Personal happiness may be the most studied facet of human life in the psychology field. Just a brief search in a library database of scholarly journals produces thousands of results featuring research and assessments on human happiness; not to mention the endless selection of titles in the self-help section of your local bookstore.
The Declaration of Independence tells us happiness is one of our certain unalienable rights parents always express their wish for their children to achieve happiness as they grow to adulthood and The Beatles have been telling us happiness is a warm gun since 1968’s White Album. For most of us in the Western world, achieving happiness is of paramount importance.
In well-developed, wealthy nations like the United States, happiness if often measured in the procurement of a respected career path, the money that results from said career and the tangible good that are possible to obtain because of the money earned. Psychologists, sociologists and economists are fascinated by this cycle and the hypothesis stating that money and things directly relate to human happiness. But is that really the case? Do individuals with more actually find greater happiness than those individuals with less?
Yes and no, say researchers of a 2010 study featured in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. In their article It’s not the money, it’s the quest for a happier self: the role of happiness and success motives in the link between financial goals and subjective well-being, researchers found that job success and money are indirectly instrumental in allowing humans to achieve some semblance of happiness as it provides a relief from poverty, and supplies resources that allow basic human needs to be met. However, once basic quality of life issues are attended to, money is often superfluous to happiness and subjective well-being.
As Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness suggests, there may be a huge difference between the happiness quotient of an individual who earns $10,000 per year and an individual who earns $50,000 per year – simply because this earning gap is the difference between poverty and middle class. However, the happiness quotient of an individual who earns $100,000 per year in relation to someone who earns $5 million is relatively the same. Gilbert continues to state, “Economists explain that wealth has ‘declining marginal utility’, which is a fancy way of saying that it hurts to be hungry, cold, sick, tired and scared, but once you’ve bought your way out of these burdens, the rest of your money is an increasingly useless pile of paper.”
Then, why do people, namely Americans, feel the need to consume as a way to achieve happiness? The western world puts a large emphasis on the consumption of money and tangible goods as an outward expression of power, status and worth. It’s a tool of survival in a materialistic society – a society that grows more materialistic with each new generation.
A PBS documentary, titled Affluenza, which originally aired over a decade ago suggests that allowing money and things to have too much power over your individual happiness is a social disease that began shortly after World War II. Although consumerism is necessary for the prosperity and propagation of the United States economy, I think we are all very aware of what happens when overt consumerism gets out of hand. Affluenza suggests that the balance between money and happiness peaked during the late 1950s and has declined since. It has been argued that individuals with more actually experience higher rates of stress anxiety than their cohorts that consume less (as long as basic needs are met).
Didn’t Biggie and Diddy tell us this back in the ‘90s? Mo’ money, mo’ problems!
The odd part of the money/happiness correlation in Western society is that the ability to consume does not necessarily prompt the consumers to feel more grateful for who they are or for what they have. It is interesting to notice how in the recent economic downturn, when identity and happiness are no longer able to be derived from money and possessions, how many people are forced to turn inward or to their family and friends to the find happiness they once found externally.
Money is a necessary component of life and there is no denying that the occasional purchase does cause elevated dopamine levels in the brain and hence a temporary euphoria. Earning money and being a consumer of products is not the problem, but rather a problem arises when people expect their entire scope of happiness to hinge on these things.
As we arrive at the beginning of another holiday season, we are given an opportunity to assess our own happiness and reflect on what we are thankful for. Surrounded by your loved ones on Thanksgiving Day, when it is your turn to share what you are thankful for, your mind will likely turn to much more basic, emotionally driven thoughts – gratitude for your family and friends, your health, etc.
I very much doubt you would express your gratitude for your shiny new car, fancy new watch or the huge bonus you will receive next month. And even if these items are on your list of things to be thankful for, try to squeeze grandma in there somewhere.
