Do people prefer a job that promotes feelings of enjoyment, or of competence? The present research examined the role of individuals’ happiness in choosing the type of work to engage in when selecting between two characteristics of the work—enjoyment and perceived competence. Studies 1, 2, and 3 revealed that happier people are more likely to value (Study 1) and to choose (Studies 2 and 3) work they enjoy over work in which they expect high competence. In Study 3, a direct manipulation of happiness increased preference for enjoyment, but not for competence. Finally, Study 4 found that happy people, when compared with their unhappy counterparts, retain their jobs because they enjoy doing their work. Together, the findings suggest that happiness leads people to place more weight on enjoyment than on competence in the enjoyment-competence trade-off context.

人们是否喜欢一份能带来愉悦感或能力的工作？本研究调查了在选择工作的两个特征（享受和感知能力）之间进行选择的工作类型时，个人幸福感的作用。研究1、2和3显示，幸福的人更有可能珍视（研究1）并选择（研究2和3）工作，而不是期望更高能力的工作。在研究3中，对幸福的直接操纵增加了人们对享乐的偏好，而不是对能力的偏好。最后，研究4发现，与不快乐的人相比，快乐的人会保留工作，因为他们喜欢工作。一起，