PERMA and the building blocks of well-being

Abstract

Seligman (2011) hypothesized that PERMA (Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment) are the elements of well-being. Goodman, Disabato, Kashdan & Kaufmann (2017) reported strong evidence that subjective well-being is the final common path of such elements and their data are entirely consistent with Seligman’s hypothesis. They argued, incorrectly however, that he suggested that PERMA constituted a different kind of well-being rather than just its building blocks. The complicated issue, one that transcends psychometrics, of how to decide on elements of well-being is discussed.

Keywords:

• Well-being
• measurement
• PERMA
• SWB

Acknowledgement

I thank Jer Clifton, David Yaden, Johannes Eichstaedt, Scott Kauffman, and Peggy Kern for their comments.