Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Wellbeing at Work and at Play

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Wellbeing and Aspirational Culture

Abstract

Moore discusses how the two main areas of life—work and leisure—intersect with the wellbeing of persons in today’s aspirational culture. He argues that the modern workplace has always been a site that has worked against wellbeing despite potentially being, for example, a positive environment for producing experiences of flow and the focus on understanding the conditions for job satisfaction. When at leisure, Moore argues, we still find wellbeing difficult to experience. The effort required to overcome obstacles to engage in activities that generate flow, for example, means that passive leisure dominates our free time. While both nature and free play are positive sites for wellbeing he reviews evidence for our declining contact with nature and decreased opportunities for play.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Berman, M. G., Kross, E., Krpan, K. M., Askren, M. K., Burson, A., Deldin, P. J., et al. (2012). Interacting with nature improves cognition and affect for individuals with depression. Journal of Affective Disorders, 140, 300–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bock, J. (2004). Introduction: New evolutionary perspectives on play. Human Nature, 15(1), 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-004-1000-1.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bollen, J., Gonçalves, B., van de Leemput, I., & Ruan, G. (2017). The happiness paradox: Your friends are happier than you. EPJ Data Science, 6(4), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1140/epjds/s13688-017-0100-1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Byers, J. A. (1998). The biology of human play. Child Development, 69(3), 599–600. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1998.tb06227.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cederström, C., & Spicer, A. (2015). The wellness syndrome. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cropanzano, R., & Wright, T. A. (2001). When a ‘happy’ worker is really a ‘productive’ worker: A review and further refinement of the happy-productive worker thesis. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 53(3), 182–199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Finding flow: The psychology of engagement with everyday life. New York: HarperCollins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Graef, R. (1980). The experience of freedom in daily life. American Journal of Community Psychology, 8, 401–414.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Csikszentmihalyi, M., & LeFevre, J. (1989). Optimal experience in work and leisure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56(5), 815–822.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davies, W. (2015). The happiness industry: How the government and big business sold us well-being. London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Ng, W., Harter, J., & Arora, R. (2010). Wealth and happiness across the world: Material prosperity predicts life evaluation, whereas psychosocial prosperity predicts positive feeling. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99(1), 52–61. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018066.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fredrickson, B. L. (2004). The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. B. Biological Sciences, 359(1449, September 29), 1367–1378.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gowdy, J., & Krall, L. (2013). The ultrasocial origins of the Anthropocene. Ecological Economics, 95, 137–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gray, P. (2011). The decline of play and the rise of psychopathology in children and adolescents. American Journal of Play, 3(4), 443–463.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gray, P. (2013). Free to learn: Why unleashing the instinct to play will make our children happier, more self-reliant, and better students for life. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harré, R. (1983). Personal being: A theory for individual psychology. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harré, R. (1998). The singular self: An introduction to the psychology of personhood. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harré, R. (2016). Hybrid psychology as a human science. Theory and Psychology, 26(5), 632–646.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hollway, W. (1991). Work psychology and organizational behaviour: Managing the individual at work . London, UK: Sage.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, M. (2018). Distracted: Reclaiming our focus in a world of lost attention. New York: Prometheus Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judge, T. A., Heller, D., & Klinger, R. (2008). The dispositional sources of job satisfaction: A comparative test. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 57(3), 361–372.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Judge, T. A., & Klinger, R. (2008). Job satisfaction: Subjective well-being at work. In M. Eid & R. J. Larsen (Eds.), The science of subjective well-being (pp. 393–413). New York: The Guildford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judge, T. A., Locke, E. A., & Durham, C. C. (1997). The dispositional causes of job satisfaction: A core evaluations approach. Research in Organizational Behavior, 19, 151–188.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Australia: Penguin Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan, S. (2010). Directed attention as a common resource for executive functioning and self-regulation. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5, 43–57. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691609356784.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan, S., & Kaplan, R. (1983). Cognition and environment: Functioning in an uncertain world. Ann Arbor, MI: Ulrich’s.

    Google Scholar 

  • Killingsworth, M. A., & Gilbert, D. T. (2010). A wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Science, 330(6006), 932. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1192439.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lamblin, M., Murawski, C., Whittle, S., & Fornito, A. (2017). Social connectedness, mental health and the adolescent brain. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Review, 80, 57–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leahey, T. H. (2000). A history of psychology: Main currents in psychological thought (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lemire, D. (2013). A historiographical survey of Literacy in Britain between 1780 and 1830. Constellations (University of Alberta Student Journal), 4(1), 248–261.

    Google Scholar 

  • Louv, R. (2008). Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lyubomirsky, S. (2013). The myths of happiness: What should make you happy, but doesn’t, what shouldn’t make you happy, but does. New York: The Penguin Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McAdams, D. P. (2013). The psychological self as actor, agent, and author. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8(3), 272–295. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691612464657.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pellegrini, A. D. (2006). Play as a paradigm case of behavioral development [Review]. Human Development, 49(3), 189–192. https://doi.org/10.1159/000091897.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pellegrini, A. D. (2009). Research and policy on children’s play. Child Development Perspectives, 3(2), 131–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, C., Ruch, W., Beermann, U., Park, N., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2007). Strengths of character, orientations to happiness, and life satisfaction. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 2(3), 149–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760701228938.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, C. R. (1959). A theory of therapy, personality, and interpersonal relationships, as developed in the client-centered framework. In S. Koch (Ed.), Psychology: A study of a science: Study 1 (Vol. 3, pp. 184–256). New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rojek, C. (2005). Leisure theory: Principles and practice. Basingstoke: Plagrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rojek, C. (2010). Leisure and emotional intelligence. World Leisure Journal, 52(4), 240–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sales, N. J. (2016). American girls: Social media and the secret lives of teenagers. New York: Alfred Knopf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schiffer, L. P., & Roberts, T.-A. (2018). The paradox of happiness: Why are we not doing what we know makes us happy? The Journal of Positive Psychology, 13(3), 252–259. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2017.1279209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sennett, R. (Ed.). (2006). The culture of the new capitalism. New Haven: Yale University Press. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com.

  • Stokes, P. (2017). Temporal asymmetry and the self/person split. Journal of Value Inquiry, 51, 203–219. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10790-016-9563-8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Twenge, J. M. (2013). Does online social media lead to social connection or social disconnection? Journal of College and Character, 14(1), 11–20. https://doi.org/10.1515/jcc-2013-0003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Twenge, J. M., Joiner, T. E., Rogers, M. L., & Martin, G. N. (2018). Increases in depressive symptoms, suicide-related outcomes, and suicide rates among U.S. adolescents after 2010 and links to increased new media screen time. Clinical Psychological Science, 6(1), 3–17. https://doi.org/10.117/2167702617723376.

  • Twenge, J. M., & King, L. A. (2005). A good life is a personal life: Relationship fulfillment and work fulfillment in judgments of life quality. Journal of Research in Personality, 39(3), 336–353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2004.01.004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wyles, K. J., White, M. P., Hattam, C., Pahl, S., King, H., & Austen, M. (2019). Are some natural environments more psychologically beneficial than others? The importance of type and quality on connectedness to nature and psychological restoration. Environment and Behavior, 51(2), 111–143. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916517738312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Environment, Society and Design, Lincoln University, Lincoln, New Zealand

    Kevin Moore

Authors
  1. Kevin Moore
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kevin Moore .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Moore, K. (2019). Wellbeing at Work and at Play. In: Wellbeing and Aspirational Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15643-5_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation