Interest in the psychological study of flourishing has burgeoned over the past three decades. In this time, researchers have developed various paradigms for understanding the structure and measurement of human flourishing. We review eight prominent models of flourishing, thriving, or rich well-being through a close analysis of their primary instruments. The instruments we review each possess sufficient status to have warranted attempts at psychometric validation in multiple cultural environments. This presentation illuminates the significant differences at the item level that these eight instruments exhibit, despite apparent but superficial similarity in their structures. Differences are particularly dramatic in items addressing the social dimensions of flourishing. These instruments reveal a lack of consensus among flourishing theorists as to what flourishing really is. The apparent absence of consensus across well-being researchers on the nature of flourishing can lead to siloed constructs, redundancy, and intellectual parochialism. We conclude by addressing what a consensus on flourishing might require.  

Author: Lukas Novak