E D U C A T I O N A L S C I E N C E S : T H E O R Y & P R A C T I C E
2098
more
than being free from stress, and not having
other psychological problems. It encompasses
positive self-perception, positive relations with
others, environmental mastery, autonomy, purpose
in life and emotions inclined towards a healthy
development (Ryff, 1995). In order to account for
well-being, two different perspectives are seen in the
literature. The first is the concept of hedonism, and
the other is psychological functionality (eudaimonic)
(Keyes, Shmotkin, & Ryff, 2002; Ryan & Deci, 2000).
The hedonist perspective defines well-being as
satisfaction and happiness. The main criterion for
the conceptualization of the hedonist perspective
is a person’s evaluating his/her life according to a
set of values and standards that he/she determine.
The perspective of psychological functionality
defines well-being based on self-realization and full
functionality (Waterman, 1993). Schmutte and Ryff
(1997) argue that though typical measurements
that stress positive affect, negative affect and life
satisfaction as three components of psychological
well-being are effective in measuring well-being, they
are conceptually not appropriate for psychological
health development. According to Ryff (1989a),
structures that underlie well-being basically has a
more complicated structure than that commonly
seen in the literature. Ryff (1989a) also states that
psychological well-being is a multidimensional
structure rather than a mere combination of positive
and negative affect and life satisfaction.
The positive psychological function has six different
dimensions. These dimensions include positive
assessment of an individual’s life and personal
history (self-acceptance), the feeling of continuous
growth and development as an individual
(personal growth), the individual’s belief that life
is meaningful and purposeful (purpose in life),
establishing quality relations with other individuals
(positive relations with others), the ability of the
individual to direct his/her life and the world
around him/her (environmental mastery), making
individual decisions (autonomy) (Ryff & Keyes,
1995) Positive Relations with Others: Ryff (1989a)
defined positive relations as “strong emotions of
empathy and love established with others in a clear
and reliable way”.
Autonomy: Christopher (1999) notes that Ryff
considers autonomy as equal to making one’s
own decisions, freedom, internal locus of control,
individualization and self-regulation of behaviour.
Environmental Mastery: Ryff (1989a) defines
environmental mastery as “the ability of the
individual to create or select an environment
that is compatible with his/her personal and
psychological conditions”. Personal Development:
Ryff (1989a) defines personal development as “the
ability of the individual to develop his/her available
potential to develop and grow as he/she is”. Personal
development is the ability to continue progress on
a personal basis. Purpose in Life: According to Ryff,
the purpose in life involves the feeling of direction
and purposefulness in life. It is thought that purpose
in life is closely connected with individualism and
freedom. Self-acceptance: Ryff (1989a) defines
self-acceptance, a significant property of positive
psychological functionality, as having a positive
attitude towards oneself. Self-acceptance means a
positive attitude towards oneself.
Personality is the characteristic and distinctive
properties of behaviours that shape a person’s
physical and social environment (Atkinson,
Atkinson, Smith, Bem, & Hoeksema, 1999). It is one
of the most comprehensive concepts in psychology.
Any characteristic property that belongs to and
describes a person helps us get acquainted with and
understand that particular person. In this respect,
personality is a term that includes an individual’s
interests, attitudes, and abilities, speaking style,
outer appearance and his/her style of adopting
into the environment (Burger, 1993). Accounting
for personality through five dimensions began
in the 1960s, and it accelerated in the 1980s and
1990s. Towards the end of the 1980s, personality
psychologists agreed upon the five strong factors
of the Five-Factor Model that was able to provide
a meaningful and practical taxonomy in order
to reorganize the complicated findings in the
literature on personality (Taggar, Hackett, & Saha,
1999). A large portion of the research studies agree
that most of the personality approaches that focus
on common properties of personality might be
included in the five factors. They called this five-
dimension approach as “Big Five” (Friedman &
Schustack, 1999). The Five-factor Personality Model
is a hierarchical organization of personal properties,
and it has five sub-dimensions. Five factors’ names
are extroversion, neuroticism, agreeableness,
conscientiousness and openness to experience
(McCrae & John, 1992). The five-factor personality
model emerged as a result of an extensive analysis
of various personality tests, scales and the adjectives
that are used to describe personality (Friedman &
Schustack, 1999). Extroverts are defined as positive,
social, energetic, joyful, and they are interested in
others, whereas introverts are reserved and aloof
people who like to be alone (Judge, Bono, Ilies,
& Gerhardt, 2002). Neurotic individuals tend