This authoritative volume reviews the breadth of current scientific knowledge on subjective well-being (SWB): its definition, causes and consequences, measurement, and practical applications that may help people become happier. Leading experts explore the connections between SWB and a range of intrapersonal and interpersonal phenomena, including personality, health, relationship satisfaction, wealth, cognitive processes, emotion regulation, religion, family life, school and work experiences, and culture. Interventions and practices that enhance SWB are examined, with attention to both their benefits and limitations. The concluding chapter from Ed Diener dispels common myths in the field and presents a thoughtful agenda for future research.

Michael Eid, DSc, is Professor of Psychology at the Free University of Berlin, Germany. Dr. Eid is currently Editor of Methodology--European Journal of Research Methods for the Behavioral and Social Sciences and Associate Editor of the Journal of Positive Psychology. His main research interests are subjective well-being, mood regulation, multimethod measurement, and longitudinal data analysis.

Randy J. Larsen, PhD, is the William R. Stuckenberg Professor of Human Values and Moral Development and Chair of the Psychology Department at Washington University in St. Louis. He conducts research on emotion, primarily in terms of differences between people, and studies such topics as subjective well-being, mood variability, jealousy, attraction, depression, and strategies for the self-management of self-esteem and emotion. Dr. Larsen is an elected member of the Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology and is listed as one of the highly cited psychologists by the Institute for Scientific Information.

1. Ed Diener and the Science of Subjective Well-Being, Randy J. Larsen and Michael Eid

I. The Realm of Subjective Well-being

2. Philosophy and the Science of Subjective Well-Being, Daniel M. Haybron

3. Sociological Theories of Subjective Well-Being, Ruut Veenhoven

4. Evolution and Subjective Well-Being, Sarah E. Hill and David M. Buss

5. The Pursuit of Happiness in History, Darrin M. McMahon

II. Measuring Subjective Well-being

6. The Structure of Subjective Well-Being, Ulrich Schimmack

7. The Assessment of Subjective Well-Being: Successes and Shortfalls, William Pavot

8. Measuring the Immeasurable: Psychometric Modeling of Subjective Well-Being Data, Michael Eid

III. The Happy Person

9. Personality and Subjective Well-Being, Richard E. Lucas

10. Happiness and the Invisible Threads of Social Connection: The Chicago Health, Aging, and Social Relations Study, John T. Cacioppo, Louise C. Hawkley, Ariel Kalil, M. E. Hughes, Linda Waite, and Ronald A. Thisted

11. The Happy Mind in Action: The Cognitive Basis of Subjective Well-Being, Michael D. Robinson and Rebecca J. Compton

12. The Frequency of Social Comparison and Its Relation to Subjective Well-Being, Frank Fujita

13. Regulation of Emotional Well-Being: Overcoming the Hedonic Treadmill, Randy J. Larsen and Zvjezdana Prizmic

14. Two New Questions about Happiness: Is Happiness Good? and Is Happier Better?, Shigehiro Oishi and Minkyung Koo

15. Material Wealth and Subjective Well-Being, Robert M. Biswas-Diener

16. Religion and Human Flourishing, David G. Myers

IV. Subjective Well-Being in the Interpersonal Domain

17. What Makes People Happy?: A Developmental Approach to the Literature on Family Relationships and Well-Being, Marissa L. Diener and Mary Beth Diener McGavran

18. Research on Life Satisfaction of Children and Youth: Implications for the Delivery of School-Related Services, E. Scott Huebner and Carol Diener

19. Job Satisfaction: Subjective Well-Being at Work, Timothy A. Judge and Ryan Klinger

20. Comparing Subjective Well-Being across Cultures and Nations: The What and Why Questions, Eunkook M. Suh and Jayoung Koo

V. Making People Happier

21. Interventions for Enhancing Subjective Well-Being: Can We Make People Happier, and Should We?, Laura A. King

22. Promoting Positive Affect, Barbara L. Fredrickson

23. Gratitude, Subjective Well-Being, and the Brain, Robert A. Emmons

VI. Conclusions and Future Directions

25. Myths in the Science of Happiness, and Directions for Future Research, Ed Diener