This is a summary of the article Time, money, and happiness - Mogilner, C., & Norton, M. I. (2016). It is part of the literature of the course Lifestyles and Consumption (CHL20806) at Wageningen university.
Mogilner, C., & Norton, M. I. (2016). Time, money, and happiness. Current Opinion in Psychology, 10, 12-16.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.10.018
Time, money and happiness
Time and money are the two most precious resources in life. However, they have different
psychological effects on human behavior.
Happiness from money
Data suggests that additional income after fulfilling basic needs does not increase well-being.
This depends more on the way it is spend. Two suggestions from research are made.
- People spend most of their income on themselves.
- Money spend on oneself fails to pay off in happiness.
Recent research highlights two alternative spending targets with greater potential to increase
happiness: prosocial spending and buying experiences.
Prosocial spending
Research showed that spending money on others increase well-being. This is universally true
and is not merely driven by social norms. Two critical moderators here are strong emotional
ties (versus weak ties) and face-to-face spending (versus anonymous); and the feeling of having
specific impact. There is evidence here of a positive feedback loop: happiness from the first
event will positively influence the second event.
Buying experience
Other research shows the impact of the shift from buying stuff to buying experiences.
Experiential purchases induce greater happiness then material purchases. Even waiting for
these purchases is better than waiting for material purchases. Experiences are interpersonally
connecting, which shows the hedonic benefits of money to cultivate social connection.
Happiness from time
Research shows that a shift towards time can make people happier. People who focus on time
socialize more and work less. By emphasizing time, they realize that live is finite and that
encourages them to act in ways they can be happy. Age determines the way time is experiences.
Two primary forms of happiness are excitement and calm. Young people are more likely to
express happiness in excitement and old people more in calm. Perceiving life as long versus
short and fast versus slow influences happiness. And thinking about time can influence not only
how much happiness people experience, but also how they experience happiness.
Giving other people time makes people feel like they have more time. The amount of happiness
enjoyed from extraordinary and ordinary experiences depends on one’s age. It seems that
people value spending time. Busy people are usually happier than idle people. They would be
even happier if they busied themselves with others.
Conclusion
The emerging work suggest two critical points. The first is that happiness may be less
contingent on the amount of each resource available and more dependent on the extent to
which people focus on each resource, and on how people choose to spend their time and money.
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