This anthology focuses on empirical studies comparing cultures in
relation to central positive psychological topics. The book starts out
with an introductory chapter that brings together the main ideas and
findings within an integrative perspective, based on a broad theoretical
framework encompassing interdisciplinary and methodological issues. It
gives special emphasis to some open issues in the theory and assessment
of culture-related dimensions, and to the potential of positive
psychology in addressing them. The introductory chapter is followed by
two chapters that examine theoretical approaches and instruments
developed to assess happiness and well-being across cultures. Following
that examination, five chapters are devoted to the relationship between
well-being, cultures and values. The second half of the book prominently
investigates well-being across cultures in the light of socio-economic
factors. This book shows that positive psychology, now officially well
into its second decade, is providing still finer-grained perspectives on
the diversity of cultures along with insights about our shared human
nature, uniting us for better or worse.