Personality and individual differences in the relationship between hedonic and eudaimonic motives and well-being in daily life

Abstract

To understand the role of personality in the relationship between hedonic motives (e.g., pleasure), eudaimonic motives (e.g., excellence/meaning), and subjective well-being, we sampled 218 university students who completed an online questionnaire and a week of experience sampling surveys. Besides documenting the associations between personality and both motives, we found that the impact of both motives on average subjective well-being did not differ across different levels of the Big Five personality traits. Adding to these trait-level findings, we found that people high on neuroticism generally had more negative experiences when they did not engage in either motive. People high on neuroticism may have a lower setpoint of well-being compared to their peers but may equally benefit from engaging in either motive.