FAQ > About Subjective Well-Being (Happiness and Life Satisfaction), by Dr. Diener > Q: Are life satisfaction and happiness the same thing?
A: Many researchers in the area of subjective well-being avoid the term "happiness" because it has several different meanings. For example, it can mean a joyful state, it can mean long-term positive feelings, or it can mean life satisfaction. Happiness sometimes is even used to refer to the things that cause one to feel good, as in "Happiness is a good family."
Life satisfaction refers to a cognitive evaluation or judgment of one's life. Is my life overall going well? Has the entirety of my life been close to my ideal? If I could live my life over, would I choose essentially the same life or would I change much of it? People use information to make conscious judgments when they report "satisfaction," whereas moods and emotions occur as ongoing reactions to current events.
Occasionally we use the term happy or happiness to refer to the affective components of SWB - a presence of positive affect and an absence of negative affect. A happy person then would be one who has a positive "affect balance" (much more positive affect than negative affect).
Last updated on September 14, 2007 by Dr. Walt