Phenomenological Markers of Happiness: Content, Invariance, Dynamics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17323/1813-8918-2026-3-559-583Keywords:
happiness, proto-experience, feeling, qualia, invariant patternAbstract
The topic of happiness has historically retained a central place in public consciousness and remains relevant to various scientific disciplines, from philosophy to neurophysiology. In contemporary psychology, happiness is studied as an existentially significant phenomenon, closely linked to physiological processes, subjective well-being, and the individual's valuesemantic orientations. The experience of happiness is interpreted through sociocultural and personal characteristics in terms of its correlation with various life benefits, physiological and motivational processes, phenomenology, and prospects for personal growth. Despite numerous attempts to operationalize this phenomenon through related constructs such as life satisfaction, emotional balance, engagement, and the search for meaning, psychology still lacks a rigorous definition of the invariant specificity of happiness as a psychological state. This conceptual ambiguity complicates the specification and differentiation of happiness from other mental states, calling into question the validity of existing research on this topic. This study proposes a qualia approach focused on meaningforming processes in personality, as identified within the framework of personology methodology (V.A. Petrovsky, E.B. Starovoitenko). The author's model of experience is proposed, along with a systematization of the experience of happiness across five main domains: objects of happiness, ways to achieve happiness, neurophysiological parallels to happiness, qualities of happiness, and the meaning of experiencing happiness. The empirical part includes a qualitative content analysis of semistructured reflexive-phenomenological interviews, the semantic differential method, an experimental method using projective stimulus materials, and E. Gendlin's focusing method. The identified phenomenological coordinates form a specified and differential profile of happiness as a diagnostic basis for subsequent research on the experience of happiness and psychotherapeutic practice.
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