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. 2020 Jun 23;1(2):107-115.
doi: 10.1007/s42761-020-00011-z. eCollection 2020 Jun.

Happiness, Meaning, and Psychological Richness

Shigehiro Oishi  1 , Hyewon Choi  2 , Minkyung Koo  3 , Iolanda Galinha  4 , Keiko Ishii  5 , Asuka Komiya  6 , Maike Luhmann  7 , Christie Scollon  8 , Ji-Eun Shin  9 , Hwaryung Lee  10 , Eunkook M Suh  10 , Joar Vittersø  11 , Samantha J Heintzelman  12 , Kostadin Kushlev  13 , Erin C Westgate  14 , Nicholas Buttrick  2 , Jane Tucker  15 , Charles R Ebersole  2 , Jordan Axt  16 , Elizabeth Gilbert  17 , Brandon W Ng  18 , Jaime Kurtz  19 , Lorraine L Besser  20
Affiliations

Happiness, Meaning, and Psychological Richness

Shigehiro Oishi et al. Affect Sci. .

Abstract

What kind of life do people want? In psychology, a good life has typically been conceptualized in terms of either hedonic or eudaimonic well-being. We propose that psychological richness is another neglected aspect of what people consider a good life. In study 1 (9-nation cross-cultural study), we asked participants whether they ideally wanted a happy, a meaningful, or a psychologically rich life. Roughly 7 to 17% of participants chose the psychologically rich life. In study 2, we asked 1611 Americans and 680 Koreans what they regret most in their lives; then, if they could undo or reverse the regretful event, whether their lives would have been happier, more meaningful, or psychologically richer as a result. Roughly 28% of Americans and 35% of Koreans reported their lives would have been psychologically richer. Together, this work provides a foundation for the study of psychological richness as another dimension of a good life.

Keywords: Happiness; Meaning in life; Psychological richness.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of InterestThe authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

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