This article is from 2008 but I thought it was an appropriate start to my ‘how to find happiness’ blog. This article from Science magazine is a study on the relationship of how people spend money and how happy they are because of it. There has been a lot of previous research that examines the effect of income on happiness. The research indicated that income has a reliable but weak effect on happiness, especially after the basic needs are met. However, even though real incomes have increased in the US over the last few decades, Americans are not reporting to be any happier.
But why?
This study performed experiments on different groups of people to determine whether spending money on themselves or on others gave them a greater feeling of happiness.
Experiment 1: Survey of 632 Americans, asked to rate their happiness and then how much they spend in a month on (i) bills and expenses, (ii) gifts for themselves, (iii) gifts for others, (iv) donations to charity
Experiment 2: Examine the happiness of employees before and after a bonus is given, taking into account the amount of the bonus. They were asked to report what percentage of their bonus they spent on (i) bills and expenses, (ii) rent or mortgage, (iii) gifts for themselves, (iv) gifts for others, (v) donations to charity, (vi) other
Experiment 3: Participants were given between $5 and $20 in the morning and were randomly assigned to either spend it on (1) a bill, expense or gift for him or herself or (2) to buy a gift for someone else or make a charitable donation. Their happiness was rated before the money was given as well as after.
In all these experiments, personal spending remained unrelated to happiness while people who spent more on others and donations reported a greater happiness. The amount of income (or bonus) had a much less significant role in their happiness than how the money was spent.
The details (conditions) of previous experiments were provided to a set of students and they were asked which condition would make them happiest. 63% of them thought that personal spending would make them the happiest and 86% that $20 to spend would make them happier than $5.
Why do we have these ideas about what make us happy that are incorrect? I have never thought about this before but after reading this article, I definitely agree. My excuse for last minute birthday/Christmas shopping is that I get too excited for the presents that I buy for people and I can’t stand to wait for weeks to give it to them.
So go out and buy a $2 chocolate bar for a roommate or loved one to boost your spirits and theirs :)
Huh. I guess I never thought about how the money is being spent as the most important part of the happiness. I would have ended up stating that spending money on myself would make me happy, but making someone else happy by providing a gift would double the happiness (or maybe square it) :P
ReplyDeleteThat's really interesting!! I never really thought of it that way but it does make a lot of sense and making other people happy is always a great feeling. It seems like most other articles I've seen have focused on how money can't buy happiness and looked primarily at personal spending rather than spending money on someone else to make them smile, or to donate it to a charity to help improve someone's life. I really like that perspective on money : ). Just a suggestion, it might be a good idea to make the link for the article a different color, I didn't notice it was a link at first.
ReplyDeleteBre, thanks for the suggestion. I didn't notice that before. It also might ask you to register for free to their website. I couldn't find the article anywhere else
ReplyDeleteI think that you don't even have to spend money to others to make yourself happy. I find I'm happiest in giving a gift that I made. I guess it has to do with seeing my efforts appreciated.
ReplyDeleteGreat initial post--I like how you make the study protocol and findings easy to read and accessible. Looking forward to more content.
ReplyDeleteYou might check out a blog called The Happiness Project (now also a book). Seems somewhat related to your topic. No Impact Man (blog) also might have some useful stuff.
On the receiving end just the fact that someone is giving me a gift is what makes me happy. I could care less how much it costs, and it is even better when it is home made. It shows they care enough to give their time and not just their money.
ReplyDeleteBut I would agree that giving a homemade gift makes me happier than receiving one