Extraversion and Subjective Well-Being

IntroductionThe study of personality in general, and extraversion in particular, has contributed to understanding human behaviour in both traditional fields of psychology and in Research in psychology has traditionally focused on identifying and treating disorders and dysfunction. Though this is important, the burgeoning field of psychology has directed attention towards an additional goal: understanding the correlates and causes of human flourishing, principally through the study of subjective well- being (SWB) (Kim-Prieto, Diener, Tamir, Scollon, & Diener, 2005). Promoting the development of existing personal strengths and encouraging growth as a means of increasing SWB is a central concern of psychology, which is in contrast to the more typical attention to psychological deficits. The present article focuses on the contribution of the study of extraversion to It provides an introduction to the concept of SWB and discusses the empirical relations between SWB and extraversion. Based on this empirical work, this article also outlines future directions in psychology that would benefit from considering the role of extraversion.Although the study of SWB is not new, there has been a resurgence of interest in the last fifteen years. This renewed attention after a period of relative inactivity was encouraged by many researchers including three prominent scholars: 1) Martin Seligman, who, as president of the American Psychological Association, identified a need for more research into psychological strengths in 1998 (Peterson & Seligman, 2004), 2) Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman, who made a similar suggestion with regards to research into psychological states (Kahneman, Diener, & Schwarz, 1999), and 3) Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who along with Seligman (Seligman & Csikzentmihalyi, 2000) formalized the scientific study of well-being with the introduction of positive psychology. Positive psychology redefines the goals of psychology as being more than the just the reduction of negative affect, as some traditional clinical models of mental health may suggest (Diener & Suh, 1997). Positive psychology also strives to achieve the goal of increasing well-being.Defining and Assessing Subjective Well-beingAlthough researchers and practitioners have not reached a consensus on the definitions of SWB and its dimensions, it is generally agreed that SWB is a multifaceted concept that includes relatively high levels of affect (PA), appropriate levels of negative affect (NA), and overall life satisfaction (Argyle, 2001; Argyle & Lu, 1990; Busseri, Sadava, & Decourville, 2007; Diener, 1984; Diener, Lucas, & Oishi, 2002; Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999; Emmons & Diener, 1985; Kashdan, 2004; Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, 2005). The recognition of these dimensions (positive affect, negative affect, and overall life satisfaction) is fairly consistent in the literature (Steel, Schmidt, Shultz, 2008). This conceptualization of SWB encompasses both affective evaluations (e.g., and negative affect) and cognitive appraisals (e.g., life satisfaction), so it is essential to consider both of these components when assessing SWB (Diener, Oishi, & Lucas, 2003; Diener & Suh, 1997; Keyes, Shmotkin, & Ryff, 2002).Additionally, measures of SWB recognize a temporal element that includes both momentary and longer-term assessments, and research is concerned with both short-term fluctuations and enduring changes in SWB (Diener, Oishi, & Lucas, 2003). The construct of affect is thought to be important at both the state and trait level (Steel et ah, 2008), and it can therefore be used to describe both momentary experiences and longer-term evaluations of and negative affect. This has led researchers to conceptualize happiness as an enduring, consistently-optimistic mood state (Steel et ak, 2008) that is thought to represent the affective dimension of SWB (Keyes et ah, 2002; Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, 2005). …