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. 2022 Oct 11;4(1):36-40.
doi: 10.1007/s42761-022-00153-2. eCollection 2023 Mar.

Terminology and the Well-being Literature

Tyler J VanderWeele  1 , Tim Lomas  2
Affiliations

Terminology and the Well-being Literature

Tyler J VanderWeele et al. Affect Sci. .

Abstract

In this commentary, we offer some remarks concerning distinctions that might be drawn between psychological well-being, emotional well-being, well-being more generally, and flourishing. We put forward a flexible map of flourishing to help understand the relative place of these and other terms, and their respective nestings. We discuss some of the challenges concerning terminology related to the use of ordinary language, as well as practices of branding ordinary language expressions that potentially threaten understanding, and we offer some suggestions as to how to navigate some of these terminological challenges in the well-being literature.

Keywords: Emotion; Flourishing; Language; Well-being.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of InterestTyler VanderWeele reports receiving personal and licensing fees from Flerish Inc. and Flourishing Metrics.

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