$Smiles: Psychology of Buying Happiness

It’s a common question. Can money buy happiness? Some of you will be like yeah because you can pay off your student loans and get cool things like a motorcycle (even though you might not know how to ride one) or a home planetarium. Others will say no because you can’t buy real friendships or knowledge. Some will say a few of my professors’ favorite words: it depends. Let’s look into the psychology of it.

If you buy something you’ve always wanted, let’s say a cool new pair of shoes, then you’ll be happy right? How long will that happiness last? A week? A month? Until a newer, cooler model comes out? Well we don’t know specifically but it won’t be forever. You’ll return to a neutral feeling. This base happiness refers to the Hedonic Treadmill theory. Two psychologist’s named Brickman and Campbell believed that people have moments of happiness or sadness. This theory applies to how companies keep coming out with newer models of their product like the iPhone. Buying the latest one will spike that happiness, however, like a treadmill, it will move but get people’s happiness nowhere.

How does this apply to money? There was a study done at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver that taught us how to buy happiness. They went around to students and asked them about their happiness. After the survey they handed them a random amount of money with a strip of paper with directions. One paper said but something for yourself and the other paper said buy something for someone else. The results showed that the people that bought things for themselves (most of them bought coffee with the money) didn’t become happier. It did nothing for them. For the people that bought for others, they reported feeling happier. The amount of money didn’t matter, it just mattered what the money was going towards. This is called prosocial spending. This study was also done at companies and in other countries, even a dodge ball team. The same result applied. Also, companies sold more of their product and the dodge ball teams that used prosocial spending did better than those that spent on themselves.

What about buying a plane ticket to a new country? There was a Harvard study done about material purchases versus experience purchases. 57% were happier about experiences. Memories won’t get old like a new bike. People that were with friends and family reported happier feelings since it builds connections.

Think about it when you make your next purchase on an upgrade. Have those companies trapped you in the hedonic treadmill? Think about it the next time you spend your money on others. How does it feel to give?

Sources:

Lyubomirsky, Sonja. “Hedonic Adaptation.” Hedonic Adaptation to Positive and Negative Experiences (n.d.): n. pag. Psychology Today. Psychology Today. Web.

Nicolao, L. Irwin, J.R., & Goodman, J.K. (2009). Happiness for sale: Do experiential purchases make consumers happier than material purchases?  Journal of Consumer Research, 36(2), 188-198.

White, Martha C. “Money Can Buy Happiness, Backed by Science.” Time. Time, 29 Oct. 2014. Web.

Wierzbicki, Paul. “The Hedonic Treadmill: Happiness Throughout a Lifetime.” Positive Psychology Program. Positive Psychology Program, 16 Nov. 2014. Web.

Zurawell, Jenny. “Transcript of “How to Buy Happiness”” Michael Norton: How to Buy Happiness. N.p., n.d. Web.