What Motivates Your Happiness?
Pleasure and purpose are not opposites, and most people run on both
Positive psychology used to argue about whether pleasure or purpose was the 'real' route to a good life. Huta and Ryan's research suggests that is the wrong question: hedonic motives (seeking pleasure and comfort) and eudaimonic motives (seeking growth and meaning) turned out to be largely independent of each other, each with its own benefits, and most people run on a mix of both rather than committing to one.
Before you start There are no right answers. Pick what is usually true for you, not what sounds best.
Answer about why you generally choose the activities that fill your free time, not about any single day.
What it measures
Four motives from the Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives for Activities scale (HEMA): pursuing pleasure and pursuing comfort on the hedonic side, pursuing growth/authenticity and pursuing meaning/excellence on the eudaimonic side - not what makes you happy, but why you choose the things you do. It differs from the happiness test on this site, which asks how satisfied and how good you feel, and from the wellbeing (Ryff) test, which asks how well you are functioning; this one asks about the reasons behind your choices, which can point to different things than either outcome.
Based on: Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives for Activities scale, HEMA (Huta & Ryan)
Possible results
Pleasure
How much you choose activities for the enjoyment they bring right now.
Comfort and relaxation
How much you choose activities to feel at ease and avoid strain.
Growth and authenticity
How much you choose activities that develop you or feel true to who you are.
Meaning and excellence
How much you choose activities for their purpose or for doing them well, not for how easy they feel.
Common questions
Is seeking pleasure worse than seeking meaning?
No - the research this test is based on found the two motives largely independent, each linked to its own kind of benefit, rather than one being the 'higher' route to happiness that psychology once assumed.
Can I score high on all four?
Yes, and it is common. The dimensions describe separate motives that can all be active in the same life; a busy, satisfying life often draws on pleasure, comfort, growth and meaning depending on the day.
Why do I feel empty even when I'm having fun?
That is often a sign your pleasure and comfort motives are being met while your growth or meaning motives are not - the research treats these as separate needs, so satisfying one does not substitute for the other.
Sources
- Huta, V., & Ryan, R. M. (2010). Pursuing Pleasure or Virtue: The Differential and Overlapping Well-Being Benefits of Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives. Journal of Happiness Studies. doi:10.1007/s10902-009-9171-4
- Huta, V. (2016). Eudaimonic and Hedonic Orientations: Theoretical Considerations and Research Findings. Handbook of Eudaimonic Well-Being. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-42445-3_15
An honest note This is Quinthea's own wording, adapted from the Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives for Activities scale, so scores are not comparable to the published questionnaire's norms. The research behind it is Western and mostly university-sample, and 'meaning' and 'authenticity' are notoriously hard to define the same way across cultures, so treat the growth and meaning scores as approximate. Wanting pleasure is not shallow and wanting purpose is not exhausting - both motives appear in psychologically healthy people, often in the same week.