The role of social axioms in predicting life satisfaction: a longitudinal study 
in Hong Kong

Lai, Johanna Hiu-Wai; Bond, Michael Harris; Hui, Natalie

doi:10.1007/s10902-006-9029-y

Cited by 80 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 34 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The negative effect of social cynicism on life satisfaction is consistent with results in previous studies (e.g. Lai et al, 2007). The negativity and mistrust of socially cynical individuals hinders their interactions with others and yet may act as a negative interpersonal influence, preventing individuals from creating or maintaining positive relationships with others.…”

Section: Pathways Of Social Cynicismsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…and Hong Kong Chinese (e.g. Lai et al, 2007), but did not reveal the underlying mechanisms. Again, the present research extended this effect to children and adolescents and further identified the mediating variables to explain the predictive framework.…”

Section: Pathways Of Reward For Applicationmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…The pathways from world views to well-being though the mediation of positive self-views have also received initial support (Lai et al, 2007).…”

Section: Predicting Well-being Through Negative Self-viewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Do people’s world views matter? The why and how.

Chen¹,

Lam²,

Wu³

et al. 2016

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Publisher's copyright statement:c 2016 APA, all rights reserved. This article may not exactly replicate the nal version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record.Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. Over the past decades, personality and social psychologists have extensively investigated the role of self-views in individual functioning. Research on world views, however, has been less generative due to overly specific conceptualizations, and little research about how and why they impact life outcomes. To answer the questions of why and how world views matter, we conducted seven studies to examine the functions, antecedents, and consequences of generalized beliefs about the world, operationalized as social axioms (Leung et al., 2002). This research focused on two axiom factors, viz., social cynicism and reward for application. These axioms were found to explain individual differences in self-views over and above personality traits in Hong Kong and US samples (Study 1) and to explain cultural differences in self-views in addition to self-construals among Mainland Chinese, Hong Kong Chinese, East Asian Canadians, and European Canadians (Study 2). Endorsement of social axioms by participants, their parents, and close friends was collected from Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Canada to infer parental and peer influences on world views (Study 3). World views affected psychological well-being through the mediation of positive self-views across three age groups, including children, adolescents, and young adults (Study 4) and over time (Study 5). The mediation of negative self-views was through comparative self-criticism rather than internalized self-criticism (Study 6). Holistic thinking moderated the effect of social cynicism on self-views and psychological well-being (Study 7). These results converge to show that both world views as a distal force and self-views as a proximal force matter in people's subjective evaluation of their lives. The Why and How.As a cognitive framework that helps people organize information about the self and guide their social behavior, the utility of positive and negative self-views has received growing attention in the past three decades (e.g., Kuiper & Rogers, 1979;Markus, 1977). Theory and research have demonstrated that self-views function like schemas and beliefs to affect psychological outcomes, fueling the popularity of self-help books and programs designed to boost self-esteem (Swann & Seyle, 2005).Recent critiques, however, have challenged the ...

show abstract

Section: Pathways Of Social Cynicismsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Pathways Of Reward For Applicationmentioning

confidence: 82%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Do people’s world views matter? The why and how.

Chen¹,

Lam²,

Wu³

et al. 2016

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Furthermore, self-esteem shapes one’s attitudes towards and quality of life. In addition, research suggests that self-esteem mediates the effect of personality traits on one’s life satisfaction (Lai, Bond, & Hui, 2007). In this article, we propose that grit predicts one’s life satisfaction and that self-esteem mediates this relationship.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of Grit on Life Satisfaction: Self-Esteem as a Mediator

Li¹,

Fang²,

Wang³

et al. 2018

Psychologica Belgica

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Improving people’s life satisfaction has become an important goal for many individuals and societies. In this study we investigate how grit influences life satisfaction. We propose that individuals’ self-esteem mediates the relationship between grit and life satisfaction. Study 1, with a sample of 243 employees enrolled in a business training course, found that an individual’s grit was positively related to life satisfaction and that self-esteem fully mediated this relationship. In Study 2, with 218 full-time employees, self-efficacy, self-control, and self-consciousness were included as mediators, but they did not exceed the power of self-esteem in explaining the relationship between grit and life satisfaction. Implications, limitations and future research directions are discussed.

show abstract

“…The present study intends to undertake a qualitative comparison of peak-experiences between Hong Kong and Brazil, where research on subjective well-being has received increasing attention, but mostly focused on peoples' cognitive and affective evaluation of life and factors contributing to happiness concurrently and prospectively (e.g., Ho et al 2008;Kwan et al 1997;Lai et al 2007). In this study, therefore, we adopt a retrospective design, asking Chinese and Brazilians to recollect an early peak-experience, and then coding their narratives to identify commonalities and variations between the two cultures.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Unpacking Cultural Variations in Peak-Experiences: Cross-Cultural Comparisons of Early Childhood Recollection Between Hong Kong and Brazil

Chen

Hoffman

2011

J Happiness Stud

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this cross-cultural study, 115 Hong Kong Chinese and 117 Brazilian college students described a childhood peak-experience (occurring before the age of 14) and provided a self-rating on its enduring impact. Among various categories of peak-experiences, both Hong Kong Chinese and Brazilians reported interpersonal joy most frequently; the second most frequently reported category was external achievement for the Hong Kong sample and developmental landmark for the Brazilian sample. Compared with Brazilians' narratives, those of Hong Kong Chinese were more social-focused, involving greater number of other people, but less specific. These characteristics of autobiographical memory, i.e., memory focus (self vs. social), memory specificity (specific vs. general), and the number of other people involved, significantly mediated the relation between culture and interpersonal joy. The present findings have extended research on peak-experiences to cross-cultural contexts and incorporated measures of autobiographical memory to unpack cultural variations in these two collectivist societies.

show abstract

The role of social axioms in predicting life satisfaction: a longitudinal study in Hong Kong

Abstract: Hong Kong Chinese, life satisfaction, social axioms, self- esteem.,

Cited by 80 publications

References 34 publications

Do people’s world views matter? The why and how.

Do people’s world views matter? The why and how.

The Influence of Grit on Life Satisfaction: Self-Esteem as a Mediator

Unpacking Cultural Variations in Peak-Experiences: Cross-Cultural Comparisons of Early Childhood Recollection Between Hong Kong and Brazil

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About