We examined the relationship between the character strength of kindness and subjective happiness (Study 1), and the effects of a counting kindnesses intervention on subjective happiness (Study 2). In Study 1, participants were 175 Japanese undergraduate students and in Study 2, participants were 119 Japanese women (71 in the intervention group and 48 in the control group). Results showed that: (a) Happy people scored higher on their motivation to perform, and their recognition and enactment of kind behaviors. (b) Happy people have more happy memories in daily life in terms of both quantity and quality. (c) Subjective happiness was increased simply by counting one's own acts of kindness for one week. (d) Happy people became more kind and grateful through the counting kindnesses intervention. Discussion centers on the importance of kindness in producing subjective happiness.

The present study examined whether popular self-report measures of depression could be distinguished from self-report measures of anxiety and social desirability response style. Subjects were 391 college students (135 males and 256 females). The scales included the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Lubin Depression Adjective Checklist, the State and Trait forms of the Spielberger Anxiety Inventory, the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, Endler, Hunt, and Rosenstein's S-R Inventory of Anxiousness, the Crowne-Marlowe Social Desirability Scale, and the Edwards Social Desirability Scale. Reliability estimates indicated that all these measures were internally consistent. Pearson correlation coefficients indicated strong relationships between measures of depression and between measures of anxiety. However, pairs of anxiety and depression measures correlated almost as strongly. All depression and anxiety measures were significantly associated with the Edwards Social Desirability Scale. These findings call into question the use of a self-report measure of depression to select "depressed" subjects among college students.

No abstract

According to Self-Determination Theory (SDT), satisfaction of needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness is a universal requirement for psychological well-being. We tested this hypothesis with college students in the United States, Australia, Mexico, Venezuela, the Philippines, Malaysia, China, and Japan. Participants rated the extent to which these needs, plus needs for self-actualization and pleasure-stimulation, were satisfied in various roles and reported their general hedonic (i.e., positive and negative affect) and eudaimonic (e.g., meaning in life, personal growth) well-being. Asian participants averaged lower than non-Asian participants in perceived satisfaction of autonomy, competence, and self-actualization needs and in most aspects of eudaimonic well-being and these differences were partially accounted for by differences in dialecticism and independent self-construals. Nonetheless, perceived need satisfaction predicted overall well-being to a similar degree in all cultures and in most cultures provided incremental prediction beyond the Big Five traits. Perceived imbalance in the satisfaction of different needs also modestly predicted well-being, particularly negative affect. The study extended support for the universal importance of SDT need satisfaction to several new cultures.NEED SATISFACTION AND WELL-BEING 5 Self-Determination Theory (SDT) proposes that certain evolved psychological needs must be satisfied if individuals are to develop to their fullest potential, in the same way that plants require key nutrients to thrive (Deci & Ryan, 1985Ryan, 1995;. SDT posits three universal needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Autonomy involves the need to experience one's behavior as freely chosen and volitional, rather than imposed by external forces. Competence involves the need to feel capable and effective in one's actions. Relatedness involves the need for belonging, intimacy, and connectedness to others.SDT theorists view these needs as broad motivational tendencies that operate across life domains and contend that satisfaction of all three needs, not just one or two, is essential for well-being.Although the expression or means of satisfying these needs may vary across cultures, their satisfaction is viewed as essential for well-being in all cultures.In contrast, some critics of SDT have questioned whether these needs are cultural universals. In particular, several scholars have argued that autonomy is more valued or normative in individualistic or Western cultures (Cross & Markus, 1999;Iyengar & Lepper, 1999;Miller, 1997). However, as noted by Chirkov and Ryan (2001), the existence of cultural differences in the strength of autonomy values does not preclude similarities in the functional impact of autonomy-supportive versus controlling environments. Furthermore, SDT theorists counter that critics tend to confuse autonomy as defined by SDT with independence or individualism (Chirkov, Ryan, Kim, & Kaplan, 2003). For example, behaving in accordance with group norms might be internal...

Trait and cultural psychology perspectives on cross-role consistency and its relation to adjustment were examined in two individualistic cultures, the United States (N = 231) and Australia (N = 195), and four collectivistic cultures, Mexico (N = 199), Philippines (N = 195), Malaysia (N = 217), and Japan (N = 180). Cross-role consistency in trait ratings was evident in all cultures, supporting trait perspectives. Cultural comparisons of mean consistency provided support for cultural psychology perspectives as applied to East Asian cultures (i.e., Japan), but not collectivistic cultures more generally. Some but not all of the hypothesized predictors of consistency were supported across cultures. Cross-role consistency predicted aspects of adjustment in all cultures, but prediction was most reliable in the American sample and weakest in the Japanese sample. Alternative constructs proposed by cultural psychologists-personality coherence, social appraisal, and relationship harmony-predicted adjustment in all cultures, but were not, as hypothesized, better predictors of adjustment in collectivistic cultures than in individualistic cultures. Publisher's Disclaimer:The following manuscript is the final accepted manuscript. It has not been subjected to the final copyediting, fact-checking, and proofreading required for formal publication. It is not the definitive, publisher-authenticated version. The American Psychological Association and its Council of Editors disclaim any responsibility or liabilities for errors or omissions of this manuscript version, any version derived from this manuscript by NIH, or other third parties. The published version is available at http://www.apa.org/journals/psp/ NIH Public Access "…for traits to distinguish people from one another, they must display some distinctive consistency." (Johnson, 1997, p. 74) '…an implicit promise of trait theories is to account for consistency across a range of situations." (Moskowitz, 1994, p. 921) "…the functional value of consistency is less clear for East Asian selves" (Heine, 2001, p. 886) "Interdependent selves do not prescribe or require consistency [which] may reflect, not authenticity, but a lack of flexibility, rigidity, or even immaturity" (Markus & Kitayama, 1994, p. 576) As illustrated above, psychologists offer a range of views regarding trait-relevant consistency and its relation to adjustment across cultures. In discussing these differences in emphases or expectations, it is useful to distinguish trait and cultural psychology perspectives. While the trait concept implies a degree of consistency of behavior across relevant situations in all cultures, a number of cultural psychologists have predicted less consistency in collectivistic cultures, where behavior is thought to be more influenced by contextual factors such as roles and relationships (Markus & Kitayama, 1998;Suh, 2002;Triandis, 1995). Furthermore, whereas greater consistency or integration of identity has been described as an indicator of positive mental health i...

No abstract

According to Self-Determination Theory (SDT), satisfaction of needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness is a universal requirement for psychological well-being. We tested this hypothesis with college students in the United States, Australia, Mexico, Venezuela, the Philippines, Malaysia, China, and Japan. Participants rated the extent to which these needs, plus needs for self-actualization and pleasure-stimulation, were satisfied in various roles and reported their general hedonic (i.e., positive and negative affect) and eudaimonic (e.g., meaning in life, personal growth) well-being. Asian participants averaged lower than non-Asian participants in perceived satisfaction of autonomy, competence, and self-actualization needs and in most aspects of eudaimonic well-being, and these differences were partially accounted for by differences in dialecticism and independent self-construals. Nonetheless, perceived need satisfaction predicted overall well-being to a similar degree in all cultures and in most cultures provided incremental prediction beyond the Big Five traits. Perceived imbalance in the satisfaction of different needs also modestly predicted well-being, particularly negative affect. The study extended support for the universal importance of SDT need satisfaction to several new cultures.

Western theories suggest that self-concept consistency is important for well-being, but cultural psychologists have proposed that this relationship may be weaker in collectivistic or dialectical cultures. Hypotheses regarding the ability of self-concept (cross-role) consistency and short-term stability to predict hedonic and eudaimonic well-being across cultures were tested. College students in the United States, Australia, Mexico, Venezuela, Philippines, Malaysia, China, and Japan rated their traits in various roles at test and retest and completed measures of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. In all cultures, cross-role consistency and short-term stability were inversely associated with negative affect, an aspect of hedonic well-being, and positively associated with Big Five Emotional Stability. In contrast, cross-role consistency and short-term stability were related to eudaimonic well-being more reliably in individualistic cultures than in collectivistic cultures, although the results in China only partially conformed to this pattern. We concluded that cross-role variability and short-term instability of self-concepts have a significant temperamental or affective basis and this temperamental basis is a cultural universal. In addition, cultural psychology predictions of a weaker relationship between self-concept consistency and well-being in collectivistic cultures, as compared to individualistic cultures, was largely supported for eudaimonic well-being.Keywords: culture, cross-role consistency, short-term stability, hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing, individualism-collectivism, dialecticism SELF-CONCEPT CONSISTENCY AND WELL-BEING 3 Self-concept consistency has been defined in a variety of ways and different consistency constructs may relate differently to well-being (Campbell, Assanand, & Di Paula, 2003). In the present study, we define self-concept consistency as the consistency of individuals' trait ratings across different roles, and refer to this construct as cross-role consistency (see also Boucher, 2011;Church, Anderson-Harumi et al., 2008) According to theory (e.g., Jahoda, 1958;Jourard, 1965) and empirical findings (Campbell et al., 2003;Church, Anderson-Harumi et al., 2008;Donahue, Robins, Roberts, & John, 1993; Sheldon et al., 1997), a consistent and stable self-concept is important for adjustment or wellbeing, at least in Western or individualistic cultures. However, cultural psychologists have hypothesized that the relationship between consistency and well-being may be weaker or nonexistent in collectivistic cultures, where self-concept flexibility and adaptability to situational contexts are valued (Markus & Kitayama, 1998;Suh, 2002). Indeed, Suh (2002), in a comparison of cross-role consistency in Americans and Koreans, found support for this hypothesis, and attributed the cultural differences to differences in self-construals.Alternatively, English and Chen (2007) and Boucher (2011) attributed the hypothesized weaker relationship between cross-role consistency and well-being in East...