As commonly defined, happiness is primarily an affective aspect of well-being which may differ from the rating of life satisfaction. It deals with feelings or emotions considered to be happy. At the same time it has a cognitive aspect in the sense of how people think on the matters of happiness and satisfactory life. This is closely linked with a few other psychological aspects such as autonomy, sense of personal growth and evaluation of social relationships. In a recent article, Linley et al. (2009) made a distinction between psychological well-being and subjective well-being. The former is conceptualized as “Having six components, including positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, self-acceptance, purpose in life and personal growth” .The latter is an affective dimension and results from“The balance between positive and negative effect, together with a cognitive component of judgments about one’s life satisfaction.”

Elaborating on the basis of Rodriguez, Rojas (2005) has identified eight conceptual referents for happiness:

1. Permanent state of contentment with life – austerity, renunciation, acceptance and resignation.
2. Spiritual state, feeling of acting properly, according to one’s conscience.
3. Joyfulness and absence of pain.
4. Great pleasure/gratification.
5. Feeling of elation, coming from intuitive judgment about oneself and the surroundings.
6. Ideal/desired state, that guides one’s action.
7. Tranquility
8. Realization and fulfillment of human nature – ultimate goal of human being.