Bernecker, Katharina; Becker, Daniela; Guobyte, Aiste (2025). High self-control individuals prefer meaning over pleasure. Social Psychological and Personality Science SAGE. 10.1177/19485506251323948
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The link between self-control and success in various life domains is often explained by people avoiding hedonic pleasures, such as through inhibition, making the right choices, or using adaptive strategies. We propose an additional explanation: High self-control individuals prefer spending time on meaningful activities rather than pleasurable ones, whereas the opposite is true for individuals with high trait hedonic capacity. In Studies 1b and 1b, participants either imagined (N = 449) or actually engaged in activities (N = 231, pre-registered) during unexpected free time. They then rated their experience. In both studies, trait self-control was positively related to the eudaimonic experience (e.g., meaning) of activities and unrelated to their hedonic experience (e.g., pleasure). The opposite was true for trait hedonic capacity. Study 2 (N = 248) confirmed these findings using a repeated-choice paradigm. The preference for eudaimonic over hedonic experiences may be a key aspect of successful long-term goal pursuit.
Item Type: |
Journal Article (Original Article) |
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PHBern Contributor: |
Bernecker, K. |
Publisher: |
SAGE |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Katharina Bernecker |
Date Deposited: |
31 Mar 2025 09:57 |
Last Modified: |
31 Mar 2025 09:57 |
Publisher DOI: |
10.1177/19485506251323948 |
Uncontrolled Keywords: |
self-regulation, self-control, motivation, goals, personality |
PHBern DOI: |
10.57694/7669 |
URI: |
https://phrepo.phbern.ch/id/eprint/7669 |
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