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Research says money CAN make you happy if you spend it on others

Posted On 05 Oct 2014By : StanComment: 0


moneycanmakeyouhappy
Can money really buy happiness? There are lots of debates on the subject. Some i
ndividuals seem to think that it can, others would disagree. Several scientific
researches show that spending money on others can satisfy basic psychological ne
eds and boost happiness.
Although a great deal of research shows that wealthy people are somewhat happier
than people living in poverty, a recent research by Elisabet W. Dunn(University
of British Columbia,) Michael I. Norton(Harvard University) and Lara Aknin(Simo
n Fraser University) suggests that spending those extra few bucks in your pocket
on people in need could bring you more joy than spending it on yourself.
The benefits of such prosocial spending emerge among adults around the world, an
d the warm glow of giving can be detected even in toddlers. These benefits are m
ost likely to emerge when giving satisfies one or more core human needs (related
ness, competence, and autonomy). The rewards of prosocial spending are observabl
e in both the brain and the body and can potentially be harnessed by organizatio
ns and governments.
In their article Prosocial Spending and Happiness: Using Money to Benefit Others
Pays Off published in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science in
February 2014, they demonstrate this counter-intuitive thesis by describing a se
ries of studies, many of which they conducted themselves. The researchers bring
back their own study from 2008 in which participants were given $5 to $20. Half
of them were asked to spend it on themselves and the other half to spend it on o
thers. In the end of the day those who spent the money on someone else reported
happier moods compared to those who had to spend it on themselves.
They also point to a study from 2012 which states that contrary to the tradition
al economic theory which depicts human beings as fundamentally motivated by self
interest, people who routinely engage in prosocial acts such as giving blood or
donating to charity acts that require them to incur personal costs for the bene
fit of others are associated with positive emotions. The study found evidence th
at even children feel happiness when giving to others. Toddlers around the age o
f two who gave crackers or Teddy Grehams to their puppet buddies showed more sig
ns of happiness compared to those who received the threats themselves.
Their results prove to be true not only in the U.S. or other wealthy nations. Th
ey found a significant relationship between giving and happiness in 120 out of 1
36 researched countries. Wealth did not seem to matter at all.
So yeah, money can make you happy :)
Written by Stan(founder of I Heart Intelligence) for Endoriot.com

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