Woland
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: Seoul
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 Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 2:54 am Post subject: Psych study of US and Korean College students re: happiness |
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Found this on the APA website tonight, due to be published shortly. If you follow the links on the page, you can download a copy of the study and read the whole thing.
http://www.apa.org/releases/needs.html?imw=Y
Here's some samples from the APA press release:
| Quote: |
| Attaining popularity or influence and money or luxury is not what makes people the happiest and is at the bottom of the list of psychological needs, according to a new study. Topping the list of needs that appear to bring happiness are autonomy (feeling that your activities are self-chosen and self-endorsed), competence (feeling that you are effective in your activities), relatedness (feeling a sense of closeness with others) and self-esteem. |
| Quote: |
| In the study, psychologist Kennon M. Sheldon, Ph.D., of the University of Missouri-Columbia, and co-authors conducted three studies with different groups of college students in the United States to determine which of 10 basic psychological feelings humans find most fundamental. One of the studies included college students from South Korea to see if the results could be replicated in those from a more group- and tradition-centered culture. |
| Quote: |
| The researchers found relatively consistent results across the three different time frames and across the two different cultures, with autonomy, competence, relatedness and self-esteem emerging as the most important psychological needs. |
| Quote: |
| If one were to pick a single need that is most important to satisfy in the United States, the current research suggests it would be self-esteem, which was at the top of the list in all three U.S. samples. Relatedness, however, was at the top of the list within the South Korean sample. The authors say this may be because of the nature of Korean culture, but more research is needed to be sure. |
I find these last two quotes really interesting because they suggest something about general human nature in that the same four categories arose across both cultures in the studies, but also something about cultural specificity in that the most important need in each culture was different. There are days in Korea when I find myself focusing on similarities and days when I notice the differences between us and them. This goes a little way to helping me clear up what some of the similarities and differences might be. |
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