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Essentializing Happiness Mitigates the Changes in Subjective Well-Being Following Negative Life Events.

Xyle Ku¹, Seung Eun Cha², Youngju Kim¹

¹Seoul National University, Republic of Korea.

Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin

|October 11, 2024

Summary

Believing happiness is fixed (essentialist beliefs) can create a self-fulfilling prophecy. This belief buffers changes in subjective well-being (SWB) after life events, leading to more stable happiness levels.

Keywords:

changeability essentialist beliefs about happiness life events self-fulfilling prophecy subjective well-being

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Area of Science:

Psychology
Social Psychology

Background:

Individuals hold varying beliefs regarding the malleability of happiness.
Some view happiness as biologically determined (essentialism), while others see it as changeable (non-essentialism).

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether beliefs about happiness changeability impact subjective well-being (SWB).
To determine if essentialist beliefs about happiness (EBH) function as a self-fulfilling prophecy influencing SWB stability.

Main Methods:

Four diverse studies were conducted with a total of 7,364 participants.
Methodologies included examining SWB changes following life events, recalling past events, and anticipating future events.

Main Results:

Individuals endorsing EBH experienced more stable SWB compared to non-essentialists, especially after negative life events.
This buffering effect on SWB stability was observed across past, present, and future event evaluations.

Conclusions:

Essentialist beliefs about happiness have tangible real-world implications for SWB fluctuations.
Happiness essentialism influences how individuals navigate and experience changes in their well-being throughout life.