RE: OT: Science Confirms: You Really Can't Buy Happiness

[Guest guest]

What a great article. I have always suspected this to be true. When I was

married, I was a stay at home mom with a husband that made a decent living.

We did not have to struggle financially at all. Now I am a divorced single

mom with a low-paying but very satisfying full time job. I am also going to

school for nursing. I am really struggling to make ends meet, and am busier

than I would like to be, but am so much happier with who I am now as opposed

to the person I was when I was married.

>From: Francesca Skelton <fskelton@...>

>Reply-

>support group < >

>Subject: [ ] OT: Science Confirms: You Really Can't Buy

>Happiness

>Date: Mon, 03 Jul 2006 12:19:59 -0400

>

>

>By Shankar Vedantam

>Washington Post Staff Writer

>Monday, July 3, 2006; Page A02

>

>When Warren Buffett announced last week that he will be giving away more

>than $30 billion to improve health, nutrition and education, people all

>over

>America reflected on his remarkable generosity, pondered all the noble

>things the gift would achieve and asked themselves what they would do if

>someone were to give them that kind of dough.

>

>Halt that daydream: Turns out the Oracle of Omaha is a wizard at more than

>investing. When it comes to money, giving may buy a lot more happiness than

>getting.

>

>Buffett may have been thinking of his soul -- " There is more than one way

>to

>get to heaven, but this is a great way, " he said as he announced the

>largest

>gift in the history of the planet -- but he may also have been keeping up

>with the latest psychological research.

>

>A wealth of data in recent decades has shown that once personal wealth

>exceeds about $12,000 a year, more money produces virtually no increase in

>life satisfaction. From 1958 to 1987, for example, income in Japan grew

>fivefold, but researchers could find no corresponding increase in

>happiness.

>

>In part, said Layard of the London School of Economics, who has

>studied the phenomenon closely, people feel wealthy by comparing themselves

>with others. When incomes rise across a nation, people's relative status

>does not change.

>

>But surely a Buffett-size gift -- he wants to give away $4 million a day --

>would make most people euphoric, right?

>

>Temporarily, that is true, Layard said in an interview. However, social

>comparisons are not the only factor at play. Another big psychological

>factor is habituation: Dramatically changing one's wealth does create

>happiness, but it will last only until people get used to their newfound

>status, which can be a matter of months or a couple of years at most.

>

>When people win lotteries, for example, Layard said, " initially there is a

>big increase in happiness, but then it reverts to its original level. So

>why

>do people want to win lotteries? . . . They have a rather short-term focus,

>and they don't seem to grasp long-term ways their own feelings work. "

>

>The journal Science reported last week yet more evidence and another theory

>about why wealth does not make people happy: " The belief that high income

>is

>associated with good mood is widespread but mostly illusory, " one of its

>studies concluded. " People with above-average income . . . are barely

>happier than others in moment-to-moment experience, tend to be more tense,

>and do not spend more time in particularly enjoyable activities. "

>

>Wait, there's more.

>

> " The effect of income on life satisfaction seems to be transient, " the

>researchers added. " We argue that people exaggerate the contribution of

>income to happiness because they focus, in part, on conventional

>achievements when evaluating their lives and the lives of others. "

>

>Wow. Let's pause a moment to let all priests, nuns and anarchists take a

>bow

>and say, " I told you so! "

>

> " People grossly exaggerate the impact that higher incomes would have on

>their subjective well-being, " said Alan Krueger, a professor of economics

>and public affairs at Princeton University and an author of the study.

>

>The problem is that once people get past the level of poverty, money does

>not play a significant role in day-to-day happiness, Krueger said. It

>certainly can buy things, but things do not usually address most of the

>troubles people experience in daily life -- concerns about their children,

>problems in intimate relationships and stressful aspects of their jobs.

>

>When people daydream about winning big, Krueger said, " they focus on all

>the

>things they would buy, without recognizing that does not contribute all

>that

>much to their well-being. "

>

>In fact, the study noted, data from the Department of Labor show that the

>more money people have, the less likely they are to spend time doing

>certain

>kinds of enjoyable things that make them happy. High-income individuals are

>often focused on goals, which can bring satisfaction. But working toward

>achievements is different from experiencing things that are enjoyable in

>themselves , such as close relationships and relaxing leisure activities.

>

> " If you want to know why I think poor people are not that miserable, it is

>because they are able to enjoy things that Bill Gates has not been able to

>enjoy, given his schedule at Microsoft, " Krueger surmised.

>

>Various studies have shown that people are enormously reluctant to accept a

>pay cut, even if that would give them more freedom, less supervision or a

>shorter commute -- all things that are tangibly associated with

>moment-to-moment happiness. The emphasis on salary is identical to the

>lottery ticket winner's mistake in thinking that money changes everything.

>

> " One of the mistakes people make is they focus on the salary and not the

>non-salary aspects of work, " Krueger said. " People do not put enough weight

>on the quality of work. That is why work looks like, for most people, the

>worst moments of the day. "

>

>

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