Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 10, 2025
12:09
Studying Food Reward and Motivation in Humans
Published on: March 19, 2014
24.0K
Essentializing happiness reduces one's motivation to be happier
Incheol Choi1, Jaekyung Yu1, Jinhyeon Lee1
1Department of Psychology, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Journal of Personality
|August 28, 2020
Summary
Believing happiness is fixed by genes reduces motivation to improve it. Conversely, viewing happiness as influenced by attitude and effort increases the intention to engage in happiness-boosting activities.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Well-being Science
Background:
- Lay theories of happiness influence motivation and behavior.
- Essentialist theories posit that happiness is innate and unchangeable.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine essentialist lay theories of happiness (EBH) and their impact on motivation.
- To develop and validate a scale measuring EBH.
Main Methods:
- Scale development and validation (Studies 1-2).
- Correlational and experimental designs to test EBH effects on happiness-enhancing motivation (Studies 3-4).
Main Results:
- The Essentialist Beliefs about Happiness (EBH) scale was developed and validated.
- Higher EBH scores correlated with lower motivation to enhance happiness.
- Belief in attitude and effort influencing happiness predicted greater intention for happiness-boosting activities.
Conclusions:
- Essentialist beliefs about happiness are linked to reduced motivation in the well-being domain.
- Individual differences in lay theories of happiness significantly impact motivational states.
- Findings offer insights into psychological factors influencing well-being pursuits.
Related Concept Videos
01:25Motivational Bias
247
Cognitive bias results from limitations in thinking and information processing, leading to systematic errors in judgment. Conversely, motivational bias stems from personal desires or emotions, causing distortions in perception to align with self-interest. Motivational bias influences how individuals perceive and attribute causes to events, often shaped by personal needs, goals, and self-esteem preservation. This bias can distort judgment, leading to inaccurate assessments of success, failure,...
247
01:22Traits, Mood, and Subjective Wellbeing
219
Subjective well-being (SWB) refers to an individual's self-evaluation of their overall life satisfaction, happiness, and fulfillment. This multifaceted construct is typically assessed by analyzing the balance of positive and negative emotions alongside perceptions of life satisfaction. Personality traits such as neuroticism and extraversion are strongly associated with variations in SWB, offering critical insights into the underlying mechanisms of emotional well-being.
Neuroticism and...
Neuroticism and...
219
02:45Self-Discrepancy Theory
18.7K
One influential perspective on what motivates people's behavior is detailed in Tory Higgin's self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987). He proposed that people hold disagreeing internal representations of themselves that lead to different emotional states.
18.7K
01:27Drive-Reduction Theory: Push Theory of Motivation
928
Clark Hull's drive-reduction theory, introduced in the 1940s and 1950s and often termed the "push theory" of motivation, provides a framework for understanding how biological and learned drives influence behavior. Hull suggested that motivation originates from the need to alleviate physiological tension caused by unmet biological necessities. The theory proposes that when a basic need, such as hunger or sleep, goes unfulfilled, it creates an internal imbalance. This imbalance, or...
928
01:18Incentive Theory: Pull Theory of Motivation
758
Incentive theory, or the "pull theory" of motivation, suggests that external rewards primarily drive behavior. Individuals are motivated to engage in activities when they anticipate a desirable outcome. This is why people often work hard for promotions or study intensively to achieve high grades. These incentives can be tangible, physical rewards such as money or promotions, or intangible, non-physical rewards like praise and social recognition.
The theory differentiates between...
The theory differentiates between...
758
01:29Introduction to Motivation and Emotion
905
Motivation is a multifaceted process that drives behavior toward fulfilling various physiological or psychological needs. This process involves initiating, guiding, and maintaining specific actions influenced by internal and external factors. For example, when someone feels hungry while watching television, hunger is a motivator, prompting the individual to get up, walk to the kitchen, and find something to eat. In this instance, hunger initiates and sustains the behavior necessary to meet the...
905