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Subjective Well-Being and Personality

  • Chapter
Advanced Personality

Part of the book series: The Plenum Series in Social/Clinical Psychology ((SSSC))

Abstract

La Rochefoucauld argued that personality is an important cause of happiness and of unhappiness. Modern researchers find, however, that he was incorrect in underestimating the size of this influence. It appears that happiness, the experience of unpleasant emotions, and life satisfaction often depend more on temperament than on one's life circumstances. Indeed, it is now reasonable to hypothesize that personality is a major determinant of longterm, subjective well-being.Walter Mischel (1968) argued in a well known book, Personality and Assessment, that dispositions are weak determinants of behavior, and that situations are much stronger predictors of overt responses. In the realm of subjective wellbeing, Mischel's argument is turned on its head—it appears that situations are weak predictors, and personality is a strong correlate, of long-term subjective well-being.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois, 61820, USA

    Ed Diener

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  1. Ed Diener
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA

    David F. Barone  & Vincent B. Van Hasselt  & 

  2. Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon, USA

    Michel Hersen

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© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Diener, E. (1998). Subjective Well-Being and Personality. In: Barone, D.F., Hersen, M., Van Hasselt, V.B. (eds) Advanced Personality. The Plenum Series in Social/Clinical Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8580-4_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8580-4_13

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-306-48435-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-8580-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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