Well-Being: Investigations in Science, Philosophy, Theology, & Religious Studies

This project aims to advance our understanding of well-being (often referred to as flourishing or thriving), a broad subject area that is concerned primarily with what ultimately benefits people—what makes people better off, all things considered. As such, this domain incorporates a number of topics, including character virtues, sense of meaning or purpose, positive and negative emotions, moods, friendship, religious commitments, pleasure, stress, happiness, and so forth, insofar as these things relate to personal flourishing. Scientific research in this area is well-established in psychology and other social sciences, and it has received attention from scholars working in philosophy, theology, and religious studies as well. However, dialogue between the disciplines has been limited. And much of the empirical research has focused on a narrow slice of humanity, a demographic exemplified by American undergraduates. The chief aim of this project is to improve these conditions by fostering more robust interdisciplinary and cross-cultural research and research networks that focus on the psychology of human well-being—a focus that has been called “prudential psychology” (on the model of another thriving interdisciplinary field, moral psychology). The project components have been designed with these aims in mind, and thus include a large-scale RFP program to support research, engagement, and collaboration among these various disciplines, as well as various activities designed to build and enhance capacity for future research of this kind and dissemination activities to complement these scholarly elements.