how to buy happiness
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How to Buy Happiness: Social Scientists Offer Some Answers
Isabella kwai 2017
Theres nothingin the world so demoralizing as money, a character proclaims gloomily inAntigone, but maybe he did not know how to use his cash. If people spend it right, research suggests, money can, in fact, buy happiness.
According to one often repeated rule, spending on experiences rather than objects makes people happiest (key point). When asked to reflect on a purchase, people who described experiential onestravel, say, or concertswere much happier than those who described material ones.Psychologists believe that the tendency to eventually return to the original level of happiness following a changeoperates more swiftly after material purchases than after experiential ones. For instance, a new table is easier to get used to than a trip to Chile, so the happiness felt after buying a new material item lasts for a shorter amount of time than a trip to a new country.
Not all experiences are equally worthwhile, however. In one study, when experiential purchases were categorized as either solitary or social in nature, social expenses brought more happiness. People who spent on solitary experiences valued them no more than they valued possession. It is not so much that doing things makes people happier than having things; it is that they like doing thingswith people. This is particularly true for extroverts: In one study, they got significantly happier after shopping with others, no matter what they bought.
The University of Cambridge researchers joined with a bank to analyze the relationship between customers spending habits, personality, and happiness. They found that the Big Five personality traitsextroversion, openness to experience, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticismpredicted spending. Outgoing people splurged on restaurants and entertainment, while self-controlled, conscientious types spent money on fitness and health. And those whose spending fit their personality were happier than those who spent against type. In one case, extroverts and introverts received vouchers for either a cafe or a bookstore. Extroverts were happier when forced to spend money at the cafe, while introverts were happier spending at the bookstore.
But before you go on a spending spree, a caution: More than income, investments, or debt, the amount of cash in ones checking account correlates with life satisfaction. That does not mean you should be selfish, though: When people were assigned to buy goodies for either a hospitalized child or themselves, those who bought treats for a sick child reported more positive feelings.The effect was the same in a country like Canada and a country like South Africa. Spending on friends and family likewise gives us a boost because, unsurprisingly, it brings us closer to them.
