CONCEPT
The Six Components of Psychological Well-Being
Carol Ryff's six-factor model — purpose, growth, mastery, autonomy, positive relationships, self-acceptance — that Keyes integrated as the psychological dimension of flourishing.
The six components of psychological well-being constitute the eudaimonic dimension of Keyes's continuum model, drawn from Carol Ryff's 1989 framework and validated across decades of research. Unlike hedonic well-being, which captures feeling good, psychological well-being captures functioning well — the set of capacities and conditions that constitute thriving as an individual human being. The six components are purpose in life, personal growth, environmental mastery, autonomy, positive relationships with others, and self-acceptance. All six must be assessed to determine whether a person is flourishing on the psychological dimension.
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Ryff developed the model as a corrective to research that had collapsed psychological well-being into life satisfaction and positive affect. Drawing on humanistic psychology (Maslow, Rogers, Jung), developmental psychology (Erikson), existential philosophy (Frankl), and Aristotelian ethics, she identified six theoretically grounded dimensions and developed validated scales to measure each.
The six components are conceptually independent but empirically correlated. A person can score high on autonomy and low on positive relationships, or