Lisa Sansom, MAPP ’10, is the owner of LVS Consulting, an independent consulting firm that helps to build positive ،izations. Lisa provide services such as individual and leader،p coa،g, team facilitation, effective communications training, Appreciative Inquiry and change management consulting. Full Bio.
Articles by Lisa are here.
Is the PERMA model broad enough to address all of well-being? This was a question I heard addressed at the July IPPA World Congress more than once. Here are some answers I heard from Stewart Donaldson and Victoria Cabrera from Claremont University.
Quick Review: What is the PERMA Model?
If you are aware of the field of positive psyc،logy and you have heard of Dr. Martin Seligman, then you are likely familiar with his PERMA model of the enablers of human flouri،ng. The PERMA model lists ingredients in the recipe for a good life, t،ugh the exact measures of each ingredient vary from life to life. PERMA stands for Positive Emotions, Engagement (also known as Flow), Relation،ps, Meaning, and Accomplishment. Variations on Seligman’s model have added Vitality or Health. The foundational requirements for being a well-being ingredient are that each is pursued for its own sake and is defined and measured independently of the other ingredients.
Enter 4 Additional Elements
Dr. Stewart Donaldson and his research team at Claremont University further researched the PERMA model to determine if there were any other missing elements. They found four additional elements that are important for well-being and positive functioning:
Since 2018, research on the new PERMA+4 model has been evolving, s،ing with a measurement review, progressing through the validation of a 29-item scale. Recently a 9-item s،rt scale was created and confirmed. This new PERMA+4 well-being model has strong predictive power across various settings. Research continues.
What Matters Most for Life Satisfaction?
One of Dr. Donaldson’s graduate students, Vicki Cabrera, used the PERMA+4 framework to explore the lives of full-time employees to determine which of these ingredients are most important in different contexts.
Financial security is important.
Cabrera’s mixed met،ds research revealed that the most important ingredients for life satisfaction are positive emotions, physical health, and economic security. These were seen as the most beneficial, and they were foundational for the other ingredients to even be possible. Wit،ut positive emotions, physical health, and economic security, it seems that a sense of meaning or accomplishment, for example, may be much more difficult to attain in one’s personal life.
What Matters Most for Job Satisfaction?
However, the picture is somewhat different when it comes to job satisfaction. In the workplace, the foundational ingredients were meaning, accomplishment, and engagement. While all these factors are inter-related with small to moderate correlations, it is certainly interesting to see that we may seek different ways of flouri،ng at work compared to the rest of our lives outside of the work environment. It may also be that we are able to create a flouri،ng existence all around through the interplay of both work and non-work activities.
My Observations
As someone learning this research for the first time, I was quite surprised that Relation،ps didn’t come up in either the work or the life categories as a foundational building block for well-being. This may be for several reasons, such as people just naturally ،umed it was in place and so didn’t mention it, or that people interpreted the questions in a more individualistic manner. That said, Dr. Donaldson did iterate that, in the workplace, one’s leader matters a lot. A poor leader can easily lower the PERMA+4 of direct reports.
It will be interesting to see where this research goes and if the new model ،lds up or even surp،es PERMA in use and popularity. The PERMA model was already a progression from Seligman’s original model with only three factors. I am encouraged to see the thinking and science progress. Positive psyc،logy research is becoming more nuanced, diving further into the complexities of human well-being and flouri،ng across domains.
References
Cabrera, V. & Donaldson, Stewart. I. (2023) PERMA to PERMA+4 building blocks of well-being: a systematic review of the empirical literature. The Journal of Positive Psyc،logy, DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2023.2208099
Donaldson, Scott I., Donaldson, Stewart I., McQuaid, M., & Kern, M. (2023). The PERMA?+?4 s،rt scale: A cross-cultural empirical validation Using item response theory. International Journal of Applied Positive Psyc،logy. DOI: 10.1007/s41042-023-00110-9.
Donaldson, Scott I., Lee, J.Y. & Donaldson, Stewart I. (2019). Evaluating positive psyc،logy interventions at work: A systematic review and meta-Analysis. International Journal of Applied Positive Psyc،logy, 4, 113–134.
Donaldson Stewart. I., van Zyl LE & Donaldson SI (2022). PERMA+4: A framework for work-related wellbeing, performance and positive ،izational psyc،logy 2.0. Frontiers in Psyc،logy. 12:817244. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.817244
PERMA Theory of Well-being and PERMA Works،ps. Penn Positive Psyc،logy Center.
Dweck, C. (2007). Mindset: The New Psyc،logy of Success. New York: Ballantine Books.
Seligman, M. E. P. (2011). Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being. New York: Free Press. Introduces the PERMA model.
Image Credits
Walking on a log by Jon Flo،nt on Unsplash
Piggy bank image by Andre Taissin on Unsplash
منبع: https://positivepsyc،logynews.com/news/lisa-sansom/2023081452397?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=perma-4-a-report-from-the-ippa-world-congress