Cultural values and happiness: An East-West dialogue

Happiness as a state of mind may be universal, but its meaning is complex a nd ambiguous. The authors directly examined the relationships between cultu ral values and experiences of happiness in 2 samples, by using a measuremen t of values derived from Chinese culture and a measurement of subjective we ll-being balanced for sources of happiness salient in both the East and the West. The participants were university students-439 from an Eastern cultur e (Taiwan) and 344 from a Western culture (the United Kingdom). Although ge neral patterns were similar in the 2 samples, the relationships between val ues and happiness were stronger in the Taiwanese sample than in the British sample. The values social integration and human-heartedness had culture-de pendent effects on happiness, whereas the value Confucian work dynamism had a culture-general effect on happiness.