IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i11p4053-d368076.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

When Do Good Deeds Lead to Good Feelings? Eudaimonic Orientation Moderates the Happiness Benefits of Prosocial Behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Weipeng Lai

    (Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China)

  • Zhixu Yang

    (Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China)

  • Yanhui Mao

    (Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
    School of Economics and Management, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China)

  • Qionghan Zhang

    (Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China)

  • Hezhi Chen

    (Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China)

  • Jianhong Ma

    (Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China)

Abstract

Engaging in prosocial behavior is considered an effective way to increase happiness in a sustainable manner. However, there is insufficient knowledge about the conditions under which such a happiness effect occurs. From a person-activity congruence perspective, we proposed that an individual’s eudaimonic orientation moderates the effect of prosocial behavior on happiness, whereas hedonic orientation does not. For this purpose, 128 participants were assigned to play a game in which half of them were explained the benevolence impact of playing the game (the benevolence condition), and the other half played the same game without this knowledge (the control condition). Participants’ eudaimonic and hedonic orientations were assessed before the game, and their post-task happiness were measured after the game. The results showed that participants in the benevolence condition reported higher post-task positive affect than those in the control condition. Furthermore, this happiness effect was moderated by participants’ eudaimonic orientation—participants with high eudaimonic orientation reaped greater benefits from benevolence, and their hedonic orientation did not moderate the relationship between benevolence and happiness. The importance of the effect of person-activity congruence on happiness is discussed, along with the implications of these findings for sustainably pursuing happiness.

Suggested Citation

  • Weipeng Lai & Zhixu Yang & Yanhui Mao & Qionghan Zhang & Hezhi Chen & Jianhong Ma, 2020. "When Do Good Deeds Lead to Good Feelings? Eudaimonic Orientation Moderates the Happiness Benefits of Prosocial Behavior," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-12, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:11:p:4053-:d:368076
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/11/4053/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/11/4053/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sonja Lyubomirsky & Heidi Lepper, 1999. "A Measure of Subjective Happiness: Preliminary Reliability and Construct Validation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 137-155, February.
    2. Armin Falk & Thomas Graeber, 2020. "Delayed negative effects of prosocial spending on happiness," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 117(12), pages 6463-6468, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Peng Cui & Yanhui Mao & Yufan Shen & Jianhong Ma, 2021. "Moral Identity and Subjective Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Identity Commitment Quality," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-14, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Torshizian, Eilya & Mehrara, Mohsen, 2011. "The effects of Economy, Values and Health on Happiness In Iran: the case of the Kish Island," MPRA Paper 30085, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 05 Apr 2011.
    2. Rogie Royce Carandang & Akira Shibanuma & Edward Asis & Dominga Carolina Chavez & Maria Teresa Tuliao & Masamine Jimba, 2020. "“Are Filipinos Aging Well?”: Determinants of Subjective Well-Being among Senior Citizens of the Community-Based ENGAGE Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-13, October.
    3. Joey Man Yee KWOK & Douglas Kei Shing NG, 2016. "A Study of the Perceived Stress Level of University Students in Hong Kong," International Journal of Psychological Studies, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 8(4), pages 1-91, December.
    4. Lange, Florian & Dewitte, Siegfried, 2020. "Positive affect and pro-environmental behavior: A preregistered experiment," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    5. Mostafa E. Shahen & Shibly Shahrier & Koji Kotani, 2019. "Happiness, Generativity and Social Preferences in a Developing Country: A Possibility of Future Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-17, September.
    6. Paola Manfredi, 2022. "Is This All COVID-19′s Fault? A Study on Trainees in One of the Most Affected Italian Cities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-18, October.
    7. Zorana Ivcevic & Catherine Eggers, 2021. "Emotion Regulation Ability: Test Performance and Observer Reports in Predicting Relationship, Achievement and Well-Being Outcomes in Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-15, March.
    8. Supa Pengpid & Karl Peltzer, 2019. "Sedentary Behaviour, Physical Activity and Life Satisfaction, Happiness and Perceived Health Status in University Students from 24 Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-7, June.
    9. Feldhaus, Christoph & Gleue, Marvin & Löschel, Andreas & Werner, Peter, 2022. "Co-benefits motivate individual donations to mitigate climate change," Research Memorandum 004, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).
    10. Ad Bergsma & Monika Ardelt, 2012. "Self-Reported Wisdom and Happiness: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 481-499, June.
    11. Edward C. Chang & Shangwen Yi & Jiting Liu & Shanmukh V. Kamble & Yujia Zhang & Bowen Shi & Yangming Ye & Yuan Fang & Kailin Cheng & Jianjie Xu & Jingyi Shen & Mingqi Li & Olivia D. Chang, 2020. "Coping Behaviors as Predictors of Hedonic Well-Being in Asian Indians: Does Being Optimistic Still Make a Difference?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 289-304, January.
    12. A. Feliu-Soler & E. Royuela-Colomer & J. Navarrete & N. N. Jørgensen & M. Mariño & M. Demarzo & J. Soler & J. García-Campayo & J. Montero-Marín & J. V. Luciano, 2024. "Assessing the Impact of the Way of Saint James on Psychological Distress and Subjective Well-being: The Ultreya Study," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 25(7), pages 1-30, October.
    13. Karola Bastini & Rudolf Kerschreiter & Maik Lachmann & Matthias Ziegler & Tim Sawert, 2024. "Encouraging Individual Contributions to Net-Zero Organizations: Effects of Behavioral Policy Interventions and Social Norms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 192(3), pages 543-560, July.
    14. Mehdi Rezaei & Doohwan Kim & Ahad Alizadeh & Ladan Rokni, 2021. "Evaluating the Mental-Health Positive Impacts of Agritourism; A Case Study from South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-16, August.
    15. Hilke Brockmann, 2012. "Das Glück der Migranten: eine Lebenslaufanalyse zum subjektiven Wohlbefinden von Migranten der ersten Generation in Deutschland," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 504, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    16. Hoang Viet Nguyen & Wilson Dang & Hoang Nguyen & Thi Nguyen Hong Nguyen & Thi My Nguyet Nguyen & Tuan Duong Vu & Ninh Nguyen, 2021. "How Does Environmental Interpretation Affect Psychological Well-Being? A Study Conducted in the Context of COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-15, July.
    17. Yushan Wu & Rita Yi Man Li & Sher Akbar & Qinghua Fu & Sarminah Samad & Ubaldo Comite, 2022. "The Effectiveness of Humble Leadership to Mitigate Employee Burnout in the Healthcare Sector: A Structural Equation Model Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-20, October.
    18. Mark Holder & Ben Coleman & Kamlesh Singh, 2012. "Temperament and Happiness in Children in India," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 261-274, April.
    19. Chen, J. & Dobrescu, L.I. & Foster, G. & Motta, A., 2024. "Can leagues mitigate the demoralization effect of rank feedback? A randomized controlled trial," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    20. Hirsch, Thalia & Busse, Britta, 2020. "The importance of subjective measurements in child and youth well-being studies," Schriftenreihe Institut Arbeit und Wirtschaft 29/2020, Institut Arbeit und Wirtschaft (IAW), Universität Bremen und Arbeitnehmerkammer Bremen.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:11:p:4053-:d:368076. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.