Choosing Between Happiness and Meaningfulness
The aim of this study was to explore the happiness and meaningfulness relationship and examine which mindfulness and self-compassion facets are better predictors of happiness.
Which is better? Happiness or Meaningfulness?
Positive Psychology has taught us to look at the brighter side of Psychology, it has given us a new perspective other than the usual pathology.
As for myself, it has taught me to flourish and tap my strengths than just focusing on fixing my weaknesses. It has taught me to pursue happiness.
But is that where it ends? Should joy be the ultimate trophy?
In this brief positive psychology course topic, I will help you take a look at happiness and meaningfulness, its differences, and let you know which kind of life you should lead.
Before you continue you might like to consider our free worksheet on exploring “Find Your Passion”. Please download this worksheet here.
This Articles Includes:
The Science of Happiness
How Do You Actually ‘Find ‘ Happiness Through Science?
Researches About Happiness
The Concept of Meaningfulness
The ‘nature’ of Happiness
The ‘culture’ of Meaningfulness
Happy Versus Meaningful Lives
Which Lives Should You Lead?
The Science of Happiness
The positive psychology certificate was my ticket to the Science of Happiness, a movement that was introduced by Martin Seligman when he became president of the American Psychological Association. True to its name, it is known as the psychology of affirmative thoughts, ideas, and experiences set forth to understand, and ‘find’ happiness.
“The message of the positive psychology movement is to remind our field that it has been deformed. Psychology is not just the study of disease, weakness, and damage; it also is the study of strength and virtue. Treatment is not just fixing what is wrong; it also is building what is right. Psychology is not just about illness or health; it also is about work, education, insight, love, growth, and play. And in this quest for what is best, positive psychology does not rely on wishful thinking, self-deception, or hand waving; instead, it tries to adapt what is best in the scientific method to the unique problems that human behavior presents in all its complexity.” -Martin Seligman, 2002
If you found this article interesting and wish to explore further why you might be having particular feelings, please download our free worksheet here.
How Do You Actually ‘Find’ Happiness Through Science?
According to Ed Diener (1984), they also call him ‘Dr. Happiness’, happiness means different things. The three major types of happiness are:
- High life satisfaction
- Frequent positive feelings
- Infrequent negative feelings
These various forms of happiness he collectively labeled as “subjective well-being” (SWB) and are the scientific term used when measuring or ‘finding’ gladness.
Researches About Happiness
According to Deci & Ryan (2006), subjective well-being (SWB) is often construed to mean:
- an experience of a high level of positive affect
- with a low level of negative affect
- and a high degree of life satisfaction
If the above are all present, one can be said to be high in SWB. The concept of SWB has been frequently used as interchangeable to happiness.’ But the next one is how I could differentiate happiness from meaningfulness.
Hedonia and Eudaimonia Hedonia In 1999, Kahneman et.al published “Well-Being: The Foundation of Hedonic Psychology” and associated SWB with the hedonistic approach to well-being. A hedonic perspective looks into happiness as the state of maximizing pleasure and a means of minimizing pain or simply: happiness is about the pursuit of pleasure and enjoyment. Eudaimonia Eudaimonia, on the other hand, is achieved through the experience of meaning and purpose. This construct introduced by Aristotle from his Nicomachean Ethics is where Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is aligned, which says that the highest goal or that the peak of our needs is the achievement of self-actualization like realizing our meaning and purpose in life. Eudaimonia is where ‘meaningfulness’ is most closely related as it is concerned with “living well or actualizing one’s human potentials” (Deci & Ryan, 2006).
The Concept of Meaningfulness
Meaning can be regarded as purely a symbol or that of reality expressed verbally (for example word meaning). I have used meaningfulness and happiness before but as I learned about its difference, I have learned to use specifically.
There is meaningfulness if, for example, I find my existence constantly rewarding (symbolically) even though I may not exactly put into words what meaningfulness means for me(verbal reality).
The ‘nature’ of Happiness
Research by Sonya Lyubomirsky about the ‘hedonic treadmill, more clearly differentiated the nature of happiness. She illustrated it through the existence of the definite set points of happiness— meaning we can determine how happy we are to a certain extent, but over half of our exhilaration is determined by things we can’t change. We’ll go back to this at the end of this article.
According to her calculations an individual’s
happiness set point is determined by:
50% from GENETICS
40% is under a person’s control
10% Settings that are out of one’s control (like place of birth and/or parents)
Baumeister’s (2015) research about happiness and meaningfulness, assumed that elation is in all living creature’s nature. He noted that the biological needs (the things they must obtain to survive and reproduce) of living creatures are considered as their basic motivations to pursue and enjoy those needed things— and that whenever these biological needs are satisfied, these produce ‘positive feeling states’.
“Therefore, happiness is a part of the human experience because it is produced whenever needs are met.”
The ‘Culture’ in Meaningfulness
If happiness is natural, meaningfulness may depend on culture. All known cultures use language, which enables them to use meanings and communicate them”
Evaluation of one’s life meaningfulness makes use of language symbols (which are culturally transmitted), relating it to the other culturally learned purposes, values, and other meanings.
This makes meaning more of a cultural identity.
Meaningfulness is also not limited to the present circumstances, an example would be like having meaningful thoughts about possibilities in the past and future. This can be related to “purpose” which regards present events as a prerequisite of future ones.
Happy Versus Meaningful Lives
Baumeister, Vohs, Aaker, and Garbinsky (2013) investigated the difference between the two terms the following were the results of their study:
- Happiness and meaning were hardly unrelated.
Happiness and meaning overlapped about half. To some extent, that may reflect a tendency for some people to claim that their lives have all manner of good things (i.e., both happiness and meaning) or lacked them. But clearly to some extent meaninglessness and unhappiness go together.
- Five sets of differences about what makes life a happy or meaningful one: 1. The satisfaction of basic desires.
Happiness:
Getting what one wants and needs Makes people think they have an easy life
Positive correlation with good health
Related to having enough money for buying what they want or need
Meaningfulness:
Has little to do with satisfying one’s urges.
People were less happy
Health was not relevant
The societal economic situation was irrelevant
2. Time Span.
The present was associated with delight
“The more people thought about the present, the happier they were.”
Happiness is more fleeting or temporary
Feeling good in the here and now.
Those who were imagining their future were linked to a higher meaning.
“The more people thought about the future and the past, the more meaningful their lives were.”
Meaningfulness lasts and endures.
Meaning bridges the past, present, and future
3. Social Connections.
The presence of strong bonds with others increased both high spirits and meaning.
Being a taker, people felt joy when acknowledge others doing things for them.
Being a giver, people’s lives felt more meaningful when they do things for others.
People who see themselves as the type that argues find their life more profound.
4. 
Involvement in world affairs
Not worrying— happiness can be achieved by withdrawing into the pursuit of pleasures and satisfaction.
Meaningfulness is found coinciding with “stress, worry, reflecting on one’s struggles and challenges, anticipating spending a lot of time in deep thinking”
Less bad events correlate with happiness
“Although negative life events are less frequent than positive ones, they have far more impact on happiness.”
Positive and negative events both can evoke meaningfulness
5. Self and Identity
Irrelevant to happiness; more likely linked to meaningfulness
Meaning is found in activities of self-expression.
“People who considered their lives highly significant tended to rate themselves as wiser, more creative, and more anxious than others. Wisdom and creativity were irrelevant to happiness, and (not surprisingly) regarding oneself as anxious lessened from happiness.”
Which Life Should You Lead?
So should you lead an exciting life?
Or a meaningful life?
Let us go back to the previously mentioned happiness set point (or hedonic treadmill).
There is only 40% of happiness that you can control.
That 40% is what you are most likely are controlling when you engage in momentary pleasures— which improves your mood but is temporary.
A way to prevent reverting to your happiness set point is to engage in more ‘eudaimonic’ activities or those that will provide you with meaning because meaningfulness lasts and endures over time.
There is only 40% of happiness that you can control.
That 40% is what you are most likely are controlling when you engage in momentary pleasures— which improves your mood but is temporary.
A way to prevent reverting to your happiness set point is to engage in more ‘eudaimonic’ activities or those that will provide you with meaning because meaningfulness lasts and endures over time.
But there will be moments that it’s not suggested to engage in the activities that evoke meaningfulness. Let’s say you are tired or stressed, most often than not, treating yourself to a simple hedonic pleasure, like taking a warm bath or eating your favorite food, is a quick fix to lift your mood, and it a lot easier than engaging in a ‘meaningful’ activity like let’s say contemplation.
Do not deprive yourself of meaningfulness for the sake of happiness and vice versa.
Leading a balanced happy and meaningful life is a lot better than choosing to lead either of a happy life or a meaningful life.
Most positive psychology programs can help you discover and look into happiness and meaningfulness, and as I mentioned, you don’t need to choose between them, you only need to know which to pursue in a given situation.
If you’re ready to discover what brings true happiness and meaningfulness to your life, download our free Find Your Passion Workbook here to guide you in living a more balanced and fulfilling life.
