We have all thought about it at one point or another, would some extra money make me happy, or happier? Will buying that new car or that ticket to Hawaii really make me happier? There are a lot of different articles online that talk about his, so after some research, I chose to use the most accredited ones and see what they had to say.
Now we have all at some point heard someone say that money can but friends. This, as we all know is simply ridiculous. We also hear of people who think that by buying cool things, they will be much happier. This also seems to be quite ridiculous.
An article on Huffington Post, with information from a study conducted at the University of British Columbia concluded that after money covers all the basic needs we have, it does not make us any happier. It goes on, however, to say that it can make you less sad. While you may be thinking that the two are the same, the article builds off this and says that they are not. Money, they say, can help with negative situations in life, “like a leak in the house or a tuition hike at your daughter’s school.” So while it does not necessarily make us happier in these kinds of situations, it can make us less sad.
To contrast these findings, a Men’s Health article reports on a study conducted in Spain and found that money makes it harder for us to appreciate the small things, which are often the most important in our lives. It explains that, for example, “the more fine restaurants you’ve dined at, the less you relish your local pizza joint.” It goes on to explain that “the more stuff you accumulate—whether it’s watches, trips, or slices of pie—the less you appreciate each individual item or experience. “ But it’s not all gloom and disappointment, Men’s Health reports. “Try giving up a simple pleasure for a while” it says, “to savor it even more when you come back to it.”
Finally, an article from US News. In the article, a study from the University of Colorado by psychology professor Leaf Van Boven is cited. In his study, Van Boven concludes that money can buy happiness, but not in the way we imagine. Money, he says, should be spent on life experiences, experiences that will not be forgotten. Traveling to a new place or taking the family on an activity they all enjoy will produce much more happiness than a new car or television. He says that the not so good memories will be remembered as good ones, due to what we call nostalgia bias.
From these studies, it seems that a recurring theme appears. Money can make us happier, but not when we simply buy more stuff. Money is a much better investment and will make us happier when used for the necessities and unforeseen circumstances, new experiences in travel and having fun. We just have to appreciate the small things to lead a more fulfilling and overall happier life. So take a break from blogging and take trip to Italy.
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This is a great post, but there is one thing that I always wonder about when it comes to happiness or any other emotions. Emotions are hard to measure and they are totally subjective. It is hard to define if money makes people happy or not because there are so many variables that money can cause or that can bring happiness. I think it is probably better to focus on the the correlation between happiness and past memory. Still, those things are hard to measure and hard to experiment on. This is still a great post that makes me think about the value of money and the meaning happiness.
Most of your information come from newspapers , but how about actual studies , what actual study says that scientifically money does not cause happiness? I found the actual study
here and from the looks of it, this study seems to be observational , which means there could be third variables involved. It could also just be a correlation which, is not ground for causation.
This was a good article accept you mentioned and interesting term and then let the audience hang with it. You introduced the words “nostalgia bias” but never explained what it was. So I will do i briefly. Nostalgia Bias occurs because people tend to only remember good memories of the past, while they are aware of both their negative and positive experiences in the present. Therefore, the past appears to be a less negative time for people because it doesn’t appear to have as many negative events, only positive ones.
Money can definitely be used to make experiences more enjoyable and therefore make you happier. Vacations have been linked to an improved mood. This article (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shawn-achor/do-vacations-make-us-happ_b_5022511.html) talks about hiring a travel agent to help figure out the stressful details of your vacations and ensure a relaxing time.
This was very interesting to read, because I have learned before about advertisements and their influences. But I agree with you taking into account confounding variables. Although advertisements can use pictures to promote their beer, or even use specific colors to influence their audience, many teenagers don’t really care about advertisements. I know that many teenagers are more concerned about how much they are spending, or will just drink anything provided to them. Also, when purchasing beer teenagers might be more willing to ask their older friends what kind to buy, instead of relying on advertisements. The confounding variables are need to be taken into account. It would be interesting to see a study, and ask young adults what beer they usually purchase and why, and then provide them with advertisements and ask them to make a design again on what they would buy and why. This could result in the teenagers either picking the same beer because of cost and disregarding the advertisements, or conclude that advertisements would have an effect. If the advertisements do have an effect, here is an interesting article about how colors influence us, even when used in advertisements: Article
The way I look at it, money is able to provide us things that we need or want, but for many it won’t make us happy as a person. That is found in the moments, fun activities with friends and family, vacations, adventure and relaxing. I say this because materialistic possessions can only take a person so far. Sure who doesn’t like to enjoy a new sports car or a bigger house, but you can’t take that with you when your gone. They only bring temporary pleasure.