People with more social freedom tend to be more willing to put off immediate gratification

People living in societies where it is easy to form new friendships and leave old ones tend to be more willing to sacrifice immediate joy for long-term rewards. This tendency seems to be driven by a stronger sense of personal control and optimism about the future. The findings were published in Emotion.

Delaying happiness is a behavioral concept that describes the belief that sacrificing some amount of current pleasure will lead to greater happiness in the future. This might mean skipping a fun outing to study for an exam, or saving money instead of spending it on immediate entertainment. Behind this mindset is a calculation of whether the future payoff is worth the present cost.

The research, led by Kuan-Ju Huang of Kyoto University, explored how this mindset varies across different countries.

“East Asian cultures are often seen as long-term oriented compared to Western ones due to Confucian values,” Huang, currently a JSPS postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Social Psychology at The University of Tokyo, told PsyPost. “In fact, the concept of long-term orientation was originally called ‘Confucian dynamism.'”

“I wanted to know whether this future orientation reflects what people want or what they feel they must do,” he added.

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To understand these global differences, the researcher focused on a concept called relational mobility. This term refers to the flexibility of social networks within a society. In places with high relational mobility, such as North and Latin America, people have a high degree of freedom to choose their friends, partners, and groups.

In societies with low relational mobility, such as many in East Asia, people have more rigid social structures where it is difficult to form new connections or leave undesirable ones. This rigidity has broad psychological effects. For example, a study covered by PsyPost in 2025 indicated that East Asian countries often report lower average happiness than Western nations partly due to cultural tendencies like low relational mobility, which can systematically dampen individual well-being.

Huang wanted to see if this social flexibility also shapes how people approach their future happiness. The idea is that when people feel they have choices in their social lives, they might feel more in control of their life trajectory and more optimistic about what is to come. This optimism and sense of control might encourage them to put current happiness on hold for better outcomes later.

In the first phase of the research, Huang analyzed data from the Global Flourishing Study. The sample included 202,070 participants from 22 countries. Participants answered a single question asking how well the statement “I am always able to give up some happiness now for greater happiness later” described them.

The survey also measured three domains of well-being: general happiness and life satisfaction, a sense of meaning and purpose, and a feeling of balance and harmony in life. Additionally, participants answered questions to gauge their overall optimism. At the national level, the researcher looked at data for relational mobility, national wealth, economic inequality, and how individualistic or collectivistic the culture is.

The results showed that people in countries with high relational mobility were more likely to delay happiness than those in countries with lower relational mobility. Other national factors, such as wealth, income inequality, and cultural individualism, did not consistently predict this tendency once the researcher adjusted for general response biases.

“Surprisingly, people in Japan and Hong Kong were among the least likely to believe that sacrificing current happiness would lead to future well-being,” Huang noted. “This was explained by the especially low relational mobility (how much freedom people have to form and leave relationships) in these societies.”

“In other words, people may persevere and sacrifice in the present in more fixed social networks but not necessarily believe that these sacrifices will pay off in future happiness,” he said.

The data indicated that optimism was a major reason for this link. People in highly mobile societies reported higher levels of optimism, which in turn predicted a stronger willingness to delay happiness. Delaying happiness was also associated with better well-being across the board, particularly with having a stronger sense of meaning and purpose in life.

To build on these initial findings, the researcher conducted a second study to test these ideas with more detailed questionnaires. This online survey included 785 participants, split relatively evenly between Japan, representing a low-mobility society, and the United States, representing a high-mobility society.

Instead of single questions, this phase used established multi-item surveys to measure delaying happiness, optimism, and a sense of personal control. Participants also rated the relational mobility of their immediate social environment by answering questions about how easily the people around them can make new friends or choose their social groups.

The results of the second study mirrored the global data. Participants from the United States reported higher relational mobility, a stronger sense of control, greater optimism, and more willingness to delay happiness compared to the Japanese participants.

Statistical models demonstrated a chain reaction connecting these factors. Living in a high-mobility society was associated with experiencing a greater sense of control and optimism. These two psychological states then predicted a stronger tendency to delay current happiness for future gains.

“Whether you are willing to trade some happiness now for more happiness later is not just a personality trait,” Huang explained. “It is shaped by the social environment you live in.”

“Not everyone has the relational opportunities ‘out there’ that make people believe a better future is waiting for them,” he said. “That sense of open possibility is what fuels optimism and the willingness to invest in future happiness.”

As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind. The first study only had access to relational mobility scores for 15 of the 22 countries, which limits how broadly the results can be applied. Adding more diverse countries in future research would help verify these patterns.

The second study relied on participants self-reporting the social mobility of their surroundings. This method might blur the lines between a person’s own social freedom and the actual, objective flexibility of their broader society. Developing ways to measure relational mobility objectively could strengthen future findings.

Finally, this research relied on data collected at a single point in time. Because of this design, the results cannot confirm a strict cause-and-effect relationship between social environments and psychological mindsets. Long-term studies would be needed to see how changes in a person’s social environment directly alter their willingness to delay happiness over time.

Moving forward, Huang plans to investigate the broader consequences of these social environments. “One line of research I am pursuing is how relational mobility may disproportionately affect people across social stratification,” he said.

“In my recent paper, I found that people from lower social class backgrounds feel less control over their lives especially in societies with low relational mobility,” he added.

“‘Interpersonal wealth’ (having more options in relationships) may be an important driver of well-being alongside financial wealth,” Huang concluded. “Who benefits most from relational mobility, and whether people can have too much of it, are the questions I want to answer next.”

The study, “Relational Mobility Promotes Optimism and Willingness to Delay Happiness,” was authored by Kuan-Ju Huang.