Happiness—To Enjoy Now or Later? Consequences of Delaying Happiness and Living in the Moment Beliefs

Lora E. Park; Kentaro Fujita; Kristin Naragon-Gainey; Tracy M. Radsvick; Han Young Jung; Ji Xia; Deborah E. Ward; Elaine Paravati; Jennifer Weng; Alessia Italiano; Austin Valvo

doi:10.1037/emo0000850

Happiness—To Enjoy Now or Later? Consequences of Delaying Happiness and Living in the Moment Beliefs

Lora E. Park, Kentaro Fujita, Kristin Naragon-Gainey, Tracy M. Radsvick, Han Young Jung, Ji Xia, Deborah E. Ward, Elaine Paravati, Jennifer Weng, Alessia Italiano, Austin Valvo

School of Psychological Science

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

How do people think about happiness? Is it something best enjoyed as an investment over time, or is it something fleeting that should be savored? When people view happiness as an investment, they may endorse delaying happiness (DH) – the belief that working hard and sacrificing opportunities for happiness now will contribute to greater future happiness. When people view happiness as fleeting, they may endorse living in the moment (LM)—the belief that one should seize proximal opportunities to experience happiness now, rather than later. Using a mix of cross-sectional, meta-analytic (Studies 1, 2a, 2b, 2c), experimental (Study 3), and daily diary methods (Study 4), people who endorsed DH or LM beliefs anticipated more positive affect upon goal attainment and experienced greater well-being, but only DH was related to more negative affect when pursuing nonfocal goals and less delay discounting of future rewards. Implications for self-regulation and emotion are discussed

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	138-162
Number of pages	25
Journal	Emotion
Volume	23
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000850
Publication status	Published - 15 Nov 2021

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abstract = "How do people think about happiness? Is it something best enjoyed as an investment over time, or is it something fleeting that should be savored? When people view happiness as an investment, they may endorse delaying happiness (DH) – the belief that working hard and sacrificing opportunities for happiness now will contribute to greater future happiness. When people view happiness as fleeting, they may endorse living in the moment (LM)—the belief that one should seize proximal opportunities to experience happiness now, rather than later. Using a mix of cross-sectional, meta-analytic (Studies 1, 2a, 2b, 2c), experimental (Study 3), and daily diary methods (Study 4), people who endorsed DH or LM beliefs anticipated more positive affect upon goal attainment and experienced greater well-being, but only DH was related to more negative affect when pursuing nonfocal goals and less delay discounting of future rewards. Implications for self-regulation and emotion are discussed",

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AU - Radsvick, Tracy M.

AU - Jung, Han Young

AU - Xia, Ji

AU - Ward, Deborah E.

AU - Paravati, Elaine

AU - Weng, Jennifer

AU - Italiano, Alessia

AU - Valvo, Austin

PY - 2021/11/15

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Happiness—To Enjoy Now or Later? Consequences of Delaying Happiness and Living in the Moment Beliefs

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