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What Makes for a Good Life? A Four-Nation Study

Author

Listed:
  • Romin Tafarodi
  • Greg Bonn
  • Hanyu Liang
  • Jiro Takai
  • Satoshi Moriizumi
  • Vivek Belhekar
  • Amruta Padhye

Abstract

How do we assess the value of our lives? What makes the life we live a good or worthy one in our own eyes? What are its aims? The answers to these questions are implicit in the often unarticulated commitments by which people define their selves, purposes, and actions. These commitments structure the moral framework that guides our everyday qualitative distinctions and positions us within a unified narrative of continuity and change. The substantive conception of a good life, we argue, presupposes but is not reducible to a set of basic values. As an initial exploration of cultural variation, Canadian, Chinese, Indian, and Japanese university students were compared on what they held to be most important for assessing the worth of their lives. The results revealed considerable commonality of content with notable differences consistent with the cultural ethos of each group. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012

Suggested Citation

  • Romin Tafarodi & Greg Bonn & Hanyu Liang & Jiro Takai & Satoshi Moriizumi & Vivek Belhekar & Amruta Padhye, 2012. "What Makes for a Good Life? A Four-Nation Study," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(5), pages 783-800, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:13:y:2012:i:5:p:783-800
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-011-9290-6
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Tim Tiefenbach & Florian Kohlbacher, 2015. "Happiness in Japan in Times of Upheaval: Empirical Evidence from the National Survey on Lifestyle Preferences," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 333-366, April.
    2. Kate Sollis & Nicholas Biddle & Herdiyan Maulana & Mandy Yap & Paul Campbell, 2024. "Measuring Wellbeing Across Culture and Context – are we Getting it Right? Evaluating the Variation in Wellbeing Conceptualisations Throughout the World," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 174(1), pages 123-155, August.
    3. Gregory Bonn & Romin Tafarodi, 2013. "Visualizing the Good Life: A Cross-Cultural Analysis," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 14(6), pages 1839-1856, December.
    4. Erik Carlquist & Pål Ulleberg & Antonella Delle Fave & Hilde E. Nafstad & Rolv M. Blakar, 2017. "Everyday Understandings of Happiness, Good Life, and Satisfaction: Three Different Facets of Well-being," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 12(2), pages 481-505, June.
    5. Micael Dahlen & Helge Thorbjørnsen, 2022. "Individuals’ Assessments of Their Own Wellbeing, Subjective Welfare, and Good Life: Four Exploratory Studies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-10, September.
    6. Monika Ardelt & Juensung J. Kim & Michel Ferrari, 2023. "Does Self-Transcendent Wisdom Mediate the Relation between Spirituality and Well-Being? A Test Across Six Nations," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(5), pages 1683-1702, June.
    7. Shaojie Zhou & Xiaohua Yu, 2017. "Regional Heterogeneity of Life Satisfaction in Urban China: Evidence from Hierarchical Ordered Logit Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 25-45, May.
    8. Hiromi Taniguchi, 2015. "Interpersonal Mattering in Friendship as a Predictor of Happiness in Japan: The Case of Tokyoites," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 16(6), pages 1475-1491, December.
    9. Gregory Bonn & Romin Tafarodi, 2014. "Chinese and South Asian Conceptions of the Good Life and Personal Narratives," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 741-755, August.

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