The Scale For Satisfaction With Life (SWLS)
The Satisfaction With Life Scale is still the most popular instrument for measuring happiness. Psychologists Ed Diener, Robert A. Emmons, Randy J. Larsen and Sharon Griffin created it in the 1980s. Experts point to it as one of the best ways to get reliable information about people’s level of satisfaction with their lives. They have used it on adults, teenagers and people in different social classes. In addition, experts can apply it in any country and culture.
Confucius said that wherever people are happy, there are no revolutions. The truth is that when you feel happy with what you have and what you are, you do not feel the need to go and look for something else. Yet, as you probably know, such a condition is not easy to achieve. As such, people always feel obligated to start big or small revolutions. These allow us to seek out the desired state of well-being.
Having access to scales like this test, among other things, lets you know what is missing in society. It also helps you understand which areas of your life need more exploration, work or maturation. As such, you can say that satisfaction is more than a condition. It is a process you build on continuously. As such, it is very useful to have access to this resource. This applies to both psychological interventions and everything that has to do with social research.
Let’s see what this test is about.
Characteristics, application and efficiency
How can we define life satisfaction ? It is not an easy concept to put into words. Some people may be in a hurry to say that this is the condition you reach when you have a good job and money in the bank. Others claim that it is to be with someone you love and who loves you. It seems that nothing is as subjective, specific and unique as a person’s personal happiness.
Each mind is a unique world, and each world is a microuniverse inhabited by needs, priorities, tastes, and concerns. Frederic Bartlett was an experimental psychologist at the University of Cambridge. He said that your life consists of thoughts. He claimed that every person could live in heaven or hell even if they were as rich as the richest person in the world.
Therefore, Ed Diener, Robert A. Emmons, Randy J. Larsen and Sharon Griffin knew that they had to ask a series of very general questions in their test. These questions must go far beyond the material and even emotional aspects of life. Therefore, the scale for life satisfaction is based on cognitive assessments. In other words, it judges each individual’s specific assessment of what they have achieved or not achieved.
What the life satisfaction scale (SWLS) consists of
This test consists of 5 elements (questions) that the person must answer. It is in the form of a Likert scale. That is, there are five types of answers. These are: “strongly disagree”, “disagree”, “neutral”, “agree” and “strongly agree”. As you can see, the scale of life satisfaction is very short. Still, that does not mean it is easy to complete.
In a way, the experts were the first time experts were confronted with the SWLS questions in 1985 in the Journal of Personality Assessment , forced to reflect on very deep aspects of life. For this test, sincerity is of utmost importance. Only then will you be able to see where you are with your happiness to continue working with your well-being. Only then will you be able to continue to search for the happiness that comes from just satisfaction with yourself and your achievements.
Questions to the Life Satisfaction Scale (SWLS)
Just as we suggested above, this instrument uses five very specific questions:
- In most ways, my life is close to my ideal.
- The conditions in my life are excellent.
- I’m happy with my life.
- So far, I have got the important things I want in life.
- If I could live my life again, I would hardly have changed anything.
Is the life satisfaction scale reliable?
The psychologists who developed the scale for satisfaction with life did not believe that it should measure aspects such as health, finances or emotional conditions. It is an instrument that measures subjective realities represented in the five elements. It is possible that you may be in doubt about the results at first glance. Can this test really tell you if a person is happy with their current reality?
The answer is “yes”. Studies such as the one conducted by Dr. William Pavot of the University of Minnesota indicate that it is highly valid. This is especially true when we compare it with other scales that consider the same dimension. Apart from that, the life satisfaction scale allows you to evaluate how life satisfaction changes in a person through clinical intervention. As such, it is a very reliable resource. Not only that, but it is also useful and extremely relevant in psychology and research.
