Happiness in Motion: The 5S Model as a Recursive Process Theory of Well-Being

This paper develops the 5S model—Situation, Salience, Simulation, Selection, and Satisfaction—as a recursive process theory of well-being. Existing approaches illuminate distinct aspects of happiness: hedonic and eudaimonic theories distinguish pleasure from valued functioning, self-determination theory identifies motivational conditions, flow theory explains optimal experience, and PERMA specifies multidimensional flourishing. Less clearly explained is how these elements are generated and connected through situated motivation and action. The 5S model addresses this gap by showing how socially and culturally structured situations shape what becomes salient, which futures are imagined, how competing desires are regulated, and how outcomes are evaluated. Satisfaction is not the endpoint of action; it reshapes self-evaluation, perceived competence, future expectations, and subsequent opportunities. The paper distinguishes experiential, evaluative, and anticipatory well-being and argues that sustainable happiness depends on whether present satisfaction reproduces the capacity for future valued action. This recursive account explains why immediate pleasure may sometimes undermine well-being, whereas autonomously accepted difficulty may strengthen accomplishment, self-respect, hope, and resilience. The framework integrates established theories at complementary explanatory levels and reconceptualizes happiness as a renewed capacity to pursue valued possibilities under changing conditions.