A P L O T I T A: Survey Design, Results and Analysis

READING LIST

Affluenza - John de Graaf
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - Barbara Kingsolver
Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment - Martin Seligman
Average happiness in 95 nations 1995-2005 - Ruut Veenhoven
Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the Culture of Excess - Juliet Schor
Buying for the Future - Kevin Lyons
Buying Time and Getting By: The Voluntary Simplicity Movement - Mary Grigsby
Choosing the Joys of a Simplified Life - Carey Goldberg - The New York Times 21 September 1995
Consuming Kids: the hostile takeover of childhood - Susan Linn
Cradle to Cradle - William McDonough and Michael Braungart
Eco-Economy - Lester Brown
Envisioning a Sustainable Society: Learning Our Way Out - Lester Milbrath
Good News for a Change - David Suzuki
Growth Fetish - Clive Hamilton
Happiness in Nations: Subjective Appreciation of Life in 56 Nations - Ruut Veenhoven
How Much is Enough - Alan Durning
How Much is Enough? The Consumer Society and the Future of the Earth - Alan Durning
Human Ecology, Human Economy: Ideas Towards an Ecologically Sustainable Future - Steve Dodds
In Defense of Food - Michael Pollan
In Praise of Slow - Carl Honore
Ishmael - Daniel Quinn
Life Goals and Well-Being: Toward a Positive Psychology of Human Striving - Tim Kasser and R.M. Ryan
Living Lightly: Travels in Post-Consumer Society - Walter and Dorothy Schwartz
Living More With Less - Doris Janzen Longacre
Living Simply with Children - Marie Sherlock
Measuring Progress: Is life Getting Better - Eckersley
Measuring Progress: Is life Getting Better? - Michael Pusey
Natural Capitalism - Hawken and Lovins
No Logo - Naomi Klein
Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth - M. Wackernagel and W. Rees
Positive Psychology in Practice - P. Linley and Stephen/Alex Joseph
Pursuing Happiness: American Consumers in the Twentieth Century - Stanley Lebergott
Simplify Your Life: 100 Ways to Regain Peace and Nourish Your Soul - Elaine St. James
Simplify Your Life: 100 Ways to Slow Down and Enjoy the Things That Really Matter - Elaine St. James
Subjective Well-Being: An Interdisciplinary Prespective - N. Schwarz and F. Strack
Sustainable Planet - Betsy Taylor and Juliet Schor (eds)
The Consumers Guide to Effective Environmental Choices - M. Brower and W. Leon
The Ecological Footprint Questionnaire - R. Dholakia and M. Wackernagel
The Good Life - Michael Argyle
The Omnivore's Dilemma - Michael Pollan
The Overspent American - Juliet Schor
The Overworked American - Juliet Schor
Understanding Well-Being: Scientific Perspectives on Enjoyment and Suffering - Ed Diener and Richard Lucas
Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life that is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich - Duane Elgin
Voluntary Simplicity: Responding to Consumer Culture - Daniel Doherty and Amitai Etzioni
Wake Up and Smell the Planet - Grist
What Kids Really Want that Money Can't Buy - Betsy Taylor
Yearning for Balance: Views of Americans on Consumption, Materialism, and the Environment - The Harwood Group
Your Money or Your Life - Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin

Coming soon!

WHAT IS "APLOTITA"?

"Aplotita" is the Greek word for "simplicity."

Here, it is used to symbolize a lifestyle and growing social movement known as Voluntary Simplicity (VS) and based upon a system of intrinsic values focused on lightening and unburdening one’s life from things and experiences that interfere with a higher quality of life and, instead, concentrating on the things one genuinely needs and cherishes. This is primarily done by deliberately and mindfully reducing one's consumption of goods and services, living with fewer possessions, cultivating nonmaterialistic sources of satisfaction and meaning and developing deeper connections with one’s social and ecological community. VS practitioners work on developing lifestyles aimed at minimizing the traditional pursuit of wealth, conspicuous consumption and the acquisition of possessions and the attainment of image/status. They maintain that a VS lifestyle is more fulfilling for the individual, helps create a stronger community and decreases environmental damage.

This website represents the research and results of my doctoral dissertation.

Broadly speaking, it explores the intersection of voluntary simplicity with that of positive psychology and ecological sustainability.

Specifically, this project examines the psychological effects of individuals who choose to follow a lifestyle based on the principles of VS.

Although the environmental benefits of reducing one’s consumption are well documented, the mental health benefits of a simpler and more sustainable lifestyle - in terms of happiness (or “subjective well-being,” SWB) - are poorly understood in the sciences.

As a result, the aim of this research is to discern the relationship between VS practice/behavior and happiness (SWB) at the individual level of analysis.

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Survey Design, Results and Analysis

ABOUT ME

WHAT IS "APLOTITA"?

LINKS

SIMPLICITY BLOGS

HAPPINESS BLOGS

ECO BLOGS