People who are more avoidant of pathogens are more politically conservative, as are nations with greater parasite stress. In the current research, we test two prominent hypotheses that have been proposed as explanations for these relationships. The first, which is an intragroup account, holds that these relationships between pathogens and politics are based on motivations to adhere to local norms, which are sometimes shaped by...

One common belief about happiness, espoused to varying degrees by both researchers and laypeople alike, is that happiness involves a lack of negative hedonic experiences. In the current investigation, we examine whether individual differences in endorsement of this belief, termed negative hedonic belief, moderate the effects of stress on happiness and several indicators of well-being. It was predicted that because stress involves the experience of...

Which friend do you want to spend time with—a happy friend who performs better than you or an unhappy friend who performs worse than you? The present research demonstrates that in such conflicting situations, when the desires for companionship and comparison are pitted against each other, one’s level of happiness plays an important role in one’s choice. Using hypothetical scenarios, we found that compared with...

A previous study on the relationship between subjective well-being (SWB) and hedonic editing—the process of mentally integrating or segregating different events during decision-making—showed that happy individuals preferred the social-buffering strategy more than less happy individuals. The present study examined the relationship between SWB, social-buffering and hedonic outcomes in daily life. In Study 1, we used web-based diaries to measure the frequency with which individuals utilised...

Previous research has demonstrated a strong link between prosocial behavior – particularly autonomous prosocial behavior – and well-being. Little is known, however, about whether and how autonomy might be boosted in the context of everyday kindnesses. We tested the effect of supporting students’ autonomy on well-being gains from practicing acts of kindness in a six-week randomized experimental study in the United States and South Korea....

본 연구는 대학생들의 행복과 학업성취에서 선후 관계를 살펴보기 위하여 실시되었다. 서울 지역 대학생 112명을 대상으로 삶의 만족도, 긍정정서 및 부정정서, 그리고 지난 학기의 학 점을 측정하였고, 1년이 지난 후 동일한 내용의 자료를 수집하였다. 그 결과, 삶의 만족도와 긍정정서는 1년 후의 객관적인 학업성취, 즉 학점에 긍정적 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났으 나, 부정정서는 유의한 결과가 나타나지 않았다. 반면 학점이 1년 후의 행복, 즉 삶의 만족 도, 긍정정서...

많은 연구들은 외적인 조건보다 내적인 조건에 대한 중요성을 강조하고 있다. 그러나 기존연구들에서는 자기자신 뿐만 아니라 연애관계에 있는 연인에 대한 내-외적 가치인식의 수준과 삶의 질의 관계 및 심리적 기제에 대해 확인하지 않았다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 자기자신과 연인에 대한 내적 가치와 외적가치의 인식수준이 행복과 연애만족도에 어떠한 영향을 미치는지 알아보고, 이 두 관계에 감사가 매개하는지 확인하고자 하였다. 연구에 참여한 사람들은 연애관계에 있는 19세에서 37세 사이의 총 136명(남자 68명,...

Limited work has examined how self-affirmation might lead to positive outcomes beyond the maintenance of a favorable self-image. To address this gap in the literature, we conducted two studies in two cultures to establish the benefits of self-affirmation for psychological well-being. In Study 1, South Korean participants who affirmed their values for 2 weeks showed increased eudaimonic well-being (need satisfaction, meaning, and flow) relative to...

The current research provides a deive and comparative assessment of lay conceptions of well-being in undergraduate student samples from South Korea and the United States. The objectives of the current research were (1) to examine potential cross-cultural variability in the degree to which the experience of pleasure, avoidance of negative experience, self-development, and contribution are emphasized in the lay conceptions of well-being espoused by undergraduate...

The present research investigated temporal dynamics between pleasure and meaning such that pleasure is favored in the near future, whereas meaning is favored in the distant future. As an underlying mechanism for this temporal effect, Study 1 demonstrated that pleasure was subordinate to meaning, suggesting that meaning constitutes a higher-level construal than pleasure. Consistent with construal level theory, Studies 2 and 3 found time-dependent changes...