A new study asks a more nuanced question: Does meaning predict happiness, regardless of wealth? The results suggest that meaning is less important to happiness for wealthy people. More importantly, meaning may be extra important for people without much money. The search for meaning is woven tightly into the pursuit of a life well lived.
Defining Meaning and Happiness
Researchers and philosophers differentiate between two types of psychological wellbeing: eudaimonic (the meaningful, purposeful, or significant) and hedonic (the pleasurable or enjoyable)
- In general, meaningful experiences make people feel happy and vice versa
- Finding meaning in life is a good way to boost happiness
How money fits in
Prior research establishes that, on average, wealthy people experience happier and more meaningful lives than their lower-income counterparts
- This is probably because money can buy both meaning and happiness, so long as you spend it in the right way
- Does meaning predict happiness, regardless of wealth? Or does money change things?
Confounding Factors
Age and religiosity are correlated with meaning and income, making them potential confounding factors
- Additionally, income might affect how much meaning and happiness vary
- However, even when controlling for these variables, meaning loses power to predict happiness as wealth increases
- In fact, in study 1, the researchers ran model specifications that combined different ways of measuring meaning, happiness, and income. They found that meaning predicted happiness less for wealthier people in 599 of 600 specifications.
Study 1: The Americans
Researchers measured meaning by averaging two criteria that assess one’s sense of life purpose: how much respondents like what they do each day, and how much they are motivated to achieve their goals
- Wealth was measured by monthly income
- The richer someone is, the less meaning affects their happiness levels
- Importantly, this does not mean that high-income people reported less overall meaning or happiness
What this does and does not mean
The data from more than 500,000 people suggest that meaning is less important to happiness for wealthy people.
- This does not necessarily mean that wealthy people are struggling to find meaning: Both their meaning and happiness levels are on par with, or even higher than, their lower-income counterparts.
- Perhaps wealthy people simply do not need meaning to be happy.
Study 2: The World
This time the researchers used the Gallup World Poll, which is an extensively validated survey administered in local languages across 123 countries
- A different question was used to measure meaning: “Do you feel your life has an important purpose or meaning?”
- The correlation between meaning and happiness became smaller as wealth increased
Study 3: Different questions
Catapano and her team recruited participants through a popular French TV program and asked them well-validated, direct questions.
- Participants rated the extent to which they lead a purposeful and meaningful life
- For wealth status, participants rated their socioeconomic status using the MacArthur social ladder, which asks participants where they believe they stand compared to others considering their money, education, and jobs.
