Some Paradoxes of Wellbeing - A Talk by Karl Sheibe Ph.D.

Wellbeing has recently moved to center state of psychologists’ field of attention. This is in part a reaction to the traditional focus of psychology on problems of human suffering. But research on this topic has turned up some fascinating contradictions. Pleasure and pain do not accumulate in the same way, revealing a curious asymmetry in our emotional lives. Paradoxes of wellbeing are conspicuous, not the least of which is the observation that older people manifest an unexpected level of satisfaction with their lives.

Our speaker, Karl Scheibe, is a social and clinical psychologist whose teaching and writing has centered about the psychology of self and identity and the advantages of a dramaturgical approach to psychology. His research and clinical interests also include problems of substance abuse and other excessive appetites. Dr. Schiebe began teaching in Wesleyan University’s Department of Psychology in 1963. After retiring from the department in 2005, he became director of the university’s Wasch Center for Retired Faculty; then director of the Wesleyan Institute for Lifelong Learning. Fluent in Portuguese and a reader of Spanish, German and French, his teaching, publishing and consulting career with international, regional and local organizations spans 50 years.