IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jhappi/v23y2022i6d10.1007_s10902-022-00503-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Selflessness Meets Higher and More Stable Happiness: An Experience Sampling Study of the Joint Dynamics of Selflessness and Happiness

Author

Listed:
  • Nicolas Pellerin

    (Universite Toulouse 2 (UT2J), CLLE)

  • Michael Dambrun

    (Universite Clermont Auvergne (UCA), LAPSCO)

  • Eric Raufaste

    (Universite Toulouse 2 (UT2J), CLLE)

Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated the existence of a positive relationship between selflessness and happiness. However, none of these studies yet differentiated the between—and within—person levels of analysis. Moreover, the Selflessness/Selfcenteredness Happiness Model (SSHM) suggests that selflessness might stabilize happiness. In this experience sampling study, we explored the relationships between selflessness and happiness—baseline and stability—at both the within and betweenperson levels. During five consecutive days, participants responded seven times a day to short questions about happiness and selflessness. Our results showed that more selfless individuals were happier and that more selfless moments of an individual were also happier moments. Moreover, more selfless individuals were more stable from one day to the other. Finally, people becoming more selfless experienced more happiness stability at the following assessment moment and the next day. This study brings new evidence of the importance of selflessness for happiness.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicolas Pellerin & Michael Dambrun & Eric Raufaste, 2022. "Selflessness Meets Higher and More Stable Happiness: An Experience Sampling Study of the Joint Dynamics of Selflessness and Happiness," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(6), pages 3127-3142, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:23:y:2022:i:6:d:10.1007_s10902-022-00503-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-022-00503-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10902-022-00503-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10902-022-00503-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Veronika Huta & Alan Waterman, 2014. "Eudaimonia and Its Distinction from Hedonia: Developing a Classification and Terminology for Understanding Conceptual and Operational Definitions," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 15(6), pages 1425-1456, December.
    2. Jianjun Deng & Tsingan Li & Jingya Wang & Ruiping Zhang, 2020. "Optimistically Accepting Suffering Boosts Happiness: Associations Between Buddhism Patience, Selflessness, and Subjective Authentic-Durable Happiness," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 223-240, January.
    3. Bates, Douglas & Mächler, Martin & Bolker, Ben & Walker, Steve, 2015. "Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 67(i01).
    4. Edward Deci & Richard Ryan, 2008. "Hedonia, eudaimonia, and well-being: an introduction," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, January.
    5. Driver, Charles C. & Oud, Johan H. L. & Voelkle, Manuel C., 2017. "Continuous Time Structural Equation Modeling with R Package ctsem," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 77(i05).
    6. Rosseel, Yves, 2012. "lavaan: An R Package for Structural Equation Modeling," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 48(i02).
    7. O. Kjell & D. Daukantaitė & K. Hefferon & S. Sikström, 2016. "The Harmony in Life Scale Complements the Satisfaction with Life Scale: Expanding the Conceptualization of the Cognitive Component of Subjective Well-Being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 126(2), pages 893-919, March.
    8. Ed Diener & Shigehiro Oishi & Louis Tay, 2018. "Advances in subjective well-being research," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 2(4), pages 253-260, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. 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.
    2. Zins, Andreas H. & Ponocny, Ivo, 2022. "On the importance of leisure travel for psychosocial wellbeing," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    3. Lenka Mynaříková & Vít Pošta, 2023. "The Effect of Consumer Confidence and Subjective Well-being on Consumers’ Spending Behavior," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 429-453, February.
    4. Damianus Abun & Restita B. Pellogo & Theogenia Magallanes & Melody Luz, M. Sapinoso & Mary Joy Encarnacion, 2021. "Employees' Workplace Well-Being and Organizational Citizenship Behavior of Private Education in Ilocos Norte, Philippines," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 19(1), pages 421-438, May.
    5. Giofrè, D. & Allen, K. & Toffalini, E. & Mammarella, I.C. & Caviola, S., 2022. "Decoding gender differences: Intellectual profiles of children with specific learning disabilities," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    6. repec:cup:judgdm:v:14:y:2019:i:3:p:349-363 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Belén López-Pérez & Janice Sánchez & Michaela Gummerum, 2016. "Children’s and Adolescents’ Conceptions of Happiness," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 17(6), pages 2431-2455, December.
    8. Pinar Celik & Martin Storme & Nils Myszkowski, 2022. "Individual Differences in Within-Person Variability in Personality Positively Predict Economic Gains and Satisfaction in Negotiations," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 683-702, June.
    9. Veljko Jovanović & Maksim Rudnev & Naved Iqbal & Sean P. M. Rice & Magdalena Żemojtel-Piotrowska, 2022. "Cross-Cultural Measurement of Positive and Negative Emotions in Adolescence: Evidence from Three Countries," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(7), pages 3143-3160, October.
    10. Maria Kryza-Lacombe & Elise Tanzini & Sarah O’Neill, 2019. "Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives: Associations with Academic Achievement and Negative Emotional States Among Urban College Students," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(5), pages 1323-1341, June.
    11. Peter J. Jankowski & Sam Murphy & Jaclyn Johnson & Steven J. Sandage & David C. Wang & James Tomlinson, 2022. "The Influence of Experiential Avoidance, Humility and Patience on the Association Between Religious/Spiritual Exploration and Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 2137-2156, June.
    12. Lengieza, Michael L. & Hunt, Carter A. & Swim, Janet K., 2019. "Measuring eudaimonic travel experiences," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 195-197.
    13. Erik Carlquist & Hilde E. Nafstad & Rolv M. Blakar, 2018. "Understanding Satisfaction: An Analysis of the Meaning Potential of the Word “Satisfaction” in Everyday Norwegian Language," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 939-959, April.
    14. Øystein Sørensen & Anders M. Fjell & Kristine B. Walhovd, 2023. "Longitudinal Modeling of Age-Dependent Latent Traits with Generalized Additive Latent and Mixed Models," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 88(2), pages 456-486, June.
    15. repec:cup:judgdm:v:15:y:2020:i:6:p:1024-1036 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Nadine Richter & Marcel Hunecke, 2021. "The Mindful Hedonist? Relationships between Well-Being Orientations, Mindfulness and Well-Being Experiences," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(7), pages 3111-3135, October.
    17. Ofer I. Atad & Pninit Russo-Netzer, 2022. "The Effect of Gratitude on Well-being: Should We Prioritize Positivity or Meaning?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 1245-1265, March.
    18. Nima Khalighinejad & Neil Garrett & Luke Priestley & Patricia Lockwood & Matthew F. S. Rushworth, 2021. "A habenula-insular circuit encodes the willingness to act," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    19. Samuel Drempetic & Christian Klein & Bernhard Zwergel, 2020. "The Influence of Firm Size on the ESG Score: Corporate Sustainability Ratings Under Review," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(2), pages 333-360, November.
    20. Pfund, Gabrielle N. & DeLongis, Anita & Sin, Nancy & Morstead, Talia & Hill, Patrick L., 2022. "Being active for a purpose: Evaluating the bi-directional associations between monthly purpose and physical activity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 310(C).
    21. Edith Pollet & Tatjana Schnell, 2017. "Brilliant: But What For? Meaning and Subjective Well-Being in the Lives of Intellectually Gifted and Academically High-Achieving Adults," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(5), pages 1459-1484, October.
    22. Oliver Weigelt & Petra Gierer & Christine J. Syrek, 2019. "My Mind is Working Overtime—Towards an Integrative Perspective of Psychological Detachment, Work-Related Rumination, and Work Reflection," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-27, August.

    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:spr:jhappi:v:23:y:2022:i:6:d:10.1007_s10902-022-00503-8. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.