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.
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“On the other hand, if I understand that PERMA is a theory of the building blocks of well-being, we can work together on gratitude visits, or three blessings, or active-constructive responding or any of the other validated positive interventions that build these elements (e.g. Bolier et al., 2013).”
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“It is based on a recent model of well-being by Seligman (2018) but captures the same type of well-being as more prominent models (Goodman et al., 2018).”
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“Seligman (2011, 2017) PERMA model combined both hedonic and eudemonic theories of wellbeing: Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and Accomplishments.”
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- Authors
- Seligman, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Corresponding author
- Seligman, Martin
- ORCID
- Seligman, Martin
- Venue
- The Journal of Positive Psychology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2018-02-16
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 333-335
- ISSN
- 1743-9760 (ISSN-L)
- 1743-9779
- OpenAlex
- W2792485938
- Cited by
- 1,251
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 194 · 2025: 266 · 2024: 219 · 2023: 211 · 2022: 141 · 2021: 130 · 2020: 55 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 5
- FWCI
- 73.61
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of Positive Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Flow Experience in Various Fields
- Keywords
- PERMA model, subjective well-being, positive emotions, engagement, positive relationships, meaning in life, achievement, positive psychology
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