Positive Interventions That Erode the Hedonic and Eudaimonic Divide to Promote Lasting Happiness

Abstract

The aim in this chapter is to briefly discuss the broad characteristics of a good life, and to underscore the importance of a multi-faceted well-being framework that accurately represents the good life as it plays out in the real world, in its many and varied forms. I will then provide an overview of some core interventions designed to achieve these positive qualities and in so doing, I will critique what I see as the often arbitrary and simplified divisions between eudaimonia and hedonia. The focus will then shift to a discussion about the relevance of intervention content, delivery processes and individual and environmental factors for intervention success. Here I will refer to some of the research I have conducted with colleagues and students and the insights gained along the way. It will be argued that the characteristics of the intervention alone, are not sufficient to predict whether or not it will be effective—the system within which the positive intervention is embedded is equally as important. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)