Emotional Happiness and Psychological Distance: How Does Happiness and Psychological Distance Change during Vacation?

Purpose - The purpose of this study was to examine the variations in emotions during vacation and to explore if such variations depend on psychological distance perceived by vacationers. We proposed that there are changes in affect balance during the course of vacation as well as the mental construal of psychological distance. Research Design, Data, and Methodology - Repeated measures ANOVA was used to examine the variation in emotion and psychological distance of 66 holiday makers who were traveling to different destination for vacation. Data were collected in 2 months with the help of a travel agency. Results - We find that there are variations in emotions during the vacation at different points in time as well as perceived psychological distance. Also we find some evidence that suggests emotional happiness does depend on perceived mental distance to some extent. Conclusion - Our study replicates the findings of previous studies in a novel way and illustrates the robustness of the nature of emotions during vacation and indicates certain time points where the happiness of vacationers can be enhanced. Perceived psychological distance do have an effect on how happy an individual feels during the vacation KCI Citation Count: 1