Orientations Happiness Nations

7/23/2019 Orientations Happiness Nations

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/orientations-happiness-nations 1/8

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found athttp://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rpos20

Download by: [Anelis Plus Consortium 2015] Date: 11 November 2015, At: 08

The Journal of Positive Psychology

ISSN: 1743-9760 (Print) 1743-9779 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rpos20

Orientations to happiness and life satisfaction intwenty-seven nations

Nansook Park , Christopher Peterson & Willibald Ruch

To cite this article: Nansook Park , Christopher Peterson & Willibald Ruch (2009) Orientations

to happiness and life satisfaction in twenty-seven nations, The Journal of Positive Psychology,4:4, 273-279, DOI: 10.1080/17439760902933690

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439760902933690

Published online: 15 Jun 2009.

Submit your article to this journal

Article views: 1697

View related articles

Citing articles: 37 View citing articles

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/citedby/10.1080/17439760902933690#tabModule

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/citedby/10.1080/17439760902933690#tabModule

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/mlt/10.1080/17439760902933690

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/mlt/10.1080/17439760902933690

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?journalCode=rpos20&page=instructions

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?journalCode=rpos20&page=instructions

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439760902933690

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.1080/17439760902933690

http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rpos20

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rpos20



The Journal of Positive Psychology

Vol. 4, No. 4, July 2009, 273–279

Orientations to happiness and life satisfaction in twenty-seven nations

Nansook Parka

, Christopher Petersona

* and Willibald Ruchb

aDepartment of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; bUniversity of Zurich

(Received 21 January 2008; final version received 10 January 2009)

Adults from 27 different nations (total N ¼24,836) completed on-line surveys in English measuringorientations to the seeking of happiness (through pleasure, through engagement, and through meaning) andlife satisfaction. Nations differed in their orientations and clustered into three interpretable groups in termsof them. One cluster was defined by relatively high endorsement of seeking pleasure and seeking engagement;the second cluster by relatively high endorsement of seeking engagement and seeking meaning; and the thirdcluster by relatively low endorsement of all three ways of seeking happiness. Across all nations, each of thethree orientations predicted life satisfaction, although orientations to engagement and to meaning were morerobustly associated with life satisfaction than was an orientation to pleasure, replicating and extendingprevious findings. Limitations and implications of the research were discussed.

Keywords: pleasure; engagement; meaning; life satisfaction; national comparisons

Introduction

The importance of measuring psychological well-being

at the level of nations has been emphasized in recent

years, and happiness1 has been proposed as an

indicator of national well-being (Diener, 2000;

Diener, Kesebir, & Lucas, 2008; Thinley, 1998). The

popular media and many social scientists are interested

in ranking different nations with respect to their

overall happiness (e.g., Diener, Diener, & Diener,

1995; Gallup Organization, 2007; Kirn, Mustafa, &Coady, 2005; Marks, Abdallah, Simms, & Thompson,

2006; Weiner, 2008; White, 2007). Exact ranks differ

across surveys and across time, but there is some

consensus that Northern European countries have

happier citizens than do Eastern European and African

countries. Furthermore, nations in South America

have citizens who are more happy than one would

expect given their relative poverty, whereas nations in

East Asia have citizens who are less happy than one

would expect given their relative wealth.

If one wants to understand the happiness of

nations and their citizens, a more analytic approach is

needed (Diener, 2008; Diener, Suh, Smith, & Shao,1995). Attention to separate components of psycho-

logical well-being results in different rankings of

nations. For example, in one study, people from

Mexico reported the highest positive affect, whereas

those from Canada reported the lowest negative

affect (Kuppens, Ceulemans, Timmerman, Diener, &

Kim-Prieto, 2006). Adults in Switzerland reported

extremely high life satisfaction but neither particularly

high positive nor particularly low negative affect.

Another approach that sheds light on the bases of

national differences in happiness attempts to relate the

average well-being of citizens in a nation to country-

level features such as education, affluence and oppor-

tunity, mode of government, concern with human

rights, and religiousness (e.g., Inglehart, Foa, Peterson,

& Weizel, 2008). Of special interest to psychologists are

studies that link cultural features of nations to thehappiness of their citizens (Diener & Suh, 2000). As in

many contemporary cross-cultural studies, the distinc-

tion between individualism and collectivism has been a

focus of these studies (e.g., Ahuvia, 2002; Park &

Huebner, 2005).

The present paper reports some preliminary cross-

national data based on a different premise, namely that

there are altogether different ways to be happy

(Guignon, 1999; Peterson, 2006; Russell, 1930;

Seligman, 2002). Nations may differ with respect to

these orientations to happiness, implying that a single

ranking of nations misses an essential point about the

complexity of psychological well-being. One route to

happiness is embodied in the doctrine of hedonism:

maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain (Watson,

1895).

Hedonism was articulated thousands of years ago

by the Greek philosopher Aristippus (435–360 BCE),

who proposed pleasure as the basis of a fulfilling life.

*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

ISSN 1743–9760 print/ISSN 1743–9779 online

2009 Taylor & Francis

DOI: 10.1080/17439760902933690http://www.informaworld.com



Philosophers like David Hume (1711–1776) and

Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) used hedonism as the

basis of utilitarianism, which underpins more recent

psychological theories such as behaviorism. Hedonism

remains of interest to contemporary psychology in a

new field (hedonic psychology; Kahneman, Diener, &

Schwarz, 1999), and is embodied in discussions of how

to savor pleasurable experiences (Bryant & Veroff,

2006). From the perspective of many positive psychol-

ogists, hedonism seems incomplete as an explanation

of well-being given the often-fleeting nature of pleasure

and the human tendency to adapt to it (Brickman &

Campbell, 1971).

A second way to be happy entails being highly

engaged in what one does, whether at work or at play.

Identified as zest, enthusiasm, or passion, engagement

in the business of life shows itself as commitment,

perseverance, and the sense that one has been called to

do what one does (Amiot, Vallerand, & Blanchard,

2006; Hersey, 1955; Jamison, 2004; Peterson &Seligman, 2004; Wrzesniewski, McCauley, Rozin, &

Schwartz, 1997). Engagement predicts life satisfaction

(e.g., Jang, Mortimer, Haley, & Borenstein-Graves,

2004; Rowe & Kahn, 1997).

One of the mechanisms involved may be the

habitual experience of the psychological state of flow

(Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). Flow occurs when there is an

optimal balance between skill and challenge (Moneta

& Csikszentmihalyi, 1996). During flow, time passes

quickly for the engaged individual. Attention is

focused on the activity itself, and the sense of the self

as a social actor is lost. The aftermath of the flow

experience is invigorating, and people describe flow ashighly and intrinsically enjoyable.

A third route to happiness is through a life of

meaning and purpose (Frankl, 1963). A meaningful life

is one in which people feel connected to something

larger than themselves. This definition echoes previous

discussions that relate meaning to external goals and

self-transcendence (Antonovsky, 1979; Damon,

Menon, & Bronk, 2003; Emmons, 1986; Wong, 1998).

Research consistently links the presence of meaning

to well-being. Individuals with a sense of purpose

report greater life satisfaction, more positive affect,

higher levels of optimism, better self-esteem, and even

better physical health (e.g., Compton, Smith, Cornish,

& Qualls, 1996; Sone et al., 2008; Zika & Chamberlain,

1987). They are less likely to have psychological

problems (e.g., Battista & Almond, 1973; Newcomb

& Harlow, 1986; Weinstein & Cleanthous, 1996).

Peterson, Park, and Seligman (2005) created a self-

report questionnaire to measure the endorsement of

pleasure, engagement, and meaning as ways to achieve

happiness. Respondents rate the applicability to them-

selves of statements reflecting each of these three ways

to be happy. For example, an orientation to pleasure

(hedonism) is measured with the item ‘Life is too short

to postpone the pleasures it can provide’; an orienta-

tion to engagement (flow) is measured with the item ‘I

am always very absorbed in what I do’; and an

orientation to meaning (larger purpose) is measured

with the item ‘I have a responsibility to make the world

a better place.’

Their initial research showed that measures of these

three ways to seek happiness were empirically distin-

guishable yet each positively associated with life

satisfaction. However, orientations to engagement

and to meaning were more strongly correlated with

life satisfaction than was an orientation to pleasure.

Ruch, Harzer, Proyer, Park, and Peterson (2008)

found that scores over a 3–6-month period were

stable, with test–retest correlations approaching the

internal consistencies of the scales. Furthermore, self-

reported orientations to happiness scores converged

(rs¼.50) with ratings by peers and respectively

predicted how much time respondents spent planning

pleasurable activities in a leisure context, engagingactivities in a work context, and meaningful activities

in a family context.

Peterson, Park, and Seligman (2005) used a sample

in which most respondents were from the United

States, and national differences were not on focus.

However, Peterson, Ruch, Beermann, Park, and

Seligman (2007) compared the orientations to happi-

ness of US respondents and German-speaking Swiss

respondents. Results were for the most part similar in

the two nations and replicated the earlier results of

Peterson, Park, and Seligman (2005). That is, all three

orientations to happiness were associated with life

satisfaction, with an orientation to pleasure showingthe least robust association. However, there were

several differences of note between respondents from

the two nations. US respondents had higher scores on

the orientation to meaning subscale than did the Swiss,

and, for US respondents, meaning was somewhat more

strongly associated with life satisfaction than it was for

Swiss respondents. These differences may reflect

national differences in religiousness, an important

contributor to the sense that one’s life has meaning

and purpose.

Along these lines, Vella-Brodrick, Park, and

Peterson (2009) compared the orientations to happi-

ness of US and Australian respondents. Among adults

in both nations, all three orientations to happiness

predicted life satisfaction, with stronger relationships

again found for engagement and meaning than for

pleasure. Australian respondents also completed a Big

Five personality inventory, and these results held

above-and-beyond the contributions of basic person-

ality traits. US respondents scored higher on an

orientation to meaning than did Australian respon-

dents, perhaps reflecting (again) national differences in

religiousness. The present research extends this line of

work by looking at similarities and differences in the

274 N. Park et al.



three orientations to happiness across respondents

from 27 nations and the relationship of these orienta-

tions to life satisfaction both within and across nations.

It was expected that all three orientations would

predict life satisfaction, but the possibility that these

relationships might differ across nations was of

interest.

Method

Participants and procedures

The sample consisted of the adult respondents who

completed self-report measures on the Authentic

Happiness website (www.authentichappiness.com)

between 4 September 2002 and 2 January 2006.

Respondents register on the website and provide

basic demographic information including age, gender,

educational level, and nationality. Because this website

was intended for international use, we did not ask

respondents about their ethnicity. Participants com-

plete questionnaires of their own choosing. They

receive immediate feedback about their scores relative

to other respondents. This feature may motivate

participants. We presume that respondents come to

the website to learn more about positive psychology

and themselves. Questionnaires on this website are

presented only in English. For the relatively small

number (5%) of respondents who completed a

measure more than once, only the first set of scores

was used for the analyses reported here.

Most (72%) of the respondents to the website are

from the United States, although respondents from200 + different countries have completed question-

naires. For the current study, only respondents from

the 27 nations that had at least 20 respondents each

who completed Orientations to Happiness Scale were

included (total N ¼ 24,836) (see Table 1). There were

more females (69%) than males. The typical age of

respondents was 40 years of age, with a range across

the adult years. The level of educational attainment for

respondents ranged from less than high school to post-

baccalaureate. Relative to the world population as a

whole, our respondents were much more highly

educated, and many had college degrees (66%).

Measures

Orientations to Happiness Scale (Peterson, Park,

& Seligman, 2005)

This scale was developed to measure an individual’s

orientations to happiness by the pursuit of pleasure,

engagement, and meaning. The scale contains a total of

18 items: six items measuring the degree to which one

endorses each of three ways to seek happiness.

Instructions to respondents are: ‘All of the questions

reflect statements that many people would find

desirable, but we want you to answer only in terms

of whether the statement describes how you actually

live your life.’ Ratings are made on a 5-point scale,

from 1¼ ‘not like me at all’ through 5¼ ‘very much

like me.’ Subscale scores are formed by averaging the

relevant responses to yield scores reflecting the

endorsement of engagement, pleasure, and meaningas routes to happiness. As noted, previous research

showed that these three subscales are reliable and

empirically distinct, that they are stable over time, that

they converge with peer report, and that they predict

behavior reflecting the orientation in question. In the

current study, Cronbach alphas for the sample as a

whole were satisfactory: .80 for pleasure, .70 for

engagement, and .83 for meaning.

Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons,

Larsen, & Griffin, 1985). This scale measures global

life satisfaction, an individual’s evaluation of his or her

life in general. It consists of five items, and for eachitem, respondents select one of seven options (ranging

from 1¼ ‘strongly disagree’ to 7¼ ‘strongly agree’).

Sample items include, ‘I am satisfied with my life,’ and

‘If I could live my life over, I would change almost

nothing.’ Responses are summed to provide a total life

satisfaction score. Research has established excellent

psychometric properties for the SWLS (Diener, 1994).

The measure is highly reliable and has a large network

of sensible correlates. Among respondents in the

present sample who completed the Orientations to

Happiness Scale, 69% also completed the SWLS. In

the current study, the Cronbach alpha for the sample

as whole¼ .88.

Results

Do nations differ in their orientations to happiness?

Mean scores for pleasure, engagement, and meaning

across the 27 nations, along with mean life satisfaction

scores and reliability estimates for the specific nations,

are presented in Table 1. For each variable, small but

reliable differences existed across nations, confirmed

by one-way ANOVAs using nation as the grouping

factor: for pleasure F (26, 24809)¼5.63, p5 0.001; forengagement F (26, 24809)¼3.01, p5 0.001; for mean-

ing F (26, 24809)¼20.68, p5 0.001; and for life satis-

faction F (26, 16961)¼3.96, p5 0.001. These

differences were evident whether or not demographics

(age, gender, and education) were used as covariates.

As can be seen in Table 1, nations whose respondents

scored highest differed across the orientations. South

African respondents scored highest on an orientation

to pleasure; Swiss respondents scored highest on an

orientation to engagement; and South Korean respon-

dents scored highest in an orientation to meaning.

The Journal of Positive Psychology 275



Accordingly, the ‘happiest’ nation depends on the type

of happiness that is measured.We computed mean scores of the three orientations

within each nation, and then explored the clustering of

nations in terms of these scores using K-means cluster

analysis. A three-cluster solution was interpretable.

Cluster One consisted of five nations (Finland, Italy,

Portugal, Minor US Islands, and the United Kingdom)

and was defined by relatively low scores on all three

orientations. Cluster Two consisted of 13 nations

(Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France,

Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, New

Zealand, Norway, Spain, and Sweden) and was defined

by higher scores on orientations to pleasure and to

engagement. Cluster Three consisted of nine nations

(Austria, Brazil, Denmark, Israel, Singapore, South

Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, and the United

States) and was defined by higher scores on orienta-

tions to engagement and to meaning. Each of the three

orientations figured in the discrimination of nations in

these three clusters: pleasure F ¼4.35, p5 0.03;

engagement F ¼22.06, p5 0.001; and meaning

F ¼29.63, p5 0.001.

Nations within each cluster reflect neither geo-

graphical proximity nor similarities in individualism

versus collectivism (cf. Oyserman, Coon, &

Kemmelmeier, 2002). However, nations high on an

orientation to pleasure (many of those in Cluster Two)tended to have a lower per capita gross national

product (GNP). Estimates of per capita GNP in 2005

(Students of the World, 2005) correlated r¼.49

( p5 0.02) with the average orientation to pleasure

scores. Also, nations high on an orientation to mean-

ing (many of those in Cluster Three) tended to be more

religious. Available to us from another study (Park,

Peterson, & Seligman, 2006) were average ‘religious-

ness’ scores for 21 of the 27 nations in the present

study, and these scores (at the level of nations)

correlated r¼0.59 ( p5 0.005) with the average orien-

tation to meaning scores.

How do the orientations to happiness relate to

life satisfaction?

In the sample as a whole, the previously reported

patterns emerged. All three orientations were positively

correlated with life satisfaction but less robustly for

pleasure: pleasure r(16986)¼0.20, p5 0.001; engage-

ment r(17021)¼0.36, p5 0.001; and meaning

r(17021)¼0.38, p5 0.001. These findings are hardly

surprising given the large number of US respondents in

Table 1. Orientations to happiness and life satisfaction across nations.

Pleasure Engagement Meaning Life satisfaction

Nation N mean () mean () mean () mean ()

Argentina 27 3.20 (0.71) 3.33 (0.70) 3.13 (0.79) 21.84 (0.89)Australia 1354 2.94 (0.79) 3.10 (0.72) 3.42 (0.83) 21.62 (0.87)

Austria 33 3.00 (0.84) 3.28 (0.71) 3.69 (0.76) 22.75 (0.90)Belgium 41 3.20 (0.79) 3.11 (0.57) 3.11 (0.54) 21.16 (0.83)Brazil 22 3.11 (0.82) 3.39 (0.71) 3.45 (0.78) 23.03 (0.90)Canada 1886 3.10 (0.80) 3.13 (0.71) 3.45 (0.84) 21.41 (0.88)Denmark 39 3.08 (0.74) 3.39 (0.69) 3.49 (0.78) 22.04 (0.87)Finland 20 3.06 (0.82) 2.97 (0.57) 3.31 (0.76) 22.21 (0.89)France 37 3.09 (0.82) 3.16 (0.74) 3.11 (0.82) 20.43 (0.88)Germany 107 3.19 (0.72) 3.13 (0.63) 3.34 (0.82) 22.33 (0.86)Hong Kong 39 3.12 (0.67) 3.16 (0.51) 3.23 (0.77) 22.80 (0.83)Ireland 99 3.05 (0.81) 3.10 (0.69) 3.20 (0.78) 21.02 (0.86)Israel 25 3.15 (0.78) 3.35 (0.80) 3.59 (0.84) 22.69 (0.88)Italy 23 2.97 (0.76) 2.97 (0.67) 3.26 (0.76) 21.53 (0.91)Minor US Islands 27 2.81 (0.84) 3.00 (0.71) 3.17 (0.72) 20.05 (0.90)Netherlands 309 3.15 (0.76) 3.06 (0.85) 3.12 (0.79) 21.45 (0.87)New Zealand 330 3.04 (0.90) 3.11 (0.73) 3.38 (0.82) 22.05 (0.87)

Norway 51 2.92 (0.77) 3.17 (0.61) 3.31 (0.80) 22.19 (0.85)Portugal 20 3.01 (0.82) 2.83 (0.74) 2.98 (0.57) 17.17 (0.86)Singapore 31 3.06 (0.70) 3.24 (0.68) 3.69 (0.83) 20.23 (0.86)South Africa 98 3.39 (0.78) 3.24 (0.65) 3.66 (0.80) 20.92 (0.89)South Korea 33 3.22 (0.69) 3.39 (0.68) 3.72 (0.86) 21.75 (0.78)Spain 57 3.16 (0.78) 3.23 (0.60) 3.19 (0.79) 21.63 (0.86)Sweden 27 3.22 (0.75) 3.00 (0.65) 3.27 (0.80) 22.96 (0.85)Switzerland 23 3.02 (0.84) 3.63 (0.73) 3.46 (0.82) 24.25 (0.87)United Kingdom 2048 2.98 (0.78) 3.01 (0.71) 3.16 (0.82) 20.03 (0.87)United States 18030 3.14 (0.80) 3.11 (0.70) 3.58 (0.83) 21.50 (0.88)

Note: Figures in parentheses are scale reliabilities estimated by Cronbach’s alpha.

276 N. Park et al.



the overall sample. However, essentially the same

patterns were found when US respondents were

removed (rs¼0.21, 0.38, and 0.37, respectively).

Moreover, we computed an analysis of variance (not

shown) predicting life satisfaction from nation of

residence and orientations to happiness (each dichot-

omized at the scale median). The three orientations toseeking happiness each predicted life satisfaction (as

did nation), but none of the interactions involving

nation was significant2. In other words, the associa-

tions between the orientations to happiness and life

satisfaction were the same across nations.

At the level of nations, how do the orientations to

happiness relate to life satisfaction?

Across the 27 nations, we correlated the mean scores

on the three orientations to happiness with the mean

scores on life satisfaction: for pleasure r¼0.19, ns; for

engagement r¼0.62, p5 0.001; and for meaningr¼0.40, p5 0.04. Nations with citizens endorsing

engagement and meaning as ways to be happy had

higher life satisfaction. A nation’s overall orientation

to seeking pleasure was not significantly associated

with the happiness of that nation, although there was a

tendency in that direction. Appreciate that these

group-level analyses, although based on the results

from individuals, are not redundant with the indivi-

dual-level analyses already reported, despite in the

present case yielding much the same conclusions.

Consider the finding that wealth is a robust predictor

of happiness across nations but less so within nations(Diener, 2008).

Discussion

Relying on respondents from 27 nations, the present

study investigated three orientations to seeking happi-

ness (pleasure, engagement, and meaning) and the

relationship of these orientations to life satisfaction.

Several findings are worth emphasizing. First, nations

differ in their orientations to happiness. One way to

understand the happiness of nations may entail

comparing and contrasting the orientations to plea-

sure, meaning, and engagement of their citizens.

Second, although this is a tentative finding given

some of the small subsamples, nations clustered into

three groups in terms of these orientations. One of our

clusters was defined by relatively high orientations to

pleasure and engagement, and another of our clusters

was defined by relatively high orientations to engage-

ment and to meaning. We are tempted to conclude that

these two clusters resemble the Dionysian versus

Apollonian cultures discussed long ago by anthropol-

ogist Ruth Benedict (1934) and even longer ago by

philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900).

What about the remaining cluster, defined by

relatively low scores on all three orientations?

Continuing the theme of Greek mythology, we think

of the goddess Nemesis, whose creed was moderation

in all things. Among her several roles, Nemesis

punished excess, including excessive happiness. In

modern language, Nemesis was the ultimate killjoy.

Given that the nations in this cluster scored low on all

three routes to happiness identified by theory and

empirical research, we tentatively label this cluster

Nemesian. Whatever we call this cluster, its member

nations had lower life satisfaction scores than did

nations in the other two clusters.

In principle, additional or alternative clusters of

nations might have emerged from our analyses, but

they did not. It may be worthwhile to consider some of

these. For example, at the level of individuals, there

exist people who strongly endorse all three orientations

to happiness. We have described these people as

seeking a full life, and they are especially satisfied(Peterson, Park, & Seligman, 2005). Where then are the

nations that afford a full life for most their citizens?

Perhaps they do not exist, or perhaps they are small

and/or isolated and/or not populated by Internet users

and thus not represented in our sample.

Third, regardless of nation, orientations to engage-

ment and to meaning were more robust predictors of

life satisfaction than was an orientation to pleasure,

extending previous work showing the same patterns

within the United States, Switzerland, and Australia.

This extension is important, because seeking engage-

ment and meaning might be regarded as a narrowly

Protestant concern (cf. Weber, 1904). The presentfindings, in contrast, suggest broader generality of the

differential associations between various orientations

to happiness and life satisfaction.

The obvious limitation of the present research is its

use of nonrepresentative samples, some of which were

small and perhaps very special. Respondents had to

find their way to the website and be able to complete

questionnaires in English. Democracies predominated

in the subsamples of the current study, and some of the

world’s most populous nations (e.g., China, Pakistan,

and Russia) were not represented. The present results

and especially those concerning the clustering of

nations should be regarded as tentative, awaiting

larger and broader samples and measures administered

in a respondent’s native language. However, many of

the findings reported here agreed with those of

previous research using large samples recruited in

more conventional ways (Peterson, Ruch, Beermann,

Park, & Seligman, 2007; Ruch et al., 2008; Vella-

Brodrick et al., In press).

The present research relied on cross-sectional

data, leaving unaddressed the direction of causality.

By using a measure called ‘Orientations’ to Happiness,

we are implying that these orientations lead to a




satisfied life, but that is an unwarranted assumption

until longitudinal studies are conducted. For example,

it is conceivable that a satisfied life leads someone to

pursue activities that are engaging and meaningful and

to avoid activities that are merely pleasurable.

The present study is a step toward understanding

different orientations to happiness and their relation-ships to psychological well-being in different nations. It

demonstrates that the ideas of positive psychology

apply to people in diverse nations. Psychological well-

being is not a culture-bound concern, although the

means by which it is achieved and the standards by

which it is evaluated of course differ across nations. In

keeping with the idea that positive psychology is at its

core a science, we believe that studies like the present

one are necessary to build a sustainable field that

addresses issues for all people around the world. We

have elsewhere observed that cross-cultural psycholo-

gists tend to emphasize differences over similarities

(Park et al., 2006). A more complete and balancedscience of the human condition, at the level of

individuals and at the level of nations, requires that

scientists study both.

Acknowledgements

This research was planned while the authors were inattendance at the 2007 Medici II Conference at theUniversity of Pennsylvania, supported by a grant from theTempleton Foundation.

Notes

1. In the present paper, we follow increasing commonusage by using happiness and subjective well-being assynonyms (e.g., Diener, 2000, 2008). Both are broad andimprecise terms but typically encompass high levels of positive affect, low levels of negative affect, and high lifesatisfaction: the judgment that one’s life is being livedwell.

2. There was a significant three-way interaction among thethree orientations to happiness, due mainly to respon-dents simultaneously low on all three orientations, whoalso had particularly low SWLS scores. This interactionreplicates previous findings (Peterson, Park, & Seligman,2005; Vella-Brodrick, Park, & Peterson, 2009) and

reflects what we have termed an empty life.

References

Ahuvia, A.C. (2002). Individualism/collectivism and cultures

of happiness: A theoretical conjecture on the relationship

between consumption, culture and subjective well-being at

the national level. Journal of Happiness Studies, 3, 23–36.

Amiot, C., Vallerand, R.J., & Blanchard, C. (2006).

Passion and psychological adjustment: A test of the

person-environment fit hypothesis. Personality and Social

Psychology Bulletin, 32, 220–229.

Antonovsky, A. (1979). Health, stress, and coping. San

Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Battista, J., & Almond, R. (1973). The development of

meaning in life. Psychiatry, 36, 409–427.

Benedict, R. (1934). Patterns of culture. New York:

Houghton Mifflin.

Brickman, P., & Campbell, D.T. (1971). Hedonic relativism

and planning the good society. In M.H. Appley (Ed.),Adaptation-level theory (pp. 287–305). New York:

Academic Press.

Bryant, F.B., & Veroff, J. (2006). The process of savoring: A

new model of positive experience. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence

Erlbaum.

Compton, W.C., Smith, M.L., Cornish, K.A., & Qualls, D.L.

(1996). Factor structure of mental health measures.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 406–413.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal

experience. New York: Harper & Row.

Damon, W., Menon, J., & Bronk, K.C. (2003).

The development of purpose during adolescence. Applied

Developmental Science, 7 , 119–128.

Diener, E. (1994). Assessing subjective well-being: Progressand opportunities. Social Indicators Research, 31, 103–157.

Diener, E. (2000). Subjective well-being: The science of

happiness and a proposal for a national index. American

Psychologist, 55, 34–43.

Diener, E. (2008). Myths in the science of happiness, and

directions for future research. In M. Eid, &

R.J. Larsen (Eds.), The science of subjective well-being

(pp. 403–514). New York: Guilford.

Diener, E., Diener, M., & Diener, C. (1995). Factors

predicting the subjective well-being of nations. Journal of

Personality and Social Psychology, 49, 851–864.

Diener, E., Emmons, R.A., Larsen, R.J., & Griffin, S. (1985).

The Satisfaction with Life Scale. Journal of Personality

Assessment, 49, 71–75.Diener, E., Kesebir, P., & Lucas, R. (2008). Benefits of

accounts of well-being—for societies and for psychological

science. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 57 ,

37–53.

Diener, E., & Suh, E.M. (Eds.) (2000). Culture and subjective

well-being. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Diener, E., Suh, E.M., Smith, H., & Shao, L. (1995).

National differences in reported subjective well-being:

Why do they occur? Social Indicators Research, 34, 7–12.

Emmons, R.A. (1986). Personal strivings: An approach to

personality and subjective well-being. Journal of

Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1058–1068.

Frankl, V.E. (1963). Man’s search for meaning: An introduc-

tion to logotherapy. New York: Washington Square Press.

Gallup Organization. (2007). The state of global well-being

2007 . New York: Gallup Press.

Guignon, C. (Ed.). (1999). The good life. Indianapolis, IN:

Hackett.

Hersey, R. (1955). Zest for work: Industry rediscovers the

individual . New York: Harper.

Inglehart, R., Foa, R., Peterson, C., & Weizel, C. (2008).

Development, freedom, and rising happiness: A global

perspective, 1981–2007. Perspectives on Psychological

Science, 3, 264–285.

Jamison, K.R. (2004). Exuberance: The passion for life.

New York: Knopf.

278 N. Park et al.



Jang, Y., Mortimer, J.A., Haley, W.E., &

Borenstein-Graves, A.R. (2004). The role of social

engagement in life satisfaction: Its significance among

older individuals with disease and disability. Journal of

Applied Gerontology, 23, 266–278.

Kahneman, D., Diener, E., & Schwarz, N. (Eds.). (1999).

Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology.

New York: Russell Sage.Kirn, W., Mustafa, N., & Coady, E. (2005). It’s a glad, sad,

mad world: Where you live, as much as how you live, is a

key influence on the feel-good factor. Time, pp. A65–A67.

Kuppens, P., Ceulemans, E., Timmerman, M.E., Diener, E.,

& Kim-Prieto, C. (2006). Universal intracultural and

intercultural dimensions of the recalled frequency of

emotional experience. Journal of Cross-Cultural

Psychology, 37 , 491–515.

Marks, N., Abdallah, S., Simms, A., & Thompson, S. (2006).

The happy planet index. London: New Economics

Foundation.

Moneta, G.B., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). The effect of

perceived challenges and skills on the quality of subjective

experience. Journal of Personality, 64, 275–310.Newcomb, M.D., & Harlow, L.L. (1986). Life events and

substance use among adolescents: Mediating effects of

perceived loss of control and meaninglessness in life.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 564–577.

Oyserman, D., Coon, H.M., & Kemmelmeier, M. (2002).

Rethinking individualism and collectivism: Evaluation of

theoretical assumptions and meta-analyses. Psychological

Bulletin, 128, 3–72.

Park, N., & Huebner, E.S. (2005). A cross-cultural study of

the levels and correlates of life satisfaction among

adolescents. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 36,

444–456.

Park, N., Peterson, C., & Seligman, M.E.P. (2006). Character

strengths in fifty-four nations and the fifty US states.Journal of Positive Psychology, 1, 118–129.

Peterson, C. (2006). A primer in positive psychology.

New York: Oxford University Press.

Peterson, C., Park, N., & Seligman, M.E. (2005).

Orientations to happiness and life satisfaction: The full

life versus the empty life. Journal of Happiness Studies, 6,

25–41.

Peterson, C., Ruch, W., Beermann, U., Park, N., &

Seligman, M.E.P. (2007). Strengths of character, orienta-

tions to happiness, and life satisfaction. Journal of Positive

Psychology, 2, 149–156.

Peterson, C., & Seligman, M.E.P. (2004). Character

strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification.

New York: Oxford University Press/Washington, DC:American Psychological Association.

Rowe, J.W., & Kahn, R.L. (1997). Successful aging. The

Gerontologist, 37 , 433–439.

Ruch, W., Harzer, C., Proyer, R.T., Park, N., & Peterson, C.

(2008). Ways to happiness in German-speaking countries:

The adaptation of the German version of the Orientations to

Happiness Questionnaire in paper-pencil and Internet

samples. University of Zurich: Unpublished manuscript.

Russell, B. (1930). The conquest of happiness. New York:Liveright.

Seligman, M.E.P. (2002). Authentic happiness. New York:

Free Press.

Sone, T., Nakaya, N., Ohmori, K., Shimazu, T.,

Higashiguchi, M., Kikuchi, N., et al. (2008). Sense of life

worth living (ikigai ) and mortality in Japan: Ohsaki Study.

Psychosomatic Medicine, 70, 709–715.

Students of the World. (2005). Wealth levels around the world .

Retrieved September 29, 2008, from http://www.student

softheworld.info/infopays/rank/PNBH2.html.

Thinley, J.Y. (1998, October). Values and development: Gross

national happiness. Seoul, Republic of Korea: Keynote

speech delivered at the Millennium Meeting for Asia and

the Pacific.Vella-Brodrick, D.A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2009). Three

ways to be happy: Pleasure, engagement, and meaning.

Findings from Australian and US samples. Social

Indicators Research, 90, 165–179.

Watson, J. (1895). Hedonistic theories from Aristippus to

Spencer. New York: Macmillan.

Weber, M. (1904). The Protestant ethic and the spirit of

capitalism. New York: Scribner’s.

Weiner, E. (2008). The geography of bliss: One grump’s search

for the happiest places in the world . New York: Hachette

Book Group.

Weinstein, L., & Cleanthous, C.C. (1996). A comparison of

Protestant ministers and parishioners on expressed pur-

pose in life and intrinsic religious motivation. Psychology:A Journal of Human Behavior, 33, 26–29.

White, A. (2007). A global projection of subjective well-

being: A challenge to positive psychology? Psychtalk, 56,

17–20.

Wong, P.T.P. (1998). Implicit theories of meaningful life and

the development of the Personal Meaning Profile.

In P.T.P. Wong, & P.S. Fry (Eds.), The human quest for

meaning: A handbook of psychological research and clinical

applications (pp. 111–140). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Wrzesniewski, A., McCauley, C., Rozin, P., & Schwartz, B.

(1997). Jobs, careers, and callings: People’s relations to

their work. Journal of Research in Personality, 31 , 21–33.

Zika, S., & Chamberlain, K. (1987). Relation of hassles and

personality to subjective well-being. Journal of Personalityand Social Psychology, 53, 155–162.


Documents

Orientations Happiness Nations