How to be happy from east to west: social and flexible pursuit of happiness is associated with positive effects of valuing happiness on well-being

Abstract

Recent evidence has suggested that valuing happiness to an extreme degree has a potential downside in Western but not in East Asian countries. We tested how valuing happiness relates to well-being in mainland China (N = 721) and Western countries (UK, US, and Canada) (N = 349) in two online survey studies. We predicted that pursuing happiness in a socially engaged yet flexible (i.e., feasible and achievable) way underlies a positive association between valuing happiness and well-being. Indeed, in study 1, a socially engaged definition of happiness mediated the relationship between valuing happiness and well-being in a Chinese sample. Specifically, increased valuing happiness was associated with a higher socially engaged definition of happiness, which in turn was related to higher well-being. Demonstrating the role of flexibility in pursuing happiness, Chinese participants reported more items overall and more feasible items to achieve happiness, though not more social items than participants in the Western sample). In study 2, we repeated the study during the Covid-19 lockdown in Chinese (N = 308) and Western (N = 185) samples and also tested if participants were able to adopt a mindset of flexibly pursuing happiness by adding a survey with social actions that were still feasible (e.g., a call instead of meeting in-person). We found the association holds in times of emotional stress and social restrictions in both samples, suggesting that people flexibly pursue social activities that relate to happiness. We propose that a socially engaged but also feasible and flexible way to pursue happiness is associated with higher well-being.