Some Key Differences between a Happy Life and a Meaningful Life

Baumeister, Roy F.; Vohs, Kathleen D.; Aaker, Jennifer; Garbinsky, Emily N.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2168436

Cited by 101 publications

(148 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Although some of these effects were small, they occur in domains with consequential life outcomes. These results also contribute to recent research on the presence of and search for meaning in people's lives as they move through the adult life span (16)(17)(18)(19) and enhance our understanding of the psychological changes that occur in the face of endings and fresh starts.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 53%

People search for meaning when they approach a new decade in chronological age

Alter

Hershfield

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Although humans measure time using a continuous scale, certain numerical ages inspire greater self-reflection than others. Six studies show that adults undertake a search for existential meaning when they approach a new decade in age (e.g., at ages 29, 39, 49, etc.) or imagine entering a new epoch, which leads them to behave in ways that suggest an ongoing or failed search for meaning (e.g., by exercising more vigorously, seeking extramarital affairs, or choosing to end their lives).aging | meaning in life | time | decade | life-span development A lthough humans age continuously, many societies divide the human life span into 10-year periods, or decades. In the English-speaking world, for example, people describe these periods as "the twenties," "the thirties," "the forties," and so on, which implies that human aging progresses through discrete 10-year epochs. Because the imminent approach of a new decade signals the end of one era and the beginning of another, we examine how adults respond when they enter the final year of a chronological decade (i.e., when they reach the age of 29, 39, or 49 years, and so on, hereafter, "9-ending ages" and the people at those ages, "9-enders").We expect decades to play an outsized role in human psychology, just as discrete boundaries do in other domains. For example, round numbers occur more often than other numbers in literature (1) and function as behavioral goals (e.g., SAT takers are more likely to retake the SAT if they score just under rather than just over a round number) (2). We confirmed this intuition by asking 100 adults on Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform to indicate, in descending order, which 10 birthdays they considered to be the most significant throughout the human lifespan. Apart from 18 and 21, which are momentous because they signal the beginning of adulthood and the arrival of certain state-sanctioned rights and responsibilities, the most common responses were 30, 40, 60, 50, and 100. Moreover, the most common end-digit for all listed ages was 0 (46.4% of all responses), followed distantly by ages ending in 1 (14.8%), 5 (12.7%), 8 (9.6%), 6 (7.1%), 3 (5.2%), 2 (1.5%), 9 (1.1%), 7 (0.7%), and 4 (0.7%). In contrast to ages 18 and 21, 0-ending ages are momentous because they feel subjectively different from the ages that come before them, rather than because they impose objective changes on people's lives. Because the approach of a new decade represents a salient boundary between life stages and functions as a marker of progress through the life span, and because life transitions tend to prompt changes in evaluations of the self, people are more apt to evaluate their lives as a chronological decade ends than they are at other times (3-5). Consequently, although people may not routinely ponder whether their lives are meaningful, we believe they will be more likely to consider this question when they reach 9-ending ages.Once they do audit the meaningfulness of their lives, people tend to reach one of two conclusions: Either they conclude happily that their l...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 53%

People search for meaning when they approach a new decade in chronological age

Alter

Hershfield

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Despite this difficulty, it is obvious from the present study that there is room for improvement. Future studies might investigate whether the same functional demand could, for example, be captured in activities patients consider more meaningful, such as social [24] or leisure activities [25]. In this way, the importance of social and leisure activities seen in this and other RA studies would be better acknowledged.…”

Section: Conflicts Between Scientific Value and Patient Valuementioning

confidence: 94%

Persons with Rheumatoid Arthritis Challenge the Relevance of the Health Assessment Questionnaire: A Qualitative Study of Patient Perception

Ebbevi

Essén

Forsberg

2017

Preprint

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Background. The Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ) is widely used to measure functional ability in persons with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). The instrument was developed with limited involvement from persons with RA, and their perception of the instrument has not been studied in depth. The aim of this study was to explore how persons with RA experience the use of the HAQ in care.Methods. Forty persons with RA were purposefully recruited to participate in semi-structured interviews. The interviews were then analyzed qualitatively using thematic analysis.Results. The participants questioned the relevance of the HAQ but nevertheless experienced that the instrument had a profound effect on their understanding of health and how care is delivered. The analysis resulted in three themes: Problems with individual items, meaning of the summative score, and effects on care and health perceptions. Conclusions.To make the HAQ relevant to persons with RA, it needs to be revised or to include an option to select items most meaningful to the respondent. To ensure relevance, the HAQ update should preferably be cocreated by researchers, clinicians and persons with RA.

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“…Life fulfillment, as the conceptualization of well-being within a eudaimonic point of view, includes various components drawn from diverse theories and models (Huta & Ryan, 2010;Huta & Waterman, 2014). For instance, the concepts of psychological well-being (Ryff, 1989) which comprehends autonomy, positive relations, environmental mastery, self-acceptance, purpose in life and personal growth; eudaimonic wellbeing (Waterman, 2008), that focuses on selfexpressiveness, development of inner potentials, and self-actualization; and, the SelfDetermination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000) that is based on the psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness; as well as other models centered on the perception of meaning in life (Baumeister, Vohs, Aaker, & Garbinsky, 2013;King & Hicks, 2009;Steger, Frazier, Oishi, & Kaler, 2006;Wong, 2011). In other words, a fulfilling life goes beyond the hedonic conception of subjective well-being and emphasizes the importance of both individual and social meaning, of the relationship with others and the achievement of personal goals (Seligman, 2011;Keyes, 2002Keyes, , 2007Ryff, 1989Ryff, , 2014.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relationships between character strengths and life fulfillment in the view of lay-people in Argentina

Solano¹,

Cosentino²

2017

Interd

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resUMenSe examinó la importancia de las fortalezas del carácter para el desarrollo positivo desde el punto de vista de las personas legas. Una muestra de 687 adultos evaluó la importancia de las 24 fortalezas del carácter de la clasificación Values in Action para cinco áreas: bienestar personal, metas personales, relaciones personales y laborales y contribuir a un país mejor. Se diseñó un instrumento basado en la metodología de la encuesta que estaba compuesto por 24 ítems. Cada uno evaluaba una fortaleza en cada una de las cinco áreas comentadas. La confiabilidad global del mismo fue igual a .98. Los datos se analizaron mediante la inspección de las frecuencias (por ej.: grado de respaldo a cada una de las fortalezas en relación con el desarrollo positivo), considerando aquellas fortalezas que se encontraban por encima del percentil 90. En general, los resultados han mostrado que la fortaleza del carácter honestidad es un importante recurso personal para las cinco áreas consideradas en este estudio. Específicamente, amor, honestidad y vitalidad son las fortalezas del carácter más importantes para el bienestar personal; perseverancia y autorregulación, para lograr metas vitales, honestidad y gratitud para el desarrollo de relaciones positivas; compañerismo e imparcialidad para las relaciones laborales positivas, e imparcialidad y honestidad para contribuir a un país mejor. Se analizaron las diferencias por gé-nero y edad y se encontró que las mujeres consideraban a las fortalezas mucho más importantes que los varones para la mayoría de las áreas vitales consideradas. Este estudio señala que las concepciones implícitas de las personas legas deberían ser tomadas en cuenta a la hora de diseñar estrategias de intervención positivas basadas en las fortalezas del carácter.Palabras clave: Psicología Positiva; Valores; Personas legas; Fortaleza del carácter; Desarrollo positivo. aBsTracTThe idea underlying this work is that character strengths are an essential component for achieving life fulfillment. In order to determine the extent to which strengths of character are essential to living a good life, this study was conducted from laypeople's point of view. This work took as theoret ical framework Seligman's recent theory, known under the acronym of PERMA, which proposes that human strengths are vehicles for achiev ing positive emotions, engagement (flow), enriching relationships, meaning in life, and accom plishment of personal goals. This study considered life fulfillment beyond the hedonic conception of subjective well-being emphasizing the importance of both individual and social meaning; the relationship with others; and the achieve-

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Some Key Differences between a Happy Life and a Meaningful Life

Cited by 101 publications

References 21 publications

People search for meaning when they approach a new decade in chronological age

People search for meaning when they approach a new decade in chronological age

Persons with Rheumatoid Arthritis Challenge the Relevance of the Health Assessment Questionnaire: A Qualitative Study of Patient Perception

The relationships between character strengths and life fulfillment in the view of lay-people in Argentina

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