Will More Money Make One Truly Happy?
Can you buy happiness with wealth? This has been a very hotly debated issue since early civilization.
This is a very major issue. We shall focus our discussion only on whether people who have more wealth are happier than those who have less wealth.
A very widely belief in many societies is that wealth can make a person more happy and satisfied. This belief is widely held as per the paper The funds, friends, and faith of happy people, by D Myers and published in American Psychologist at the beginning of this century. In his paper he made the observation that a very widely held belief is that more money can make a person happier.
What make people think that more money will make them happier? Let us explore three of the often quoted explanations:
Explanation 1: With more money one is better able to weather any unforeseen circumstances or serious illness or disasters.
This explanation can be attributed to the fear of not having sufficient money to cope with life?s unexpected negative events.
In the communist system, the nation takes care of the basic needs of the people. In order to counter communist influence, socialist and capitalist governments also implemented welfare systems. However, with the collapse of the communist system, and the attack on the un-sustainability of the welfare systems in many countries, as well as the phasing out of the life-long employment system, there is increasingly a greater need for self-reliance.
Explanation 2: With more money one is in a better position to do good for the rest of the society.
This explanation is largely seen to be for altruistic motives. It is altruistic because one might not get anything tangible in return. There can however, be a lot of intangibles one gets in return.
It is interesting to learn from two of the world?s richest men on how they use their money to do good. Bill Gates, being a very hands-on man, contributes not only his money, but his time and energy, for his charity work. Warren Buffet, on the other hand, being a hands-off man, trusts his donation with Bill Gates, whom he believes will do greatest good for the money that he gives away. These two men had shown that to be truly happy with how you give your money away to do good, you will have to do it in a way consistent with the modus operandi (mode of operation) in your life.
Explanation 3: With more money one can have more of the desired material things such as bigger and more luxurious cars and houses, going to more exotic places for holidays, or higher level of comfort.
This explanation can be attributed to the fact that society is very much consumerist.
In a capitalist world, economists preach that consumption stimulates a nation?s economic growth. Armed with this blessing from the authorities, advertisers blatantly promote opulence and excessive consumption. Being able to afford a life of luxury is viewed as a status symbol of success, of having achieved the ultimate. There is therefore the pressure of keeping up with the Joneses.
In a non-consumerist society such as that of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, instead of promoting gross national product, the kingdom promotes gross national happiness. The net result has been that while the nation is very poor, the people seem to be happy.
From the above discussion on the three explanations why people believe money can bring happiness, it is no surprise that research findings on whether money brings happiness has been mixed and sometimes conflicting. The following research results are note-worthy.
According to the paper A dark side of the American dream: Correlates of financial success as a life aspiration by Kasser and Ryan, in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (1993), the more a person values money, the less satisfied he will be when he gets it. This suggests that in order to be happy, we need to value money less.
According to the paper The funds, friends and faith of happy people by D Meyers in American Psychologist (2000), while the U.S?s per capital GNP was more than twice that of Ireland, the levels of happiness were about the same. This suggests that people in a rich nation may not be happier than those in a poorer nation.
According to the paper Factors predicting the subjective well-being of nations by Diener, Diener and Diener in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (1995), while there is a strong relationship between income and satisfaction at the lower income levels, the relationship becomes insignificant at the higher income level. This suggests that once the income rises above the poverty level, further increase in income does not increase happiness level by any significant level.
This is a very major issue. We shall focus our discussion only on whether people who have more wealth are happier than those who have less wealth.
A very widely belief in many societies is that wealth can make a person more happy and satisfied. This belief is widely held as per the paper The funds, friends, and faith of happy people, by D Myers and published in American Psychologist at the beginning of this century. In his paper he made the observation that a very widely held belief is that more money can make a person happier.
What make people think that more money will make them happier? Let us explore three of the often quoted explanations:
Explanation 1: With more money one is better able to weather any unforeseen circumstances or serious illness or disasters.
This explanation can be attributed to the fear of not having sufficient money to cope with life?s unexpected negative events.
In the communist system, the nation takes care of the basic needs of the people. In order to counter communist influence, socialist and capitalist governments also implemented welfare systems. However, with the collapse of the communist system, and the attack on the un-sustainability of the welfare systems in many countries, as well as the phasing out of the life-long employment system, there is increasingly a greater need for self-reliance.
Explanation 2: With more money one is in a better position to do good for the rest of the society.
This explanation is largely seen to be for altruistic motives. It is altruistic because one might not get anything tangible in return. There can however, be a lot of intangibles one gets in return.
It is interesting to learn from two of the world?s richest men on how they use their money to do good. Bill Gates, being a very hands-on man, contributes not only his money, but his time and energy, for his charity work. Warren Buffet, on the other hand, being a hands-off man, trusts his donation with Bill Gates, whom he believes will do greatest good for the money that he gives away. These two men had shown that to be truly happy with how you give your money away to do good, you will have to do it in a way consistent with the modus operandi (mode of operation) in your life.
Explanation 3: With more money one can have more of the desired material things such as bigger and more luxurious cars and houses, going to more exotic places for holidays, or higher level of comfort.
This explanation can be attributed to the fact that society is very much consumerist.
In a capitalist world, economists preach that consumption stimulates a nation?s economic growth. Armed with this blessing from the authorities, advertisers blatantly promote opulence and excessive consumption. Being able to afford a life of luxury is viewed as a status symbol of success, of having achieved the ultimate. There is therefore the pressure of keeping up with the Joneses.
In a non-consumerist society such as that of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, instead of promoting gross national product, the kingdom promotes gross national happiness. The net result has been that while the nation is very poor, the people seem to be happy.
From the above discussion on the three explanations why people believe money can bring happiness, it is no surprise that research findings on whether money brings happiness has been mixed and sometimes conflicting. The following research results are note-worthy.
According to the paper A dark side of the American dream: Correlates of financial success as a life aspiration by Kasser and Ryan, in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (1993), the more a person values money, the less satisfied he will be when he gets it. This suggests that in order to be happy, we need to value money less.
According to the paper The funds, friends and faith of happy people by D Meyers in American Psychologist (2000), while the U.S?s per capital GNP was more than twice that of Ireland, the levels of happiness were about the same. This suggests that people in a rich nation may not be happier than those in a poorer nation.
According to the paper Factors predicting the subjective well-being of nations by Diener, Diener and Diener in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (1995), while there is a strong relationship between income and satisfaction at the lower income levels, the relationship becomes insignificant at the higher income level. This suggests that once the income rises above the poverty level, further increase in income does not increase happiness level by any significant level.
