Can seeking happiness make people unhappy? [corrected] Paradoxical effects of valuing happiness.
@article{Mauss2011CanSH, title={Can seeking happiness make people unhappy? [corrected] Paradoxical effects of valuing happiness.}, author={Iris B. Mauss and Maya Tamir and Craig L. Anderson and Nicole S. Savino}, journal={Emotion}, year={2011}, volume={11 4}, pages={ 807-15 } }
Happiness is a key ingredient of well-being. It is thus reasonable to expect that valuing happiness will have beneficial outcomes. We argue that this may not always be the case. Instead, valuing happiness could be self-defeating, because the more people value happiness, the more likely they will feel disappointed. This should apply particularly in positive situations, in which people have every reason to be happy. Two studies support this hypothesis. In Study 1, female participants who valued…
176 Citations
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