Unselfish Spending Boosts Happiness
To Be Happier, Spending Money on Others Beats Spending on Yourself, Study Shows
By Miranda Hitti MD March 20, 2008
http://www.webmd.com/news/20080320/unselfish-spending-boosts-happiness Want to feel happier? Spending money on other people or charities may make you feel better than splurging on something for yourself.
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The happiest people were the biggest givers, no matter what they earned, note the researchers, who included Elizabeth Dunn, PhD, of the psychology department at Canada's University of British Columbia.
"Regardless of how much income each person made, those who spent money on others reported greater happiness, while those who spent more on themselves did not," Dunn says in a news release.
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...It wasn't about the size of the check; it was about how it was spent.
Giving in Action
...But what happens when people have cash in hand, and an order to spend that money before sundown?
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Some participants were told to spend the money on their rent, bills, or a gift for themselves. Others were told to use the money to buy someone else a gift or to donate it to charity.
Once again, the givers were the happiest at the end of the day, according to surveys they completed before getting the cash and after spending it.
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"Our findings suggest that very minor alterations in spending allocations -- as little as $5 ... may be sufficient to produce nontrivial gains in happiness on a given day," Dunn's team writes.
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