Scientific Reports (Feb 2022)
Perceiving societal pressure to be happy is linked to poor well-being, especially in happy nations
- Egon Dejonckheere,
- Joshua J. Rhee,
- Peter K. Baguma,
- Oumar Barry,
- Maja Becker,
- Michał Bilewicz,
- Thomas Castelain,
- Giulio Costantini,
- Girts Dimdins,
- Agustín Espinosa,
- Gillian Finchilescu,
- Malte Friese,
- Maria Cecilia Gastardo-Conaco,
- Angel Gómez,
- Roberto González,
- Nobuhiko Goto,
- Peter Halama,
- Camilo Hurtado-Parrado,
- Gabriela M. Jiga-Boy,
- Johannes A. Karl,
- Lindsay Novak,
- Liisi Ausmees,
- Steve Loughnan,
- Khairul A. Mastor,
- Neil McLatchie,
- Ike E. Onyishi,
- Muhammad Rizwan,
- Mark Schaller,
- Eleonora Serafimovska,
- Eunkook M. Suh,
- William B. Swann,
- Eddie M. W. Tong,
- Ana Torres,
- Rhiannon N. Turner,
- Alexander Vinogradov,
- Zhechen Wang,
- Victoria Wai-lan Yeung,
- Catherine E. Amiot,
- Watcharaporn Boonyasiriwat,
- Müjde Peker,
- Paul A. M. Van Lange,
- Christin-Melanie Vauclair,
- Peter Kuppens,
- Brock Bastian
Affiliations
- Egon Dejonckheere
- Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Tilburg University
- Joshua J. Rhee
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne
- Peter K. Baguma
- School of Psychology, Makerere University
- Oumar Barry
- Department of Psychology, University Cheikh Anta Diop
- Maja Becker
- CLLE, Université de Toulouse, CNRS
- Michał Bilewicz
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw
- Thomas Castelain
- Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas, Universidad de Costa Rica
- Giulio Costantini
- Department of Psychology, University of Milan-Bicocca
- Girts Dimdins
- Department of Psychology, University of Latvia
- Agustín Espinosa
- Department of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
- Gillian Finchilescu
- Department of Psychology, University of the Witwatersrand
- Malte Friese
- Department of Psychology, Saarland University
- Maria Cecilia Gastardo-Conaco
- Department of Psychology, University of the Philippines
- Angel Gómez
- Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
- Roberto González
- Escuela de Psicología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
- Nobuhiko Goto
- Department of Psychology, Kyoto Notre Dame University
- Peter Halama
- Center of Social and Psychological Sciences, Slovak Academy of Sciences
- Camilo Hurtado-Parrado
- Department of Psychology, Konrad Lorenz University and Troy University
- Gabriela M. Jiga-Boy
- School of Psychology, Swansea University
- Johannes A. Karl
- School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington
- Lindsay Novak
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois
- Liisi Ausmees
- Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu
- Steve Loughnan
- Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh
- Khairul A. Mastor
- School of Liberal Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
- Neil McLatchie
- Psychology Department, Lancaster University
- Ike E. Onyishi
- Department of Psychology, University of Nigeria
- Muhammad Rizwan
- Department of Psychology, University of Haripur
- Mark Schaller
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia
- Eleonora Serafimovska
- Institute for Sociological, Political and Juridical Research, University of Ss Cyril and Methodius
- Eunkook M. Suh
- Department of Psychology, Yonsei University
- William B. Swann
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas
- Eddie M. W. Tong
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore
- Ana Torres
- Department of Psychology, Federal University of Paraíba
- Rhiannon N. Turner
- School of Psychology, Queen’s University Belfast
- Alexander Vinogradov
- Department of Psychology, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
- Zhechen Wang
- School of Social Development and Public Policy, Fudan University
- Victoria Wai-lan Yeung
- Department of Applied Psychology, Lingnan University
- Catherine E. Amiot
- Department of Psychology, Université du Québec À Montréal
- Watcharaporn Boonyasiriwat
- Faculty of Psychology, Chulalongkorn University
- Müjde Peker
- Department of Psychology, MEF University
- Paul A. M. Van Lange
- Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Christin-Melanie Vauclair
- Centre for Psychological Research and Social Intervention, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), CIS-IUL
- Peter Kuppens
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven
- Brock Bastian
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04262-z
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 12,
no. 1
pp. 1 – 14
Abstract
Abstract Happiness is a valuable experience, and societies want their citizens to be happy. Although this societal commitment seems laudable, overly emphasizing positivity (versus negativity) may create an unattainable emotion norm that ironically compromises individual well-being. In this multi-national study (40 countries; 7443 participants), we investigate how societal pressure to be happy and not sad predicts emotional, cognitive and clinical indicators of well-being around the world, and examine how these relations differ as a function of countries’ national happiness levels (collected from the World Happiness Report). Although detrimental well-being associations manifest for an average country, the strength of these relations varies across countries. People’s felt societal pressure to be happy and not sad is particularly linked to poor well-being in countries with a higher World Happiness Index. Although the cross-sectional nature of our work prohibits causal conclusions, our findings highlight the correlational link between social emotion valuation and individual well-being, and suggest that high national happiness levels may have downsides for some.
