11 Aug You won’t find happiness in “stuff”!
Recent research on consumer habits shows that many Americans have moved from _ã–conspicuous consumption_ã to _ã–calculated consumption_ã _ã_ buying less, and being choosier about purchases _ã_ and that doing so may actually make people happier. What do you think makes you happy?
Stephanie Rosenbloom describes some of the factors that determine happiness:
One major finding is that spending money for an experience _ã” concert tickets, French lessons, sushi-rolling classes, a hotel room in Monaco _ã” produces longer-lasting satisfaction than spending money on plain old stuff.
_ã–_ãÄIt_ã_s better to go on a vacation than buy a new couch_ã_ is basically the idea,_ã says Professor Dunn, summing up research by two fellow psychologists, Leaf Van Boven and Thomas Gilovich. Her own take on the subject is in a paper she wrote with colleagues at Harvard and the University of Virginia: _ã–If Money Doesn_ã_t Make You Happy Then You Probably Aren_ã_t Spending It Right._ã (The Journal of Consumer Psychology plans to publish it in a coming issue.)
Thomas DeLeire, an associate professor of public affairs, population, health and economics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, recently published research examining nine major categories of consumption. He discovered that the only category to be positively related to happiness was leisure: vacations, entertainment, sports and equipment like golf clubs and fishing poles.
Read more about happiness and stuff…HERE