Volume 22, Issue 87 (2-2023)
refahj 2023, 22(87): 183-219 |
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Pourtaleb N, MousavianAlenjagh B, Ghanizadeh S, Dilmaghani S. (2023). Social Vitality from the Perspective of Psychologists. refahj. 22(87), : 6 doi:10.32598/refahj.22.87.4056.1
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Introduction:
Joy and cheerfulness is the missing thing of contemporary man and the common desire of all people. Man is a purposeful being who seeks joy, happiness, and prosperity, and he does not feel joy, happiness, and prosperity until he achieves what he wants. Some believe that the main importance of life is happiness, and the main motivation of people at all times is how to achieve, maintain and improve it. Happiness and vitality cause emotional, mental, physical, and hopeful health and also provide life. It makes it pleasant and facilitates the desire to engage in social activities (Ghattery, 2008). Happiness that is associated with satisfaction, and it can play an important role in promoting society and its growth; for this reason, since 2000, one of the indicators for determining the level of development of countries is the variable of vitality and happiness (Diner & Swligman, 2002; Sharifzadeh et al., 2017).
There are several perspectives on happiness in the field of psychology (Kazmark, 2017). Argyle defines social vitality with three components: positive emotion, life satisfaction, and the absence of negative emotions, including depression and anxiety (Hills & Argayel, 2001). According to the economic approach, material conditions and income growth are recognized as the main factor in explaining vitality, which has lasting and stable effects on happiness (Sterlin, 2003; Mousavi, 2012).
The importance of social vitality arises from the fact that one of the most important principles in the field of human resource management is vitality because a cheerful human being is an efficient, productive, innovative, and constructive human being. In modern theories of development, the progress of any society depends on the optimal use of human resources of that society (Hezarjaribi & Moradi, 2014).
On the other hand, studies comparing different countries in terms of happiness show that Iran is ranked 106th in the world between 2015 and 2017 (Helliwell et al., 2018) and 117th in the world from 2016 to 2019, which is a measure of happiness (Helliwell, 2019). It is decreasing and this situation is deplorable.
Numerous research studies have been conducted in this direction, including the research of Gandlach and Krener (2004), which compare social vitality in nine European countries. Their main question is why countries with similar economic levels, different levels of social vitality and life satisfaction. Their research findings show that social vitality at the individual and micro level is affected by communication areas and stable relationships. At the macro level, it shows that social conditions and environments that strengthen social relations and capital affect the level of social vitality in different countries, and therefore Putnam's theory regarding the importance of social capital in this regard can be accepted.
These results are the result of little research though. While the main purpose of qualitative research, including phenomenology, is to examine people's inner experience of phenomena and their understanding of their mental experiences of these events. The aim of this study was to investigate the lived experiences of psychologists on the phenomenon of social vitality and to examine strategies to increase it in the community from a psychological perspective so that the results can pave the way for the development of strategies to increase social vitality by different people at the individual and social level.
Methods:
In this research, a qualitative research method of phenomenological type was used. The data collection tool was a semi-organized qualitative interview. The statistical population of this study includes psychologists in Tabriz. For sampling, purposive sampling method was used. Due to the fact that in the phenomenological method, the number of samples varies between 5 and 25 people (Bek et al., 2011). In this study, after interviewing 16 psychologists, the data became saturated, so the sample size was 16. Data were collected using in-depth semi-organized interviews. During the interview, general questions such as the definition of social vitality, what causes vitality? And what can be done to increase social vitality? was asked and sub-questions were created from the answers of the interviewees. The main criterion for entering the research was having at least five years of experience in psychological services and teaching at the academic level. To interview these individuals, interviews were conducted at their workplace after initial coordination.
Smith's phenomenological method was used to analyze the data, which includes: 1. Data generation is 2. Analysis of data and 3. Synthesis of items (Ahadiarson, 2012). In this way, the interviews were converted into text after recording on an audio file, and the researcher read and re-read the text of each interview frequently, and then the sub-topics were identified and named. In the beginning, 10 main themes and 118 sub-themes were obtained.
Findings:
After analyzing the data, eight main themes and 46 sub-themes were extracted, which can reflect the lived experiences of women of social vitality. Each of these themes is described in detail below.
Table 1: Main and secondary themes extracted from the data
Discussion:
Based on what has been proposed, the strategies extracted from the findings as practical solutions can be effective in promoting social vitality at the organizational and family level and even in macro-national policies.
Ethical Consideration:
Authors’ contributions
All authors have made substantial contributions to this study.
Conflicts of interest
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank all those who contributed to this study.
Joy and cheerfulness is the missing thing of contemporary man and the common desire of all people. Man is a purposeful being who seeks joy, happiness, and prosperity, and he does not feel joy, happiness, and prosperity until he achieves what he wants. Some believe that the main importance of life is happiness, and the main motivation of people at all times is how to achieve, maintain and improve it. Happiness and vitality cause emotional, mental, physical, and hopeful health and also provide life. It makes it pleasant and facilitates the desire to engage in social activities (Ghattery, 2008). Happiness that is associated with satisfaction, and it can play an important role in promoting society and its growth; for this reason, since 2000, one of the indicators for determining the level of development of countries is the variable of vitality and happiness (Diner & Swligman, 2002; Sharifzadeh et al., 2017).
There are several perspectives on happiness in the field of psychology (Kazmark, 2017). Argyle defines social vitality with three components: positive emotion, life satisfaction, and the absence of negative emotions, including depression and anxiety (Hills & Argayel, 2001). According to the economic approach, material conditions and income growth are recognized as the main factor in explaining vitality, which has lasting and stable effects on happiness (Sterlin, 2003; Mousavi, 2012).
The importance of social vitality arises from the fact that one of the most important principles in the field of human resource management is vitality because a cheerful human being is an efficient, productive, innovative, and constructive human being. In modern theories of development, the progress of any society depends on the optimal use of human resources of that society (Hezarjaribi & Moradi, 2014).
On the other hand, studies comparing different countries in terms of happiness show that Iran is ranked 106th in the world between 2015 and 2017 (Helliwell et al., 2018) and 117th in the world from 2016 to 2019, which is a measure of happiness (Helliwell, 2019). It is decreasing and this situation is deplorable.
Numerous research studies have been conducted in this direction, including the research of Gandlach and Krener (2004), which compare social vitality in nine European countries. Their main question is why countries with similar economic levels, different levels of social vitality and life satisfaction. Their research findings show that social vitality at the individual and micro level is affected by communication areas and stable relationships. At the macro level, it shows that social conditions and environments that strengthen social relations and capital affect the level of social vitality in different countries, and therefore Putnam's theory regarding the importance of social capital in this regard can be accepted.
These results are the result of little research though. While the main purpose of qualitative research, including phenomenology, is to examine people's inner experience of phenomena and their understanding of their mental experiences of these events. The aim of this study was to investigate the lived experiences of psychologists on the phenomenon of social vitality and to examine strategies to increase it in the community from a psychological perspective so that the results can pave the way for the development of strategies to increase social vitality by different people at the individual and social level.
Methods:
In this research, a qualitative research method of phenomenological type was used. The data collection tool was a semi-organized qualitative interview. The statistical population of this study includes psychologists in Tabriz. For sampling, purposive sampling method was used. Due to the fact that in the phenomenological method, the number of samples varies between 5 and 25 people (Bek et al., 2011). In this study, after interviewing 16 psychologists, the data became saturated, so the sample size was 16. Data were collected using in-depth semi-organized interviews. During the interview, general questions such as the definition of social vitality, what causes vitality? And what can be done to increase social vitality? was asked and sub-questions were created from the answers of the interviewees. The main criterion for entering the research was having at least five years of experience in psychological services and teaching at the academic level. To interview these individuals, interviews were conducted at their workplace after initial coordination.
Smith's phenomenological method was used to analyze the data, which includes: 1. Data generation is 2. Analysis of data and 3. Synthesis of items (Ahadiarson, 2012). In this way, the interviews were converted into text after recording on an audio file, and the researcher read and re-read the text of each interview frequently, and then the sub-topics were identified and named. In the beginning, 10 main themes and 118 sub-themes were obtained.
Findings:
After analyzing the data, eight main themes and 46 sub-themes were extracted, which can reflect the lived experiences of women of social vitality. Each of these themes is described in detail below.
Table 1: Main and secondary themes extracted from the data
| Sub-themes | Main themes |
| Definition of social vitality Having positive beliefs and cognitions |
Definition of social vitality |
| Having a commitment and a tendency to act in the community |
| Increase work motivation Increase labor productivity and increase production |
Consequences of social vitality |
| Promote life expectancy Increase mental health and life satisfaction |
|
| Individual factors Family factors social factors cultural factors Economic factors Political factors Media Organizations Urban facilities and amenities |
Underlying causes of social vitality |
| Inefficiency of education system | Barriers to social vitality |
| Culture and beliefs that govern society | |
| Lack of happiness and vitality in the priority of the programs of the organizations in charge of culture and emphasis on the quantity of the implemented programs | |
| Lack of rituals of happiness | |
| Poverty and poor economic conditions | |
| Lack of equal distribution of amenities and municipal services | |
| There is no balance between the number of graduates and the job opportunities of the society | |
| Unconditional admission of children Having authority, not external control |
Solutions for parents |
| Reducing the value of the entrance exam | |
| Designing family games | |
| Recognize joy and fun | Proposed solutions at the macro level |
| Careful selection of officials and meritocracy | |
| Reducing the distance between social classes | |
| Organizing the economic situation Having a scientific view on the issue of social vitality |
|
| Recognize joy and fun | Suggested solutions for education |
| Definition of special joy rituals | |
| Life skills training | |
| Use expert and committed consultants | |
| Encourage talented people in the humanities | |
| Integration and balanced distribution of welfare services | Solutions for cultural organizations |
| Use of trained instructors in educational fields | |
| Strengthen spontaneous social groups | |
| Education to families | |
| Designing special parks for children and families with free services | |
| Holding occasional festivals | |
| "Talk to me" campaign | |
| Design programs at three levels of development, prevention and treatment |
Discussion:
Based on what has been proposed, the strategies extracted from the findings as practical solutions can be effective in promoting social vitality at the organizational and family level and even in macro-national policies.
Ethical Consideration:
Authors’ contributions
All authors have made substantial contributions to this study.
Conflicts of interest
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank all those who contributed to this study.
Type of Study: orginal |
Received: 2021/12/14 | Accepted: 2022/11/12 | Published: 2023/02/8
Received: 2021/12/14 | Accepted: 2022/11/12 | Published: 2023/02/8
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