Fuhrer, J., Van Acker, M., Saarelainen, S.M.
Existential Urban Obstacles (EUC) to Well-Being
Phase: Data collection.
This research is supported by EU Horizon Europe under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND grant No 101081327 YUFE4Postdocs.
Content:
This project will undergo three distinct phases:
Is the presence of communal places, defined as places where people can socialize and foster social engagement, in one’s neighborhood a predictor of subjective well-being and meaning in life? And is this association mediated by basic psychological need satisfaction? To explore this question and limit potential confounding variables, we will test a more complex model.
Specifically, we will examine whether the subjective perception of (i) the presence of communal places, (ii) perceived neighborhood disorder, and (iii) neighborhood trustworthiness predicts subjective well-being, operationalized as life satisfaction and the frequency of positive and negative emotions, as well as the subjective experience of the dimensions constituting the psychological experience of meaning in life, operationalized as purpose, coherence, significance, and impact.
To better understand the underlying mechanisms, we will also examine whether these associations are mediated by basic psychological need satisfaction, operationalized as the fulfillment of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. In addition, we will test whether individuals experiencing greater economic distress report fewer communal places in their neighborhood, and whether this may help explain why they tend to experience lower subjective well-being and less meaning in life compared to economically advantaged individuals.
Finally, we aim to determine whether the presence of communal places is a good predictor of neighborhood trustworthiness and neighborhood disorder.
To this aim, we will use a cross-sectional survey of adult participants. In this survey, we implemented three self-report measures of neighborhood perceptions: presence of communal places, neighborhood disorder, and trustworthiness. We also included one self-report measure of economic perception, namely perceived economic adversity. Finally, we included several measures of well-being, including basic psychological need satisfaction (autonomy, competence, and relatedness), meaning in life (purpose, coherence, significance, and a sense of having a positive impact), and subjective well-being (life satisfaction and the frequency of positive and negative emotions).
Fuhrer, J. Fifty Shades of Well-being: The Cost of Confusion.
Phase: Paper written, submitted, waiting for decision.
Content: This paper analyzes the case of subjective/hedonic and eudaimonic well-being in psychology, and its genealogy, as a paradigmatic example of how philosophical confusions have muddied the waters of well-being science. These confusions have led to a proliferation of conceptual frameworks and measurement tools. I argue that, despite significant advancements, the science of well-being suffers from a crisis of epistemic coherence, driven by two interrelated factors: (1) the uncritical adoption of philosophically dense terminology into empirical psychology, and (2) academic practices that incentivize theoretical novelty over clarity and consensus, thereby favoring interdisciplinary siloing.
Fuhrer, J., Jeancolas, C., Vantard, M., Nourrit, D., Thon, R., & Knoop, M.
Psychology of Interdisciplinarity
Phase: Data collection.
Content: This project, conducted in collaboration with the MITI (Mission for Cross-cutting and Interdisciplinary Initiatives) team at the CNRS, aims to draw a "psychological portrait" of interdisciplinary researchers: better understanding their experiences, quality of life, personality traits, and psychological dispositions. The approach is primarily quantitative and inferential, with an additional open-ended qualitative question. Data collection is ongoing, and we are targeting the entire CNRS researcher mailing list to ensure a robust and representative dataset.