Two ways to achieve happiness: when the East meets the West

The independent/interdependent self-construals were proposed to be the culture-general determinants of happiness, acting through the mediating variables of control belief/harmony belief, and further through subjective experiences in social interactions. Data collected from 550 Taiwanese and 196 British community residents supported the above two ways of achieving happiness. The value of adding interdependent self-construal and harmony belief to the study of subjective well-being to reflect an alternative collectivistic cultural perspective was highlighted. In addition, the seemingly contrasting views of self and beliefs about social interaction were found to coexist among Taiwanese. This evidence offered valuable support for the coexistence modernity model.