Thursday, March 20, 2008 at 12:12am
Happiness linked to giving to others
Money can buy happiness if you spend it on someone else, researchers at the University of British Columbia and Harvard Business School found. They reported Thursday that spending as little as $5 a day on others significantly boosts happiness, Reuters reported Thursday.
Experiments on more than 630 Americans showed they were measurably happier when they spent money on others, even if they thought spending it on themselves would make them happier. They asked the volunteers to rate their general happiness, report their annual income and detail their monthly spending, including on charities. Those who spent money on others reported greater happiness than those who spent more on themselves.
The team also surveyed 16 employees at a Boston company before and after they received an annual bonus of between $3,000 and $8,000. "Employees who devoted more of their bonus to pro-social spending experienced greater happiness ... and the manner in which they spent that bonus was a more important predictor of their happiness than the size of the bonus itself," they wrote in their report, published in the journal Science.
"Finally, participants who were randomly assigned to spend money on others experienced greater happiness than those assigned to spend money on themselves," they said. They gave volunteers $5 or $20 and gave instructions on how to spend it. Those who spent the money on someone or something else reported feeling happier about it.
Experiments on more than 630 Americans showed they were measurably happier when they spent money on others, even if they thought spending it on themselves would make them happier. They asked the volunteers to rate their general happiness, report their annual income and detail their monthly spending, including on charities. Those who spent money on others reported greater happiness than those who spent more on themselves.
The team also surveyed 16 employees at a Boston company before and after they received an annual bonus of between $3,000 and $8,000. "Employees who devoted more of their bonus to pro-social spending experienced greater happiness ... and the manner in which they spent that bonus was a more important predictor of their happiness than the size of the bonus itself," they wrote in their report, published in the journal Science.
"Finally, participants who were randomly assigned to spend money on others experienced greater happiness than those assigned to spend money on themselves," they said. They gave volunteers $5 or $20 and gave instructions on how to spend it. Those who spent the money on someone or something else reported feeling happier about it.