You always hear the famous phrase “Money doesn’t buy happiness” and yet there are still people who like to disagree with this statement. However, with this new study, this statement has been tested.
In this article, the New York Times first proposes the readers with the question of whether they would like to have more time or more money? Which is more of value? Obviously you can measure the value of money, but can you really measure the value of time? The article goes on to tell the story of Professor Hershfield, who faced the issue of working more or spending more time with his new born baby. He mulled over this dilemma because taking the extra work meant extra money which is always a good thing. However, in acquiring more money, he would be giving up the time spent with her newborn baby girl. And so, we come to this question of which opportunity would lead to more happiness; more money or more time with his baby girl?
Because of this, a study was conducted in order to test this theory of which would lead to more happiness for the person involved; having more time or more money. The study included people of all different backgrounds, races, incomes etc. and it seemed to appear that people valued money over time. However, they then were asked to rate their quality of life and overall happiness. When doing this, it appeared that people were happier when they chose time. After this, the study continued by evaluating the people’s incomes and so on in order to make sure the data was correct, and indeed it proved right.
The article comes to a conclusion by saying that even though we all need money to survive, when people were asked to write down the reasons they wanted more time versus reasons of wanting more money, the people were happier when valuing the more time they would want.
I think this topic is important because too often we fall into the trap of trying to chose what will make us more money rather than focussing on what will make us happier. This study proves that although we need money to survive, it’s important to realize it’s not the only thing and that valuing time more can make you a happier person in the end.
That quote money doesn’t buy happiness is typically combated with the saying that I would rather cry in a Bentley than a Toyota. I think it’s really interesting that you’ve decided to write about this topic because relating it to science does not seem very easy. I think the data you highlighted in your blog would be pretty interesting if they focused on different age groups because I think it would definitely differ. Typically based off of what I am surrounded around, younger people want money while older people want more time, it seems like we always want what we cannot have. Here’s an article that focuses on why we may want what we do not have http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alissa-fleck/the-basic-economical-psyc_b_4493431.html