The Best way to Measure the Quality of Life and Well-being
The definition of well-being is a matter of debate. There’s an increasing consensus that it can’t reduce the consumption of material goods. And other aspects of life including well-being and good social relationships are vital to being healthy. Yuri
The notion of improving well-being is acknowledge as one of the most important components of social progress. However, when different aspects of our lives are all contributing to well-being. We create a general measure of it.
Before we begin to track the social development of wellbeing. We require more information about the concept.
Measurement of happiness
There is another option is to utilize large-scale surveys of opinion. It ask people to take on simple questions regarding their happiness levels or satisfaction with their lives. They have shown solid patterns, proving that economic growth is having associate with a less than expected impact on satisfaction. In addition to other factors, including unemployment and health are also important.
These basic survey indicators appear to be reliable. However, according to psychologists’ happiness and satisfaction are not the same. Life satisfaction includes an element of cognitive functioning. People must take a step back and examine their lives. Likewise, happiness can reflect both the positive as well as negative feelings that change.
Focusing on negative and positive emotions can help to understand wellbeing in a “hedonic” way. Based on pleasure in the absence of discomfort. Focusing on the individual’s opinions about what’s worth looking for is a more individualized method. People consider all kinds of things as worthwhile to look for.
In the same way, happiness could be a factor in assessing one’s health however it’s not the only factor.
The approach to capability
Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen has noted that understanding happiness by analysing feelings of happiness, satisfaction or happiness has two issues.
The first is what he calls “physical-condition neglect.” Human beings can adapt at most in part to adverse situations. It means that the poor and sick can be a bit content. A striking study conduct by a group compose of Belgian and French doctors has reveal an issue. That is within a group of patients suffering from chronic locked-in syndrome, most of them were satisfy.
The other issue can describe as “valuation neglect.” Value of life is a reflection activity that shouldn’t just limit to feelings of being content or miserable. Of course, Sean admits, “it would be odd to claim that a person broken down by pain and misery is doing very well.”
Therefore, we should not completely ignore the importance of being well. However, it is important to recognize that it’s not the sole thing that people are concerned about.
Alongside Martha Nussbaum, Sen formulated an alternative approach of capability which states that personal traits and social contexts influence what individuals can accomplish within a set size of the resource.
Improve health
Reading to someone unable to read does not improve their health. Similarly, giving them cars does not improve their mobility if there are no safe roads.
According to Sen the qualities of the person can do or can do in good health. Like being healthy and well-nourished or being able to stand out publicly. Without shame are the most important factors for the health of the individual. Sen describes these accomplishments as “functioning’s” of the person. But he also claims that the definition of well-being solely as a function is not enough. Since it also encompasses freedom.
The most famous example is the contrast between two hungry people. The one is in need and can’t afford food, while the other one is wealthy, but is unable to fast due to religious reasons. Although they both attain the same level of nutrition. However, they are not able to have the same degree of well-being.
Well-being
Thus, Sen suggests that well-being is best understood by examining people’s true potential. That is the various combinations of functions of which they have the option.
The capability approach is multidimensional. However, those trying to direct policy often believe that making rational decisions about trade-offs demands one most important measure. People who adhere to the capability approach who fall for this notion frequently mistrust the individual’s preferences and instead use an assortment of indicators that are common to everyone.
The so-called “composite indicators” – like the United Nations’ Human Development Index that includes life expectancy, and education performances at the national level are often the result of this type of thinking. They’ve become very popular within the circles of policy. However, they fall victim to simply adding scores for different dimensions, and all of them are deemed equally crucial.
The importance of individual convictions
Beyond the subjective perspective and the capability-based approach, a third approach – the preferred-based approach to wellbeing is one that takes into consideration that there is disagreement among people on the importance of various aspects of life.
Many people believe that hard work is required to live a full and fulfilling life, while some prefer to spend time with their families. Some believe that outing with their friends is essential and others would rather read an e-book in a quiet area.
“Preference-based” or “preference-based” perspective starts from the belief that people are more successful when their experience is more in line with what they consider important.
They also have a mental “valuational” component: they reflect people’s well-informed, well-considered beliefs about what a great life should be, not just their market behavior.
This doesn’t match with the subjective satisfaction of life. Take the example of people who suffer from the syndrome of locking-in reporting high levels of satisfaction because they have been able to adapt to their environment. However, this doesn’t mean they don’t wish to be healthy again and certainly doesn’t mean that people who do not suffer from the syndrome wouldn’t want to get sick.
Preference-based approach
A popular preference-based approach, which is favore by the French economist, Marc Fleurbaey. It suggests that people pick a set of reference values for all aspects that are not income-related in life. The values of these reference points will vary on the person. Everyone will probably agree that being healthy is the ideal situation. But a hardworking lawyer is likely to put the same value on hours of work as opposed to someone who has a demanding and hazardous job in a factory.
Fleurbaey is then suggesting that people set a minimum salary which, when paired with the non-income-based reference figure will satisfy the person to the extent of their present situation.
The amount that equivalent income “equivalent income” differs from the actual income earned by the worker will answer “How much income you would be wanting to give up for better condition or more set free time?”
Some psychologists are skeptical about methods based on preference because they believe that humans are good-informed and well-thought-out ideas about what makes a happy life. Although such rational decisions exist, it’s difficult to quantify them since these are things in life such as health, family time – which aren’t traded on market.
Does this all have any significance in the real world?
The table below, created by Belgian economics Koen Decancq and Erik Schokkaert, shows how different ways of thinking about well-being can have real-world consequences.
It places with 18 European countries in the year 2010 by three measures that could use including average income, life satisfaction, and the average comparable income.
These wide differences do not observe when comparing comparable incomes. However, suggesting that the level of satisfaction between these two nations is greatly influenced by cultural distinctions.
Germany along with the Netherlands is also worse in terms of satisfaction than income. However, their comparable income rankings show that they perform comparatively less well on other dimensions of income.
Greece is a country with a low degree of satisfaction with life. Cultural factors may be a factor. However, Greece is also known for its extremely high degree of income inequality that isn’t reflected in the tables of averages.
Conclusion:
The differences between different metrics of well-being suggest the crucial issues to consider when selecting which measure of wellbeing and which one to pick. If we are looking to use this measure to evaluate nations’ performance in offering well-being. Then we’ll be pushed toward a simple measure, like subjective happiness. Yuri
As we are trying to track the policy implications of whether people are doing very well in the areas that matter. We’ll push towards a multi-dimensional analysis like that provide by the approach to capability. If we’re surprise by differences between people on what is most important to them. Then we’ll have a reason to assess well-being according to the guidelines suggests by the preferred-based approach.
