How to Flourish Well: Moral Centrality as an Indicator of Low Egoistic Consequences of Living a Flourishing Life

Numerous studies suggest that flourishing leads to advantageous personal outcomes. We, however, argue that flourishing does not provide any moral guidance necessary to trigger socio-moral outcomes. The critical qualifier, we argue, is in the degree to which morality is central to an individual’s identity. Accordingly, across four studies, we tested the moderating role of moral centrality in the relation between flourishing and (im)moral social outcomes. Our findings generally support the association between flourishing and moral outcomes is significant for individuals with high levels of moral centrality, flourishing is not significantly associated with moral outcomes in individuals with low moral centrality. Thus, scholars may need to reinterpret previous studies that suggest a positive link between individuals’ flourishing and their worldly interactions.