The Consequences of not Acting on Personally and Socially Important Value-Expressive Behaviours on Hedonic and Eudaimonic Wellbeing

Abstract

Wellbeing is thought to decrease when one’s actions do not align with one’s values. This study refined a previous experimental method to investigate how perceived failure to live up to expectations of value-expressive behaviours may affect eudaimonic and hedonic wellbeing. One hundred and ninety-nine students considered their own past value-expressive behaviours in a survey designed to induce a discrepancy or “gap” between reported and ideal behaviour. We tested whether the importance of value-expressive behaviours—and whether this importance was based on personal or social ideals—would affect the perception of behavioural discrepancies and wellbeing. Results showed that being asked about more important behaviours predicted a greater perceived behavioural gap and less hedonic wellbeing. Whether this importance was based on personal values or social desirability did not differentially predict perceived behavioural gap or wellbeing, challenging the focus that some therapy models place on personal value expression to improve wellbeing. The perceived behavioural gap did not mediate a relationship between experimental condition and wellbeing, suggesting that other variables may play a role in the relationship between values, behaviour, and wellbeing. Further exploratory tests, limitations, and theoretical implications are discussed.