Tripartite model of well-being? Nope. This framework suggests that your life is about the frequency of positive emotions, the frequency of negative emotions, and the mental judgments about life. What you do and why you do it are not mentioned (but I do love its simplicity and wide applicability).
Self-determination theory? Nope. The focus is on psychological needs that are as important as physical needs for thirst, hunger, and shelter. Humans seek a sense of social belonging, a sense of competence in mastering their environment, and a sense of autonomy or volition.
satisfying these needs was particularly important — predicting their effort toward aspirational goals such as going to school. So this is not a model limited to young, white, college students living in a rich democracy. But sexuality is still ignored.
Nope. This so-called new model of well-being suggests that people have plural end states that they aim for, seeking to acquire positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning in life, and/or accomplishments. PERMA is taught as the modern model of well-being at the University of Pennsylvania (along with positive health, positive computing, positive neuroscience, and positive education. However, it is more of an acronym than a conceptual model.
We think about sex, fantasize about sex, and (preferably) have sex. Which begs the question, Why is sexuality ignored in modern models of well-being? With the exception of evolutionary psychology, there is a long list of thinkers who ignore the explicit role of sexuality in their understanding of well-being.
But there is a small body of research demonstrating a link between sex and happiness. A study of 16,000 American adults found that frequent sexual activity is tied to greater happiness, regardless of gender or age. In 3,800 adults, high-quality sex (featuring frequent orgasms along with emotional and physical satisfaction) was linked to greater happiness. A study of American adults in romantic relationshipsfound that there was an intriguing tipping point such that people who had sex multiple times per week were no happier than those who had sex once per week. Unfortunately, the lessons to be drawn about sexuality from science have been limited to asking people to complete a bunch of surveys at one time, in one packet. Nothing can be said about directionality — if you have a great day today, are you more likely to have sex tomorrow? Will sex be better tomorrow? If you have sex today, are you more likely to have a great day tomorrow? Does it depend on whether you have intimate or orgasmic sexual experiences
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