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Orientations to Happiness and Life Satisfaction: The Full Life Versus the Empty Life

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The Exploration of Happiness

Part of the book series: Happiness Studies Book Series ((HAPS))

Abstract

Different orientations to happiness and their association with life satisfaction were investigated with 845 adults responding to Internet surveys. We measured life satisfaction and the endorsement of three different ways to be happy: through pleasure, through engagement, and through meaning. Each of these three orientations individually predicted life satisfaction. People simultaneously low on all three orientations reported especially low life satisfaction. These findings point the way toward a distinction between the full life and the empty life.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In the present chapter, we use “happiness” in its broadest sense to include hedonic features but also fulfillment and contentment (cf. Myers 1992; Seligman 2002). We follow Diener's (1984) lead in defining “life satisfaction” as a summary appraisal of the quality of one's life regardless of how it is achieved (cf. Pavot and Diener 1993).

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the support of the Manuel D. and Rhoda Mayerson Foundation in creating the Values in Action Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development of a scientific knowledge base of human strengths.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 525 East University, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-1109, USA

    Christopher Peterson & Nansook Park

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Martin E. P. Seligman

Authors
  1. Christopher Peterson
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  2. Nansook Park
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  3. Martin E. P. Seligman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christopher Peterson .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Pathophysiology, and Transplantation, University of Milan, Via G.B. Grassi 74, Milan, 20157, Italy

    Antonella Delle Fave

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Peterson, C., Park, N., Seligman, M.E.P. (2013). Orientations to Happiness and Life Satisfaction: The Full Life Versus the Empty Life. In: Delle Fave, A. (eds) The Exploration of Happiness. Happiness Studies Book Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5702-8_9

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