A study published in The Journal of Positive Psychology was conducted by psychologists Jason W. Payne and Ulrich Schimmack from the University of Toronto. The researchers aimed to explore ideas about what determines a good life in more detail.
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One of these, called the hedonistic view, states that well-being essentially depends on experiencing pleasure and avoiding unpleasant experiences.
Another, often called the eudaimonic view, argues that a good life consists of things that may be important even when they do not necessarily make you feel good at the moment.
For example, caring for a sick family member can be exhausting, stressful, and unpleasant, but most people would not say that this experience lacks value just because it does not provide more happiness in the short term.
The researchers were particularly interested in three psychological needs highlighted in self-determination theory: relatedness – having meaningful relationships; competence – feeling capable and effective; and autonomy – feeling that one’s actions are chosen freely rather than forced.
They wanted to find out whether these factors influence people’s views of their lives independently of their emotional state and the immediate feeling of “well-being right now.”
To investigate this, in 2022 the researchers surveyed more than 1,200 adults aged 18 to 80 in Canada and the United Kingdom.
Participants answered questions about life satisfaction, positive and negative emotions, personality, and how well their three main psychological needs were met.
All three psychological needs were somewhat related to life satisfaction, but relatedness and competence were mainly important because they helped people feel good.
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Autonomy was different.
People who felt they had more autonomy were more satisfied with their lives even when accounting for how positively or negatively they evaluated other aspects of their lives.
“Even when considering how good or bad people felt, those who felt more autonomous were more satisfied with their lives. Autonomy was the only psychological need that seems to provide something that emotions alone do not explain,” says J.W. Payne.
The idea is that it seems we ask ourselves not only: “How do I feel?” but also: “Is this life mine?”
This difference may explain why people sometimes make decisions that do not provide the greatest possible momentary pleasure.
We may choose a demanding job because it offers more independence than an easier one, or move to an unfamiliar place because we want to make decisions ourselves, detached from existing relationships and previous life.
Such choices do not necessarily provide a constant stream of positive emotions. However, they can still contribute to the feeling that our life is going well – simply because we made these choices ourselves.
The researchers do not say that pleasure is unimportant. In fact, positive and negative emotions explained a significant part of people’s life satisfaction ratings.
Their results rather show that neither a purely hedonistic nor solely eudaimonic approach reveals the whole picture. When evaluating their lives, people seem to rely on both aspects.
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