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What makes us happy? It’s a question we often ask. So, it’s not surprising that it’s a popular research subject among scientists.
Everyone has an opinion, it seems, on the route to true happiness, but how do we separate fact from fiction? We spoke to happiness experts and discussed the science related to common happiness beliefs to get a better understanding about what might make us happy — and what might not.
1. Money will make you happy.
What science shows: It’s complicated, says Robert Waldinger, M.D., a psychiatrist and coauthor of The Good Life: Lessons From the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness. “There’s debate in the research community about this.”
In 2010, a Princeton University study by professors Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton found that once your basic needs are met, your happiness level plateaus — typically at income levels of $75,000 or higher.
But in 2021, research by Matthew Killingsworth at the University of Pennsylvania contradicted these findings: Higher incomes did increase happiness without a plateau.
To put the debate to rest, the two teams “had what they called an ‘adversarial collaboration,’ ” Waldinger says. In other words, they decided to conduct a joint study with Barbara Mellers, a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, serving as an impartial facilitator. The study, published in 2023, discovered that “your happiness keeps going up, [even] after you get your basic needs met,” but only if you’re already a happy person, Waldinger says. But “If you're unhappy, and you're looking for wealth to make you happier, that doesn’t work.”
As Killingsworth puts it in an article in Penn Today, “Money is not the secret to happiness, but it can probably help a bit.”
2. Material things will make you happy.
What science shows: This may seem to be tied to money and happiness, but there is a distinction. Buying material things “provides some initial satisfaction. But that satisfaction and that happiness declined soon after,” says Sophia Godkin, a psychologist and author of the book, The Couple's Gratitude Journal: 5 Minutes to Create a Stronger and More Fulfilling Relationship. People adapt quickly to situations. So, that feeling of happiness when you buy that brand-new iPhone fades over time. Furthermore, people tend to “engage in social comparisons,” Godkin says. When you notice that someone has a newer, more expensive iPhone than you do, then “all of a sudden, I’m no longer as happy as I was,” she adds.
On the contrary, studies have suggested that materialistic people are less happy than their peers. According to the Greater Good Science Center in Berkeley, California, “They experience fewer positive emotions, are less satisfied with life, and suffer higher levels of anxiety, depression, and substance abuse.”
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