Subjective Wellbeing and Resilience at the Individual Level: A Synthesis Through Homeostasis

Abstract This chapter brings together ideas on resilience, from biology and psychology, to describe a single integrated system of homeostatic control for subjective wellbeing (SWB). SWB is a composite variable containing both emotion and mood. The emotion serves to inform the brain about relevant changes in the internal (interoceptive) and external environments. The mood component is characterised as a composite of the three affects: happy, content, and alert. These combine to form homeostatically protected mood (HPMood), which is the phenotype of a genetically determined process. HPMood exists as a weak, background effect that is present in all thoughts about the self, including SWB. Its purpose is to maintain a positive outlook in consciousness, and its level is unchanging within a narrow range around a setpoint for each person. It is proposed that understanding subjective wellbeing homeostasis is central to understanding sustainable wellbeing for humankind.