Beliefs About Suffering, Psychological Adjustment, and Prosocial Orientation

People’s beliefs about suffering may shape how they understand and respond to life’s challenges. Across five studies, we tested whether two focal beliefs—that suffering is widely shared/universal and that suffering can be potentially enriching—predict adaptive psychological and prosocial outcomes. College undergraduates who saw their problems as more common reported less distress. U.S. adults who perceived that they experienced a similar amount of suffering as other people and who viewed suffering as enriching demonstrated better adjustment and more adaptive responses to hypothetical challenges. Among Jewish Israeli participants, an enriching view was associated with mental health, common humanity, and support for peaceful resolution of the Israel–Palestine conflict. Finally, reading about suffering as enriching versus depressing increased affective well-being, and framing suffering as universal increased the common-humanity component of compassion. These findings suggest that viewing suffering as universal and potentially enriching supports psychological adjustment and prosocial orientation.