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19-06-2023 | Research Paper

Pleasure or Meaning: Subjective Well-Being Orientations and the Willingness to Help Close Versus Distant Others

Authors: Hagit Sabato, Sapir Bar-Ilan

Published in: Journal of Happiness Studies | Issue 6/2023

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Abstract

We examined the role of two Subjective well-being orientations, hedonism (maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain) and eudemonia (a desire for meaningful life), in prosocial behavior toward a close help recipient versus a distant one. Study 1 examined individual differences in levels of hedonism and eudemonia, while studies 2 and 3 used a priming manipulation to enhance the salience of the two orientations. In all three studies we found that these orientations interact with the attributes of the help recipient during the decision to help. Specifically, hedonism was found to be positively associated with prosocial acts when the recipient was presented as a close other (a friend, as opposed to an unfamiliar student; or a specific identified target, as opposed to a general one). Conversely, eudemonia predicted greater donations to more general or distant causes. A moderated mediation analysis (Study 3) suggests that the hedonic orientation increased donations specifically to closer recipients (the identified victim), due to the heightened emotional reaction raised by this help target. However, the increased donations to the general help target under eudemonic orientation was not driven by emotional reactions.

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Appendix
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Footnotes
1
For a detailed review, see (Diener et al., 2018; Keyes, 2006).
 
2
All analyses were also run on the help items, which revealed very similar results. See supplementary materials.
 
3
Since the data in Study 1 are based on self-reporting, we tested for common method variable (CMV). Results indicated that bias due to CMV is less likely—see Supplementary Materials.
 
4
In all our studies, repeating the analyses with demographic variables (age and gender) as covariates, revealed the same significant patterns (see Supplementary Materials).
 
5
The recipient’s closeness is a dichotomous variable, entered as a dummy variable, which was coded 0 for an unfamiliar other, and 1 for a close friend.
 
6
Note that although the first step was marginally non-significant, the role of the Eudemonic orientation significantly contributed to the model (t = 2.21, β = .20, p = .03)—such that participants who scored higher in the Eudemonic orientation were willing to devote more time to help.
 
7
Repeating the same regression analysis while adding Life Satisfaction and while adding Positive Emotions as a constant to the first step of the model, revealed very similar results. A regression analyses with the life satisfaction, the recipients’ closeness and the interaction between them, as predictors of time devoted to help revealed a positive direction for the effect of life satisfaction, although far from a significant level. See Supplementary Materials.
 
8
All the money raised in this study was subsequently donated by the experimenter to an Israeli organization that helps children with cancer.
 
9
In addition, we compared between the three studies in terms of demographic variables, see Supplementary Materials.
 
10
This applies specially to Study 1, which was run during COVID-19 first lockdown. Since we wanted to keep the study’s manipulation (that refer to the lockdown’s restrictions of quarantine) identical for all participants, we could not collect more data when the lockdown was lifted and the restrictions changed, since the scenario was no longer relevant.
 
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Metadata
Title
Pleasure or Meaning: Subjective Well-Being Orientations and the Willingness to Help Close Versus Distant Others
Authors
Hagit Sabato
Sapir Bar-Ilan
Publication date
19-06-2023
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Published in
Journal of Happiness Studies / Issue 6/2023
Print ISSN: 1389-4978
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7780
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-023-00668-w

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