Study finds buying life experiences, not material possessions, leads to greater happiness

Buying life experiences leads to greater happiness for both the consumer and those around them, according to a new study.

Life experiences include things like going to the theater or on a vacation rather than material possessions.

The study was conducted by researchers at San Francisco State University. It showed that experiences result in increased well-being. This is because they satisfy higher order needs, specifically the need for social connectedness and vitality – a feeling of being alive.

Participants indicated that experiences were money better spent and led to greater happiness for both themselves and others.

The results also indicate that experiences produced more happiness regardless of the amount spent or the income of the consumer.

Experiences also lead to longer-term satisfaction.

“Purchased experiences provide memory capital. We don’t tend to get bored of happy memories like we do with a material object,” said Ryan Howell, assistant professor of psychology at San Francisco State University.

“People still believe that more money will make them happy, even though 35 years of research has suggested the opposite. Maybe this belief has held because money is making some people happy some of the time, at least when they spend it on life experiences,” Howell added.

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I believe money buys things that may or may not lead to happiness. The things we purchase can lead to other emotions, such as sadness, fear or anger. It’s our attitudes, thoughts etc towards what we buy that determines whether we feel happy or not.

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