People, like us, have strange conceptions about money. When we don’t have it, we often believe that money will make us happier. When we do have money, however, we tend to want more.
The odd thing is that we all know, at least intellectually, that money won’t buy happiness. But unfortunately, we’ve been steeped in a culture so heavily mediated that we’ve started believing the lies. The cars, the houses, the stuff—living the so-called Dream will make us happy. But of course this is not true. The opposite, however, is also not true. A life of poverty—a life of perpetual deprivation—isn’t joyous either.
Too much of a good thing may be wonderful, but it turns out that when it comes to money, more of it doesn't make the rich happier. But lack of money does make the poor sadder. Researchers in Singapore have studied a regular day in the lives of people from across the income strata, and found that the rich generally don't find their daily lives more full or satisfying than the average person. They found "no trace of a relationship between income and happiness,” writing that “this finding, however, dovetails with recent theory and research showing that wealth may undermine people’s ability to savor positive events, largely canceling out the happiness benefits of higher income.” Apparently, the experiences and possessions readily available to the rich render them easily bored.
However, while an abundance of money doesn't make a person happier, money can reduce sadness — for those who don't have enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment