Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor
Frankl once wrote, “Life is never made
unbearable by circumstances, but only by
lack of meaning and purpose.” For most
people, feeling happy and finding life
meaningful are both important and related
goals. But do happiness and meaning always
go together? It seems unlikely, given that
many of the things that we regularly choose
to do – from running marathons to raising
children – are unlikely to increase our day-
to-day happiness. Recent research suggests
that while happiness and a sense of meaning
often overlap, they also diverge in important
and surprising ways.
Roy Baumeister and his colleagues recently
published a study in the Journal of Positive
Psychology that helps explain some of the
key differences between a happy life and a
meaningful one. They asked almost 400
American adults to fill out three surveys over
a period of weeks. The surveys asked people
to answer a series of questions their
happiness levels, the degree to which they
saw their lives as meaningful, and their
general lifestyle and circumstances.
As one might expect, people’s happiness
levels were positively correlated with
whether they saw their lives as meaningful.
However, the two measures were not
identical – suggesting that what makes us
happy may not always bring more meaning,
and vice versa. To probe for differences
between the two, the researchers examined
the survey items that asked detailed
questions about people’s feelings and moods,
their relationships with others, and their
day-to-day activities. Feeling happy was
strongly correlated with seeing life as easy,
pleasant, and free from difficult or troubling
events. Happiness was also correlated with
being in good health and generally feeling
well most of the time. However, none of
these things were correlated with a greater
sense of meaning. Feeling good most of the
time might help us feel happier, but it
doesn’t necessarily bring a sense of purpose
to our lives.
Interestingly, their findings suggest that
money, contrary to popular sayings, can
indeed buy happiness. Having enough
money to buy what one needs in life, as well
as what one desires, were also positively
correlated with greater levels of happiness.
However, having enough money seemed to
make little difference in life’s sense of
meaning. This same disconnect was recently
found in a multi-national study conducted by
Shigehiro Oishi and Ed Diener, who show
that people from wealthy countries tend to
be happier, however, they don’t see their
lives as more meaningful. In fact, Oishi and
Diener found that people from poorer
countries tend to see their lives as more
meaningful. Although the reasons are not
totally clear, this might be related to greater
religious belief, having more children, and
stronger social ties among those living in
poorer countries. Perhaps instead of saying
that “money doesn’t buy happiness,” we
ought to say instead that “money doesn’t buy
meaning.”
Not too surprisingly, our relationships with
other people are related to both how happy
we are as well as how meaningful we see
our lives. In Baumeister’s study, feeling
more connected to others improved both
happiness and meaning. However, the role
we adopt in our relationships makes an
important difference. Participants in the
study who were more likely to agree with
the statement, “I am a giver,” reported less
happiness than people who were more likely
to agree with, “I am a taker.” However, the
“givers” reported higher levels of meaning in
their lives compared to the “takers.” In
addition, spending more time with friends
was related to greater happiness but not
more meaning. In contrast, spending more
time with people one loves was correlated
with greater meaning but not with more
happiness. The researchers suspect that
spending time with loved ones is often more
difficult, but ultimately more satisfying, than
spending time with friends.
When it comes to thinking about how to be
happier, many of us fantasize about taking
more vacations or finding ways to avoid
mundane tasks. We may dream about
skipping housework and instead doing
something fun and pleasurable. However,
tasks which don’t make us happy can, over
time, add up to a meaningful life. Even
routine activities — talking on the phone,
cooking, cleaning, housework, meditating,
emailing, praying, waiting on others, and
balancing finances — appeared to bring
more meaning to people’s lives, but not
happiness in the moment.
More broadly, the findings suggest that pure
happiness is about getting what we want in
life—whether through people, money, or life
circumstances. Meaningfulness, in contrast,
seems to have more to do with giving, effort,
and sacrifice. It is clear that a highly
meaningful life may not always include a
great deal of day-to-day happiness. And, the
study suggests, our American obsession with
happiness may be intimately related to a
feeling of emptiness, or a life that lacks
meaning.
