Happiness is often treated as the central ingredient of a good life, but idealizing maximum happiness is not shared by all people. Cultural background strongly shapes emotional goals and desired affective states. Evidence from a large-scale study across 61 countries links happiness maximization more strongly to individuals from WEIRD cultures. In Germany and Iceland, most participants define an ideal level of happiness as at least “very happy.” In other places, the ideal may not center on maximizing happiness. For many cultures, a good life includes harmony, spirituality, and other aims beyond happiness. A universal recipe for human flourishing is difficult because outcomes depend on the context people live in.
"For many cultures, there's more to a good life than pursuing happiness, including harmony and spirituality. It's difficult to find a universal recipe for human flourishing, as much depends on context in which we live. A good life can be defined through relationships, social balance, and spiritual meaning rather than through maximizing positive feelings alone."
Read at Psychology Today
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]