Abstract

Helping enhances happiness of both the beneficiary and the giver. Previous happiness studies have shown that help-giving is associated with eudaimonic happiness such as meaning of life and sense of accomplishment, whereas decision-making studies focusing on the utility of helping have suggested the importance of hedonic happiness such as feeling more positive affect and less negative affect. The present study investigated the givers’ happiness experience after helping others using a charitable donation task. We first examined which aspect of happiness (i.e., hedonic vs. eudaimonic) is more strongly associated with the givers’ experience. Then, we tested the effect of givers’ prosociality on the patterns of happiness experience. For each trial, participants were presented information about one of 54 charitable organizations and asked to decide the amount of donation out of 10,000KRW. After each decision, they evaluated their happiness experiences on the two aspects of happiness. Individual differences in prosociality were measured using social value orientation questionnaire. The results showed that, within an individual, donation amount was positively correlated with both aspects of happiness, while eudaimonic happiness had stronger association. This difference was especially prominent among prosocial participants, while the effects of donation on hedonic and eudaimonic happiness were not different among proself participants. By distinguishing hedonic and eudemonic aspects of happiness and considering individual differences in prosociality, our findings add to the literature on the happiness enhancement effects of help-giving.