Approaches to happiness, life

goals and well-being

Majda Rijavec – University of Zagreb, Croatia

Ingrid Brdar – University of Rijeka, Croatia
Dubravka Miljković – University of Zagreb, Croatia
 Well-being
• hedonic conceptions of well-being

• eudaimonic conceptions of well-being

HEDONIC APPROACH EUDAIMONIC
APPROACH
• creating high
levels of happiness • expanding potentials

• finding and • cultivating personal

fostering positive growth
emotionality

Kahnemann, Diener & Ryan & Deci, 2001.

Schwartz, 1999.
Hedonic approach
Eudaimonic approach
 Well-being

• subjective well-being – hedonic

aspects

• psychological well-being –
eudaimonic aspects
 Precursors of well-being

• Approaches to happiness

• Life goals
Approaches to happiness
Seligman, 2002

• Pleasant life
• Engaged life
• Meaningfull life
 Pleasant life

• consists of having as many

pleasures as possible and skills to
amplify the pleasures
 Engaged life

• comes through deep engagement,

using one's strengths and virtues in
activities that one finds challenging
and rewarding
 Meaningfull life

• consists of using one's strengths in

the service of something that one
believes is larger than oneself
 Types of life goals

Extrinsic Intrinsic

• financial success • emotional intimacy

• physical attractiveness • community service
• social fame/popularity • personal growth
Intrinsic and extrinsic life goals
Kasser & Ryan, 1993, 1996, 2001

• intrinsic goals are associated with

enhanced well-being

• extrinsic goals do not enhance and

often detracts from well-being
 Aim

To examine the relationship between

• approaches to happiness
• intrinsic and extrinsic life goals
• hedonic and eudaimonic well-being
 Hypotheses

Pleasant life Extrinsic goals Hedonic well being

Engaged life

Intrinsic goals Eudaimonic well-being

Meaningfull
life
 Instruments
• Ways of life questionnaire (Peterson, Park &
Seligman, 2005)

• Aspiration Index (Kasser & Ryan, 1996)

• The Satisfaction With Life Scale (Diener, 1985)

• The Scales of Psychological Well-Being

(Ryff, 1989)
 Participants

• 776 students
• 286 males and 490 females
• aged from 15 to 20 years
 EXTRINSIC
GOALS .10
.29
-.16
PLEASANT .14
LIFE HEDONIC
.13 WELL-BEING

MEANINGFUL .18
LIFE .17 .45
.52

ENGAGED .06 EUDAIMONIC

.12
LIFE WELL-BEING
.02
-.02
.20
INTRINSIC
GOALS

2
χ = 10.61, p = .03, RMSEA = .057 p > .05
• Pleasant life is positively related only to
hedonic well-being – directly and through
extrinsic life-goals

• Engaged life is directly positively related only

to eudaimonic well-being

• Meaningfull life is positively related to both

hedonic and eudaimonic well-being, and
postively to eudaimonic well-being through
intrinsic life-goals
 Conclusions
• Different approaches to happiness
are related to different types of well-
being

• This relationship is to a certain extent

mediated by different kinds of life
goals
And that
would be
all, I guess!