Mapping Well-Being

Author(s):  
Tim Lomas

This chapter sets out the theoretical foundations of the book. It begins by introducing a cartographic theory of language, suggesting that words enable us to map our world. However, drawing on the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, it argues that cultures map the world in different ways – influencing how people experience and understand the world – as revealed most starkly by untranslatable words. The chapter argues that engaging with such words can be very useful – for academia and for people in general – as they can help us to refine our maps, facilitating a more nuanced and detailed appraisal of life. It concludes by introducing the research project upon which the book is based, Tim Lomas’ evolving ‘positive cross-cultural lexicography’ of untranslatable words pertaining to wellbeing. In doing so, the chapter explains the analytic process that constitutes the substance of the book, and introduces the resulting theoretical framework of wellbeing, featuring three basic dimensions: feelings, relationships, and personal development. These dimensions – which respectively represent the main ways in which wellbeing is experienced, influenced, and cultivated – are then explored in turn over the next three chapters.

Author(s):  
Tim Lomas

This book presents an innovative new approach to the study of wellbeing, intersecting psychology, linguistics, and cross-cultural scholarship. It begins by introducing a cartographic theory of language, proposing that words enable us to map our world, and thus to understand and navigate our lives. However, different cultures map the world in different ways, generating so-called untranslatable words (i.e., which lack an equivalent in another language – in this case, English). Their significance is that they point to aspects of life that have hitherto been overlooked or undervalued in English-speaking cultures. By exploring such words, we can therefore refine our maps, developing a more nuanced appreciation of the world. This book deploys this process with respect to wellbeing specifically, bringing its hidden dimensions to light. Moreover, it argues that this process may not only enhance our understanding of wellbeing, but also our experience of it, empowering us to identify phenomena that had previously been only dimly perceived, and even to discover new dimensions of existence we had not realised were there. These possibilities are brought to life through a tour of 400 or so words, sourced from nearly 80 languages. These terms are analysed thematically, arranged into three overarching meta-categories – feelings, relationships, and personal development – which together constitute a comprehensive new theory of wellbeing. The book concludes by outlining an ambitious research agenda that will fully allow the promise of these untranslatable words, and the theory outlined here, to be realised.


Comunicar ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (37) ◽  
pp. 177-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amparo Porta-Navarro

The music that children are exposed to in their everyday lives plays an important role in shaping the way they interpret the world around them, and television soundtracks are, together with their direct experience of reality, one of the most significant sources of such input. This work is part of a broader research project that looks at what kind of music children listen to in a sample of Latin American and Spanish TV programmes. More specifically, this study focuses on children’s programmes in Spain, and was addressed using a semiotic theoretical framework with a quantitative and musical approach. The programme «Los Lunnis» was chosen as the subject of a preliminary study, which consisted in applying 90 templates and then analysing them in terms of the musical content. The results show that the programme uses music both as the leading figure and as a background element. The most common texture is the accompanied monody and the use of voice, and there is a predominance of electronic instrumental sounds, binary stress and major modes with modulations. Musical pieces are sometimes truncated and rhythmically the music is quite poor; the style used is predominantly that of foreign popular music, with a few allusions to the classical style and to incidental music. The data reveal the presence of music in cultural and patrimonial aspects, as well as in cognitive construction, which were not taken into account in studies on the influence of TV in Spain. Such aspects do emerge, however, when they are reviewed from the perspective of semiotics, musical representation, formal analysis and restructuring theories.La música de la vida cotidiana del niño tiene uno de sus referentes, junto a su experiencia real, en la banda sonora de la televisión, configurando una parte de su interpretación de la realidad. Este trabajo forma parte de una investigación más amplia sobre la escucha televisiva infantil en una muestra iberoamericana. El objetivo, conocer qué escuchan los niños en la programación infantil de «Televisión Española», ha sido estudiado desde un marco teórico semiótico con un enfoque cuantitativo y musical. El artículo presenta un resumen de los resultados obtenidos en un primer análisis del programa «Los Lunnis» mediante la aplicación de noventa plantillas y sus análisis musicales correspondientes. Estos resultados indican que el programa utiliza la música como fondo y figura, textura de monodía acompañada y utilización de la voz, predominio del sonido electrónico instrumental, acento binario y modo mayor con modulaciones. Aparecen piezas musicales cortadas y cierta pobreza rítmica, su opción estilística es la música popular no propia, con algunos guiños al estilo clásico y a la música incidental. Los datos muestran la presencia de la música en aspectos culturales, patrimoniales y de construcción cognitiva no considerados en los estudios sobre la influencia de la TV en España, pero que emergen cuando son revisados desde la semiótica, la representación musical, el análisis formal y las teorías de la reestructuración.


Author(s):  
Özen Odağ

The current chapter focuses on the (cross-)cultural appeal of existing entertainment theories, showcasing the meager evidence that exists with respect to their universality. The central argument throughout the chapter is that most entertainment theories have originated in the Western world and little has so far been done to apply them to the much larger rest of the world. The rest of the world has shown to be profoundly different, however, with respect to various dimensions of human behavior and cognition, including self-concepts, emotion appraisal and display, valued affect, thinking styles, values, and well-being maxims. The chapter scrutinizes five pertinent entertainment theories for their ability to explain this cultural variation. It suggests the inclusion of fruitful macro- and micro-level concepts from cross-cultural psychology and intercultural communication to increase their global explanatory power. The main aim of the current chapter is to spark an overdue (cross-)cultural evolution of media entertainment scholarship.


Author(s):  
В. Бочелюк

Relevance of the problem: The concept of lifelong learning is the leading educational and political strategy of the advanced countries around the world. Attracting adults into training helps to cope with life crises, enhances their well-being and health, contributes to their personal development, social activity, and cultural growth. This eventually determines the economic and social well-being of the entire society. But in Ukraine the implementation of this model is not fully effective, which fact entails a scientific discussion. Aim: to analyze the ways of introducing adult education in Ukraine and in the world; to determine the ways of forming professional and life competencies in the qualified psychological community. Methods: analysis of documentation that governs the implementation of the lifelong learning concept in the European Union and in Ukraine; a written survey of psychologists (131 persons with professional experience of 3 to 35 years) concerning specific ways of expanding and deepening of competencies; content analysis, frequency analysis, phenomenological method. Research results. The main mission of the lifelong learning is the expansion and renewal of life prospects in the framework of the transformational social environment. The leading role in these processes belongs to the individuals themselves: their cognitive activity, responsibility for building their own life paths, the ability to learn. Governmental and public institutions create opportunities for education in various forms that are tailored to individual interests and capabilities. In Ukraine, similarly to other countries, adult learning is actively taking place in formal, informal, and independent education, but the form and content, the theoretical and normative substantiation is considerably lagging behind the experience of the advanced countries. The survey of psychologists has demonstrated a steady need for a lifelong learning, which has a professional specificity according to the field of activity. Further education has a beneficial effect on professional career, as well as on psychological well-being and social processes. However, cognitive activity is occurring in a spontaneous, not in a planned way; it is difficult for professionals to find educational offers meeting their needs.


1998 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Boehnke ◽  
Claudia Stromberg ◽  
Murari Prasad Regmi ◽  
Bert O. Richmond ◽  
Subhas Chandra

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-159
Author(s):  
Anna Yu. Akimova ◽  
Elena N. Vasilyeva ◽  
Oksana M. Isaeva

Background. Russia is the world leader in the number of women who are members of management bodies in top achievements sports. At the same time, the professional motivation of women engaged in boxing activities and its connection with psychological well-being have not yet been object of a special study. However, targeted management of staff motivation could help to increase their professional efficiency, satisfaction with their performance in the professional sphere and, as a result, achieve sustainable psychological well-being. Objective. To study the peculiarities of professional motivation of women who are employees of the Russian Boxing Federation (RBF), and its connection with psychological well-being. Design. The survey involved 39 women aged 23 to 59 who hold positions in the FBF. The tools used were: the Questionnaire of professional motivation by E. Desi and R. Ryan (adapted by Osin E., Ivanovа T., and Gordeevа T.), and the Questionnaire of psychological well-being by K. Riff (adapted and modified by L.V. Zhukovskaya and E.G. Troshikhina). Results of the study made it possible to determine the attractiveness factors of activities in the FBF: the main ones are “interest in activities,” “opportunities for professional development”, and “team”. Internal professional motivation dominates, which is consistent with the data on the attractiveness of the activities performed in the RBF due to interest in it, the possibility of personal development, a sense of psychological well-being from the process and the results of activities. Positive correlation of autonomous professional motivation with psychological well-being has been established. Conclusion. The data obtained made it possible to describe the peculiarities of professional motivation of women-employees of the Russian Boxing Federation and its connection with psychological well-being.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 8817
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Dobrowolska ◽  
Agata Groyecka-Bernard ◽  
Piotr Sorokowski ◽  
Ashley K. Randall ◽  
Peter Hilpert ◽  
...  

Across the world, millions of couples get married each year. One of the strongest predictors of whether partners will remain in their relationship is their reported satisfaction. Marital satisfaction is commonly found to be a key predictor of both individual and relational well-being. Despite its importance in predicting relationship longevity, there are relatively few empirical research studies examining predictors of marital satisfaction outside of a Western context. To address this gap in the literature and complete the existing knowledge about global predictors of marital satisfaction, we used an open-access database of self-reported assessments of self-reported marital satisfaction with data from 7178 participants representing 33 different countries. The results showed that sex, age, religiosity, economic status, education, and cultural values were related, to various extents, to marital satisfaction across cultures. However, marriage duration, number of children, and gross domestic product (GDP) were not found to be predictors of marital satisfaction for countries represented in this sample. While 96% of the variance of marital satisfaction was attributed to individual factors, only 4% was associated with countries. Together, the results show that individual differences have a larger influence on marital satisfaction compared to the country of origin. Findings are discussed in terms of the advantages of conducting studies on large cross-cultural samples.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 133
Author(s):  
Milena M. Kaličanin ◽  
Kristina M. Petrović

It has frequently been stated that the dramatic method of teaching is rather efficient in students’ personal development. The basic practical aspect of this teaching method involves the acquisition of various social and language skills which point to its immense interdisciplinary potential. Apart from the benefits, teaching drama represents a highly challenging task for educators since they are supposed to mediate between the world of artists and the recipients of their art. In order to highlight the challenges and benefits of teaching drama, the theoretical framework of the paper relies on the pioneering lecturing work of Heathcote (1976, 1998), as well as the critical insights of Freire (2005) and Nussbaum (1997). Their methodical perspectives on drama as a learning medium have been combined with the results of the internal survey the authors of the paper conducted in the period 2016-2018 by teaching Renaissance drama courses at the university level.


2003 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 238-251
Author(s):  
Victor F. Petrenko ◽  
Olga V. Mitina ◽  
Kirill A. Bertnikov

The aim of this research was the reconstruction of the system of categories through which Russians perceive the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Europe, and the world as a whole; to study the implicit model of the geopolitical space; to analyze the stereotypes in the perception of different countries and the superposition of mental geopolitical representations onto the geographic map. The techniques of psychosemantics by Petrenko, originating in the semantic differential of Osgood and Kelly's “repertory grids,” were used as working tools. Multidimensional semantic spaces act as operational models of the structures of consciousness, and the positions of countries in multidimensional space reflect the geopolitical stereotypes of respondents about these countries. Because of the transformation of geopolitical reality representations in mass consciousness, the commonly used classification of countries as socialist, capitalist, and developing is being replaced by other structures. Four invariant factors of the countries' descriptions were identified. They are connected with Economic and Political Well-being, Military Might, Friendliness toward Russia, and Spirituality and the Level of Culture. It seems that the structure has not been explained in adequate detail and is not clearly realized by the individuals. There is an interrelationship between the democratic political structure of a country and its prosperity in the political mentality of Russian respondents. Russian public consciousness painfully strives for a new geopolitical identity and place in the commonwealth of states. It also signifies the country's interest and orientation toward the East in the search for geopolitical partners. The construct system of geopolitical perception also depends on the region of perception.


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