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Terminology and the Well-being Literature

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Abstract

In this commentary, we offer some remarks concerning distinctions that might be drawn between psychological well-being, emotional well-being, well-being more generally, and flourishing. We put forward a flexible map of flourishing to help understand the relative place of these and other terms, and their respective nestings. We discuss some of the challenges concerning terminology related to the use of ordinary language, as well as practices of branding ordinary language expressions that potentially threaten understanding, and we offer some suggestions as to how to navigate some of these terminological challenges in the well-being literature.

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Correspondence to Tyler J. VanderWeele.

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This research was funded by the John Templeton Foundation.

Conflicts of Interest

Tyler VanderWeele reports receiving personal and licensing fees from Flerish Inc. and Flourishing Metrics.

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Handling Editor: Wendy Berry Mendes

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VanderWeele, T.J., Lomas, T. Terminology and the Well-being Literature. Affec Sci 4, 36–40 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42761-022-00153-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42761-022-00153-2

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