. Which account does it express? Does it leave out either of the other two?

Step 10 Go further (Extension)

Read the opening pages of Ryan and Deci’s 2001 review of the hedonic and eudaimonic traditions (Annual Review of Psychology), and list two points on which the traditions disagree about what to measure.