Abstract
Previous studies have demonstrated the existence of a positive relationship between selflessness and happiness. However, none of these studies yet differentiated the between—and within—person levels of analysis. Moreover, the Selflessness/Selfcenteredness Happiness Model (SSHM) suggests that selflessness might stabilize happiness. In this experience sampling study, we explored the relationships between selflessness and happiness—baseline and stability—at both the within and betweenperson levels. During five consecutive days, participants responded seven times a day to short questions about happiness and selflessness. Our results showed that more selfless individuals were happier and that more selfless moments of an individual were also happier moments. Moreover, more selfless individuals were more stable from one day to the other. Finally, people becoming more selfless experienced more happiness stability at the following assessment moment and the next day. This study brings new evidence of the importance of selflessness for happiness.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Availability of Data and Material
The datasets analysed during the current study and the R scripts are available in the Open Science Framework repository, https://osf.io/7csk9/.
Code Availability
Not applicable.
Notes
This method allows to (1) test whether time interval is associated with higher or lower successive differences and (2) adjust the successive difference when it is the case. In fact, in our data (but also in Jahng et al., 2008) the successive difference was positively associated with longer time intervals. Therefore, using the recommended method, we adjusted the successive difference in order to attenuate the correlation with time intervals (the R code for this transformation is available in https://osf.io/7csk9/).
Controlling for age and gender reveals the same basic findings.
While the planned mean interval was 1 hour and 30 minutes, missing occurrences makes the observed mean time interval longer (M=1.88, SD=1.25).
Preliminary analyses using continuous-time modeling (Driver et al., 2017) support the hypothesis that selflessness positively influences happiness. Moreover happiness appeared to influence selflessness negatively. More details are presented in Supplementary Material 2.
References
Alba, J. W., & Williams, E. F. (2013). Pleasure principles: A review of research on hedonic consumption. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 23(1), 2–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2012.07.003
Armenta, C., Bao, K. J., Lyubomirsky, S., & Sheldon, K. M. (2014). Chapter 4 - is lasting change possible? Lessons from the hedonic adaptation prevention model. In K. M. Sheldon & R. E. Lucas (Eds.), Stability of happiness (pp. 57–74). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-411478-4.00004-7
Ataria, Y., Dor-Ziderman, Y., & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2015). How does it feel to lack a sense of boundaries? A case study of a long-term mindfulness meditator. Consciousness and Cognition, 37, 133–147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2015.09.002
Aue, T., & Okon-Singer, H. (2015). Expectancy biases in fear and anxiety and their link to biases in attention. Clinical Psychology Review, 42, 83–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2015.08.005
Bates, D., Mächler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S. (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1), 1–48. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v067.i01
Bennett, L. K., Scruggs, X., & Woods, J. M. (2020). Surprise, hurt, and anger as emotional responses to expectancy violations following feedback messages. Communication Research Reports, 37(1–2), 22–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/08824096.2020.1737000
Dambrun, M., & Ricard, M. (2011). Self-centeredness and selflessness: A theory of self-based psychological functioning and its consequences for happiness. Review of General Psychology, 15, 138–157. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023059
Dambrun, M., & Ricard, M. (2012). La transcendance de soi et le bonheur: Une mise à l’épreuve du modèle du bonheur basé sur le soi centré-décentré. Les Cahiers Internationaux de Psychologie Sociale, 93, 89–102. https://doi.org/10.3917/cips.093.0089
Dambrun, M., Ricard, M., Després, G., Drelon, E., Gibelin, E., Gibelin, M. & Michaux, O. (2012). Measuring happiness: From fluctuating happiness to authentic–durable happiness. Frontiers in Psychology, 3, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00016
Dambrun, M. (2016). When the dissolution of perceived body boundaries elicits happiness: The effect of selflessness induced by a body scan meditation. Consciousness and Cognition, 46, 89–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2016.09.013
Dambrun, M. (2017). Self-centeredness and selflessness: Happiness correlates and mediating psychological processes. PeerJ5, e3306. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3306
Dambrun, M., Berniard, A., Didelot, T., Chaulet, M., Droit-Volet, S., Corman, M. & Martinon, L. M. (2019). Unified consciousness and the effect of body scan meditation on happiness: Alteration of inner-body experience and feeling of harmony as central processes. Mindfulness, 10(8), 1530–1544. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-019-01104-y
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2008). Hedonia, eudaimonia, and well-being: An introduction. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-006-9018-1
Delle Fave, A., Brdar, I., Wissing, M. P., Araujo, U., Castro Solano, A., Freire, T. & Nafstad, H. E. (2016). Lay definitions of happiness across nations: The primacy of inner harmony and relational connectedness. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 30. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00030
Deng, J., Li, T., Wang, J., & Zhang, R. (2020). Optimistically accepting suffering boosts happiness: Associations between buddhism patience, selflessness, and subjective authentic-durable happiness. Journal of Happiness Studies, 21, 223–240. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-019-00083-0
Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71–75. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13
Diener, E. (2018). Advances in subjective well-being research. Nature Human Behaviour, 2, 253–260. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0307-6
Driver, C., Oud, J., & Voelkle, M. (2017). Continuous time structural equation modeling with r package ctsem. Journal of Statistical Software, 77(5), 1–35. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v077.i05
Elliot, A. J. (2006). The hierarchical model of approach-avoidance motivation. 30(2), 111–116. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-006-9028-7
Enders, C. K., & Tofighi, D. (2007). Centering predictor variables in cross-sectional multilevel models: A new look at an old issue. Psychological Methods, 12(2), 121–138. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989x.12.2.121
Francis, L. J., & Louden, S. H. (2000). Mystical orientation and psychological type: A study among student and adult churchgoers. Transpersonal Psychology Review, 4, 36–42
Fredrickson, B. L. (1998). What good are positive emotions? Review of General Psychology, 2(3), 300–319. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.2.3.300
Geldhof, G. J., Preacher, K. J., & Zyphur, M. J. (2014). Reliability estimation in a multilevel confirmatory factor analysis framework. Psychological Methods, 19(1), 72–91. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032138
Gruber, J., Kogan, A., Quoidbach, J., & Mauss, I. B. (2013). Happiness is best kept stable: Positive emotion variability is associated with poorer psychological health. Emotion, 13(1), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030262
Hanley, A. W., Warner, A., & Garland, E. L. (2014). Associations between mindfulness, psychological well-being, and subjective well-being with respect to contemplative practice. Journal of Happiness Studies, 16(6), 1423–1436. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-014-9569-5
Hanley, A. W., Baker, A. K., & Garland, E. (2017). Self-interest may not be entirely in the interest of the Self: Association between selflessness, dispositional mindfulness and psychological well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 117, 166–171
Hardy, J., & Segerstrom, S. C. (2017). Intra-individual variability and psychological flexibility: Affect and health in a national US sample. Journal of Research in Personality, 69, 13–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2016.04.002
Headey, B., & Muffels, R. (2017). A theory of life satisfaction dynamics: Stability, change and volatility in 25-year life trajectories in Germany. Social Indicators Research, 140(2), 837–866. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-017-1785-z
Hills, P., & Argyle, M. (2001). Emotional stability as a major dimension of happiness. 31(8), 1357–1364. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0191-8869(00)00229-4
Hoffman, L., & Stawski, R. S. (2009). Persons as contexts: Evaluating between-person and within-person effects in longitudinal analysis. Research in Human Development, 6(2–3), 97–120. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427600902911189
Houben, M., Noortgate, W. V. den, & Kuppens, P. (2015). The relation between short-term emotion dynamics and psychological well-being: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 141 4, 901–930. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038822
Huang, F. L. (2017). Conducting multilevel confirmatory factor analysis using r. Unpublished Manuscript. http://faculty.missouri.edu/huangf/data/mcfa/MCFA%20in%20R%20HUANG.pdf
Huta, V., & Waterman, A. S. (2014). Eudaimonia and its distinction from hedonia: Developing a classification and terminology for understanding conceptual and operational definitions. Journal of Happiness Studies, 15, 1425–1456. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-013-9485-0
Jahng, S., Wood, P. K., & Trull, T. J. (2008). Analysis of affective instability in ecological momentary assessment: Indices using successive difference and group comparison via multilevel modeling. Psychological Methods, 13(4), 354–375. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014173
Kahneman, D. (1999). Objective Happiness. In D. Kahneman, E. Diener, & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Well-being: Foundations of hedonic psychology (pp. 3–25). Russell Sage Foundation
Kernis, M. H., Grannemann, B. D., & Barclay, L. C. (1992). Stability of self-esteem: Assessment, correlates, and excuse making. Journal of Personality, 60(3), 621–644. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1992.tb00923.x
Kjell, O. N. E., Daukantaitė, D., Hefferon, K., & Sikström, S. (2016). The harmony in life scale complements the satisfaction with life scale: Expanding the conceptualization of the cognitive component of subjective well-being. Social Indicators Research, 126, 893–919. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-015-0903-z
Kjell, O. N. E., & Diener, E. (2020). Abbreviated three-item versions of the satisfaction with life scale and the harmony in life scale yield as strong psychometric properties as the original scales. Journal of Personality Assessment, 103, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2020.1737093
Larson, R., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1983). The experience sampling method. New Directions for Methodology of Social & Behavioral Science
Leary, M. R., Tipsord, J. M., & Tate, E. B. (2008). In H. Wayment & J. Bauer (Eds.), Transcending self-interest psychological explorations of the quiet ego (pp. 137–147). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/11771-013
Linton, M. J., Dieppe, P., & Medina-Lara, A. (2015). Review of 99 self-report measures for assessing well-being in adults: Exploring dimensions of well-being and developments over time. BMJ Open, 6, e010641. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2015-01064
McDonald, M. G., Wearing, S., & Ponting, J. (2009). The nature of peak experience in wilderness. 37(4), 370–385. https://doi.org/10.1080/08873260701828912
Nezlek, J. B. (2017). A practical guide to understanding reliability in studies of within-person variability. Journal of Research in Personality, 69, 149–155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2016.06.020
Parducci, A., & Helson, H. (1965). Adaptation-level theory. The American Journal of Psychology, 78(1), 158. https://doi.org/10.2307/1421107
Pellerin, N., Raufaste, E., & Dambrun, M. (2020). Selflessness and happiness in everyday life. Journal of Individual Differences, 4, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001/a000335
R Core Team. (2020). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. https://www.R-project.org/
Rosseel, Y. (2012). lavaan: An R package for structural equation modeling. Journal of Statistical Software, 48(2), 1–36. https://www.jstatsoft.org/v48/i02/
Waterman, A. S. (1993). Two conceptions of happiness: Contrasts of personal expressiveness (eudaimonia) and hedonic enjoyment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 678–691. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.64.4.678
Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Carey, G. (1988). Positive and negative affectivity and their relation to anxiety and depressive disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 97(3), 346–353. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843x.97.3.346
Funding
The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
NP, MD and ER designed the study. NP collected, analysed the results and wrote the first draft of manuscript. MD and ER revised the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing Interests
The authors declare they have no financial interests.
Ethics Approval
All procedures performed in these studies were reviewed and approved by Toulouse University?s ethics committee (IRB00011835-2020-03-03-225). The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and its latest amendments.
Consent to Participate
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Consent for Publication
Not applicable.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pellerin, N., Dambrun, M. & Raufaste, E. Selflessness Meets Higher and More Stable Happiness: An Experience Sampling Study of the Joint Dynamics of Selflessness and Happiness. J Happiness Stud 23, 3127–3142 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-022-00503-8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-022-00503-8