The relationship between life satisfaction and self-beneficial behaviors

Abstract

Three experiments tested the relationship between life satisfaction and self-beneficial behaviors. Experiment 1 was run to determine whether a new measure of self-beneficial behavior, completing tedious math problems, would correlate with Diener et al's (1985) Satisfaction with Life Scale. Results showed that those who were higher in life satisfaction completed more problems than those who were low in life satisfaction. Experiment 2 tested whether manipulating life satisfaction by having individuals write about gratitude versus hassles would influence self-beneficial behavior. Contrary to predictions, those who wrote about hassles completed more tedious math problems than those who wrote about gratitude. Finally, Experiment 3 tested whether manipulating perceived control would influence levels of life satisfaction. There were no changes in life satisfaction between the three conditions. However, those who wrote about resisting temptation had higher scores for academic delay of gratification than those who wrote about giving in to temptation. Further work is needed to determine whether levels of life satisfaction actually do influence self-beneficial behaviors.