Definitions

• Eudaimonic happiness is the long term happiness and is the happiness we feel when:
  • we pursue our values.
  • we satisfy our basic psychological needs.
  • we try to develop the best in oneself and therefore we pursue a personal growth path.
• Hedonic happiness is the short term happiness and is the happiness we feel when we pursue pleasure that is an end in itself.

Characteristics

In the paper Pursuing Pleasure or Virtue - The Differential and Overlapping Well-Being Benefits of Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives is claimed that:

• Hedonic happiness results in experience more positive emotions and carefreeness and less negative emotions.
• Eudaimonic happiness results in a higher sense of purpose.
• Both is related to life satisfaction, but hedonic happiness seems to lead to greater life satisfaction.
• Hedonic activities feel very good when they are carried out, but don’t increase overall well-being in the long term.
• Eudaimonic activities feel good when they produce a result like a reached goal or a increased skill.
• People whose lives are high in both hedonic and eudaimonic happiness:
  • show higher well-being. However it does not mean that they never experience negative emotions like sadness.
  • experience more positive emotions and sense of purpose than people whose lives are high only in hedonic or eudaimonic happiness.

Related Questions:

• Is better to pursue Eudaimonic or Hedonic happiness

Related Topics:

• Personal growth

References

• Pursuing Pleasure or Virtue - The Differential and Overlapping Well-Being Benefits of Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives | 2010 | Veronika Huta, Richard M. Ryan