Happiness maximization is a WEIRD way of living
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F68081740%3A_____%2F25%3A00583551" target="_blank" >RIV/68081740:_____/25:00583551 - isvavai.cz</a>
Alternative codes found
RIV/61989592:15260/25:73634317
Result on the web
<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17456916231208367" target="_blank" >https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17456916231208367</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/17456916231208367" target="_blank" >10.1177/17456916231208367</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Happiness maximization is a WEIRD way of living
Original language description
Psychological science tends to treat subjective well-being and happiness synonymously. We start from the assumption that subjective well-being is more than being happy to ask the fundamental question: What is the ideal level of happiness? From a cross-cultural perspective, we propose that the idealization of attaining maximum levels of happiness may be especially characteristic of Western, educated, industrial, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) societies but less so for others. Searching for an explanation for why “happiness maximization” might have emerged in these societies, we turn to studies linking cultures to their eco-environmental habitat. We discuss the premise that WEIRD cultures emerged in an exceptionally benign ecological habitat (i.e., faced relatively light existential pressures compared with other regions). We review the influence of the Gulf Stream on the Northwestern European climate as a source of these comparatively benign geographical conditions. We propose that the ecological conditions in which WEIRD societies emerged afforded them a basis to endorse happiness as a value and to idealize attaining its maximum level. To provide a nomological network for happiness maximization, we also studied some of its potential side effects, namely alcohol and drug consumption and abuse and the prevalence of mania. To evaluate our hypothesis, we reanalyze data from two large-scale studies on ideal levels of personal life satisfaction—the most common operationalization of happiness in psychology—involving respondents from 61 countries. We conclude that societies whose members seek to maximize happiness tend to be characterized as WEIRD, and generalizing this across societies can prove problematic if adopted at the ideological and policy level.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
50101 - Psychology (including human - machine relations)
Result continuities
Project
<a href="/en/project/LX22NPO5101" target="_blank" >LX22NPO5101: The National Institute for Research on the Socioeconomic Impact of Diseases and Systemic Risks</a><br>
Continuities
I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace
Others
Publication year
2025
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Perspectives on Psychological Science
ISSN
1745-6916
e-ISSN
1745-6924
Volume of the periodical
20
Issue of the periodical within the volume
5
Country of publishing house
GB - UNITED KINGDOM
Number of pages
29
Pages from-to
874-902
UT code for WoS article
001564398700005
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85187913649