Many have pondered whether happiness is chiefly made of positive feelings and joy (hedonism) or by acquiring meaning via self-actualization (eudaimonism). Drawing on life history theory, we examined if individuals’ early-life experience (i.e., childhood socioeconomic status; SES) colors their notions of well-being. A consistent pattern was found in two studies (Study 1, N = 183; Study 2, N = 168) using MTurk samples; wealthier childhood upbringing predicted stronger endorsement of eudaimonic happiness. This pattern, supporting claims of life history theory, emerged only when perceptions of (economic) instability was salient (chronic, Study 1; experimentally primed, Study 2). Also, only childhood SES, but not current SES, mattered. This research finds novel evidence that childhood experience and current threat perception may interact to shape people’s ideals of happiness.

许多人思考过幸福主要是由积极的情感和快乐（享乐主义）构成，还是通过自我实现获得意义（幸福主义）。借鉴生活史理论，我们研究了个人的早期生活经历（即童年社会经济地位；SES）是否影响了他们的幸福感。使用 MTurk 样本的两项研究（研究 1， N = 183；研究 2，N = 168）发现了一致的模式；更富裕的童年成长预示着对幸福的更强烈认可。这种支持生命史理论主张的模式，仅在（经济）不稳定的认知非常明显时才出现（慢性，研究 1；实验启动，研究 2）。此外，只有童年时期的社会经济地位（SES）才重要，而当前的社会经济地位（SES）并不重要。这项研究发现了新的证据，表明童年经历和当前的威胁感知可能相互作用，塑造人们的幸福理想。