Predicting others’ happiness from brief personal memories
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11065975 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Anurada Amarasekera (0000-0002-3936-4421, Simon Fraser University), Tiara A Cash (0000-0002-3681-5274, Simon Fraser University), Scarlett R C MacPherson (University of British Columbia), Lauren J Human (0000-0001-8384-2075, University of British Columbia), Lara B Aknin (0000-0003-1712-6542, Simon Fraser University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 110 |
| Pages | 104498 |
| Publication date | 2024-06-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Research in Personality (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0092-6566 • E-ISSN: 1095-7251 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.jrp.2024.104498 |
| OpenAlex | W4396831625 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 23 |
Research suggests that people can predict others’ personality and emotions through various channels, but it is unknown whether strangers can accurately predict a target’s trait happiness from a brief written personal memory, and whether some content is more useful than others. Given the importance of understanding others, we conducted two pre-registered investigations of whether third-party readers could estimate the happiness of 5,169 targets who wrote a brief (average words = 61) personal or prosocial spending memory. We detected a small positive correlation between targets’ trait happiness and readers’ ratings in both conditions, with a larger correlation often found in the personal condition. We then conducted exploratory analyses to probe why certain spending memories facilitate greater trait happiness accuracy by examining word usage
Happiness · Aging and Gerontology Research · Identity, Memory, and Therapy · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction · Psychology · Social Psychology
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| Highly cited | No |
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