Well-being
Future self-continuity promotes meaning in life through authenticity
Hong, E. K., Zhang, Y., & Sedikides, C. (2024) Journal of Research in Personality.
We concerned with the emerging construct “future self-continuity” and its psychological consequences. We hypothesized, in particular, that future self-continuity, the perceived connection between one’s present and future self, is related—correlationally and causally—to meaning in life via authenticity, the subjective alignment with one’s true self. We tested and supported this hypothesis in three studies using measurement-of-mediation and experimental-causal-chain designs. At the trait level, future self-continuity was positively associated with meaning in life through authenticity (Study 1; N = 255). Experimentally induced high (vs. low) future self-continuity increased meaning in life via authenticity (Study 2; N = 177). Finally, experimentally induced authenticity (vs. controls) augmented meaning in life (Study 3; N = 369). Future self-continuity has implications for psychological well-being.
Implicit theories of happiness: When happiness is viewed as changeable, happy people are perceived much more positively than unhappy people
Hong, E. K., Kim, J., & Choi, I. (2023). Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Happy people are often perceived positively, perhaps more than they actually are, whereas unhappy people are often
perceived negatively, perhaps more than they actually are. What would make this bias stronger or weaker? The present
research addresses this question by exploring the roles of implicit theories of happiness in the trait perceptions toward happy
and unhappy people. Specifically, four studies (N = 998) tested hypotheses that an incremental theory of happiness would
enhance and an entity theory of happiness would attenuate the trait perceptions favoring happy over unhappy people. Results
found converging evidence that believing happiness as changeable (incremental theory) enhances the positive perceptions
toward happy people, while providing less consistent evidence that believing happiness as fixed (entity theory) mitigates
the negative perceptions toward unhappy people. The current research contributes to the literature on essentialism and
advances the understanding of the roles of implicit theories of happiness in person perception.
The restorative power of nostalgia: Thwarting loneliness by raising happiness during the COVID-19 pandemic
Zhou, X., Sedikides, C., Mo, T., Li, W., Hong, E. K., & Wildschut, T. (2022). Social Psychological and Personality Science,
Lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic increased the risk for loneliness. We tested whether nostalgia counteracts loneliness via rises in happiness. We conducted surveys in China (N ¼ 1,546), the United States (N ¼ 1,572), and the United Kingdom (N ¼ 603). Although feeling lonely was associated with unhappiness, it was also associated with nostalgia, which in turn conduced to increased happiness. We complemented these findings with three experiments testing MTurk workers (Study 4, N ¼ 209; Study 5, N ¼ 196; Study 6, N ¼ 190), where we manipulated nostalgia and assessed happiness. Nostalgia increased happiness immediately after the manipulation (Studies 4–6) and, following an induction booster, up to 2 days later (Studies 4–5). Nostalgia is a psychological resource that can be harnessed to raise happiness and help combat loneliness.
Companion versus comparison: Examining seeking social companionship or social comparison as characteristics that differentiate happy and unhappy people
Kim, J., Hong, E. K., Choi, I., & Hicks, J. (2016). Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Which friend do you want to spend time with—a happy friend who performs better than you or an unhappy friend who
performs worse than you? The present research demonstrates that in such conflicting situations, when the desires for
companionship and comparison are pitted against each other, one’s level of happiness plays an important role in one’s choice.
Using hypothetical scenarios, we found that compared with unhappy people, happy people expected that spending time with
a happy, superior friend would be more pleasant than spending time with an unhappy, inferior friend (Studies 1B through 2)
and were more willing to socialize with a happy, superior friend than with an unhappy, inferior friend (Studies 1B through
2). Moreover, this pattern was not explained by self-esteem (Study 2) or the similarity-attraction hypothesis (Study 3). The
present findings suggest that happy people place more value on companionship than on comparison.