The Role of Cultural Heterogeneity in Strengthening the Link Between Family Relationships and Life Satisfaction in 50 Societies

We argue that the importance of family relationships for individual well-being varies across societies as a function of a society’s degree of cultural heterogeneity. To examine the role of family relationships, we analyzed the responses from 13,009 participants in 50 societies on their life satisfaction across societies varying in their levels of historical and contemporary cultural heterogeneity. Such heterogeneity creates differences in the frequency of interacting with unfamiliar groups, which leads families to become more central to their members’ satisfaction with life. Multi-level analyses showed that historical and contemporary cultural heterogeneity moderated the pattern such that greater historical or contemporary cultural heterogeneity of society promoted a stronger positive relation between family relationship satisfaction and individual life satisfaction. Our results also revealed that the moderating role of historical cultural heterogeneity was more reliable than that of contemporary cultural heterogeneity. These findings demonstrate the importance of societal demography in shaping people’s psychological processes in different historical periods, suggesting a universal, trans-historical cultural process

The role of cultural heterogeneity in strengthening the link between family relationships and life satisfaction in 50 societies

We argue that the importance of family relationships for individual well-being varies across societies as a function of a society’s degree of cultural heterogeneity. To examine the role of family relationships, we analyzed the responses from 13,009 participants in 50 societies on their life satisfaction across societies varying in their levels of historical and contemporary cultural heterogeneity. Such heterogeneity creates differences in the frequency of interacting with unfamiliar groups, which leads families to become more central to their members’ satisfaction with life. Multi-level analyses showed that historical and contemporary cultural heterogeneity moderated the pattern such that greater historical or contemporary cultural heterogeneity of society promoted a stronger positive relation between family relationship satisfaction and individual life satisfaction. Our results also revealed that the moderating role of historical cultural heterogeneity was more reliable than that of contemporary cultural heterogeneity. These findings demonstrate the importance of societal demography in shaping people’s psychological processes in different historical periods, suggesting a universal, trans-historical cultural process.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Moving onwards: an action continuation strategy in finding the way

In four studies, we examined people's strategies when deciding between multiple routes of equivalent length in way-finding tasks. The results reveal the important role of continuing behavior when faced with a choice from multiple viable routes. After affirming the existence of asymmetric preferences for alternatives (Studies 1 and 2), we observed that variations of simple known-environment mazes supported action continuation as prevailing process over alternative strategies such as preference for long initial path segments, paths with a least deviating angle, and a modified hill climbing strategy (Study 3). Moreover, asymmetric preferences disappeared with the absence of initial behavior to inform subsequent decision making (Study 4). Results are discussed within the context of decision making, navigation strategies, and everyday life path finding

On the meaningfulness of behavior: an expectancy x value approach.

Our research examines people s concept of meaningful behavior from an expectancy x value perspective. Specifically, we argue that people consider two elements when inferring the meaningfulness of behavior: the value of the goals that the behavior relates to and the degree to which the behavior is useful for the achievement of these goals. A series of five studies demonstrates that behavior is considered to be meaningful if it is highly instrumental for a highly valued goal. Our expectancy x value approach offers a straightforward yet crucial perspective of how people infer whether or not everyday life behaviors are meaningful to them. The implications of our findings for research on meaningfulness, meaningregulation,and sense making are discussed

On boredom: lack of challenge and meaning as distinct boredom experiences

Boredom is a common experience that affects people on multiple levels, including their thoughts, feelings, motivations, and actions. Not much research, however, has examined what makes the experience of boredom distinct from other affective experiences. Based on earlier research on boredom and our meaning-regulation framework, we conducted a series of four studies that demonstrate the distinct experiential content of boredom. More than other negative affective experiences (sadness, anger, and frustration), boredom makes people feel unchallenged while they think that the situation and their actions are meaningless (Study 1). The distinct experiential content of boredom is associated with boredom proneness (Study 2) and with state boredom experiences (Study 3). In addition, the distinct experiential content of boredom is affected by contextual features (Study 4). This series of studies provides a systematic understanding of what people feel, think, and want to do when bored, distinctive from other negative experiences

Dreaming of a brighter future: anticipating happiness instills meaning in life

We theorized and tested that people’s predictions of their future as brighter than the present fulfill an important purpose: they give a sense of meaning to life. We systematically tested this existentialist hypothesis by adopting a self-regulatory approach. Study 1 indicates that envisioning a happier future helps people to find meaning in everyday life behaviors, provided that these are perceived to be instrumental for the pursuit of happiness. Consistently, Study 2 shows that envisioning such increases in future happiness is particularly employed by those who are prone to seek meaning in life. Finally, Study 3 reveals that after people envision a brighter future their perceived meaning in life increases, and it does so especially for those prone to search for meaning in life. Together, these studies suggest that imagining future happiness in part serves the function of perceiving life as meaningful. This research is novel, and builds on and contributes to the literature on meaning making, happiness, well-being, and affective forecasting

From Van Gogh to Lady Gaga: artist eccentricity increases perceived artistic skill and art appreciation

We examined the impact of eccentricity on the evaluation of artistic skills and the quality of artworks. Based on the notion that artists are typically perceived as eccentric, creative and skilled, we tested the hypothesis that eccentricity increases perceptions of artistic quality. In Study 1, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting was evaluated more positively when he was said to have cut off his left ear lobe than when this information was not presented. In Study 2, participants liked art more when the artist was eccentric. In Study 3, the evaluation of fictitious art increased due to the artist’s eccentric appearance. Study 4 established that the eccentricity effect was specific to unconventional as opposed to conventional art. In Study 5, Lady Gaga’s music was more appreciated when she was displayed as highly eccentric; however, the eccentricity effect emerged only when the display seemed authentic. These novel findings indicate that art evaluations are partly rooted in perceptions of artists’ eccentricity and evidence the importance of perceived authenticity and skills for these attributions

Can boredom help? Increased prosocial intentions in response to boredom

Boredom is typically regarded a nuisance. Past research on boredom depicts this common emotion as a correlate of many detrimental psychological and social factors, including addiction, depression, discrimination, and aggression. We present a more nuanced perspective on boredom. Specifically, we propose and test that state boredom serves an important self-regulatory function with the potential to foster positive interpersonal consequences: It signals a lack of purpose in activity and fosters a search for meaningful engagement. We examined whether boredom can subsequently cause prosocial intentions if the corresponding prosocial behavior is seen as purposeful. As predicted, boredom, which is characterized by a search for meaning (pilot study), promoted prosocial intentions (Experiment 1), in particular when the corresponding behavior was seen as highly meaningful (Experiment 2). Our novel findings suggest that boredom can have desirable consequences and recasts this emotion as not merely good or bad but rather as personally and socially functional

Ahead of others in the authorship order: names with middle initials appear earlier in author lists of academic articles in psychology

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