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Some Implications of Believing That Happiness Involves the Absence of Pain: Negative Hedonic Beliefs Exacerbate the Effects of Stress on Well-Being

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Abstract

One common belief about happiness, espoused to varying degrees by both researchers and laypeople alike, is that happiness involves a lack of negative hedonic experiences. In the current investigation, we examine whether individual differences in endorsement of this belief, termed negative hedonic belief, moderate the effects of stress on happiness and several indicators of well-being. It was predicted that because stress involves the experience of negative hedonic states, increased stress would be more robustly associated with decreased happiness and well-being among those endorsing negative hedonic beliefs. Results from three studies utilizing both retrospective and prospective research designs generally support this prediction and suggest that endorsing the belief that happiness involves a lack of negative hedonic experiences is associated with more negative outcomes in response to the experience of heightened life stress.

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Notes

  1. The term marginally significant is used to denote a test statistic with a corresponding p value between .05 and .10.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded in part by a research Grant from the Center for Happiness Studies at Seoul National University to the first author.

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    1. Department of Psychological Sciences, Western Oregon University, 345 N. Monmouth Ave., Monmouth, OR, 97361, USA

      Ethan A. McMahan & Patrick Josh

    2. Department of Psychology, Center for Happiness Studies, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151-742, Republic of Korea

      Incheol Choi, Yuri Kwon, Jongan Choi & Joshua Fuller

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    1. Ethan A. McMahan
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    Ethan A. McMahan and Incheol Choi have contributed equally to this work.

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    McMahan, E.A., Choi, I., Kwon, Y. et al. Some Implications of Believing That Happiness Involves the Absence of Pain: Negative Hedonic Beliefs Exacerbate the Effects of Stress on Well-Being. J Happiness Stud 17, 2569–2593 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-015-9707-8

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