Neuroscience
"From the Archives", first published in the Digest 24.11.03.
Do you dream of untold wealth, fast cars and plasma screen TVs? Did you know that research suggests people who strive for financial success tend to be less satisfied with their lives?
Nobel prize-winner Daniel Kahneman and colleagues wondered whether this negative effect would disappear if people's income were taken into account. Like any other dream, might the goal of financial success be harmful only for those that fail? Humanist psychologists would disagree, arguing that seeking happiness through wealth is destined to failure.
Kahneman and his team had access to the financial aspirations of 12,894 American students when they began university in 1976, together with information on their financial status and levels of life-satisfaction collected between 1995 and 1997.
Contrary to the predictions of humanists, Kahneman found that, overall, the richer people were, the higher their life-satisfaction. And although, overall, dreams of wealth at university predicted subsequent reduced life-satisfaction, this relationship disappeared with financial success. Furthermore, the enhanced life-satisfaction that came from financial success was unaffected by whether or not individuals had dreamt of wealth when they were younger.
The message, it seems, is that striving for wealth and failing will make you miserable. Financial success, meanwhile, is likely to make you happier whether you dreamt of it or not.
_________________________________
Nickerson, C., Schwarz, N., Diener, E. & Kahneman, D. (2003). Zeroing in on the dark side of the American Dream: A closer look at the negative consequences of the goal for financial success. Psychological Science, 14, 531-536.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
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Neuroscience
The dark side of the American dream?
"From the Archives", first published in the Digest 24.11.03.Do you dream of untold wealth, fast cars and plasma screen TVs? Did you know that research suggests people who strive for financial success tend to be less satisfied with their lives?
Nobel prize-winner Daniel Kahneman and colleagues wondered whether this negative effect would disappear if people's income were taken into account. Like any other dream, might the goal of financial success be harmful only for those that fail? Humanist psychologists would disagree, arguing that seeking happiness through wealth is destined to failure.
Kahneman and his team had access to the financial aspirations of 12,894 American students when they began university in 1976, together with information on their financial status and levels of life-satisfaction collected between 1995 and 1997.
Contrary to the predictions of humanists, Kahneman found that, overall, the richer people were, the higher their life-satisfaction. And although, overall, dreams of wealth at university predicted subsequent reduced life-satisfaction, this relationship disappeared with financial success. Furthermore, the enhanced life-satisfaction that came from financial success was unaffected by whether or not individuals had dreamt of wealth when they were younger.
The message, it seems, is that striving for wealth and failing will make you miserable. Financial success, meanwhile, is likely to make you happier whether you dreamt of it or not.
_________________________________
Nickerson, C., Schwarz, N., Diener, E. & Kahneman, D. (2003). Zeroing in on the dark side of the American Dream: A closer look at the negative consequences of the goal for financial success. Psychological Science, 14, 531-536.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
- People Think That Money Affects Happiness More Than It Really Does
With dogged determination we lie, rob, borrow, gamble and sometimes work too, in the hope of boosting our income. So zealous is our pursuit of money, it's as if we think it will somehow make us happier. Strangely enough, whilst psychologists and economists...
- How Being Happy Can Bring Success
You could fill a library with all the research showing an association between happiness and success – no surprise there, why wouldn’t success lead people to be more happy? But after conducting a comprehensive review of 225 studies, collectively involving...
- Student Finances And Health
A study investigating the link between student finances and health has found British students have more debt, more financial worries and poorer health than their Finnish counterparts (despite the countries having similar health standards overall according...
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"It's the economy, stupid", was Bill Clinton's campaign mantra back in the nineties. Well, no it's not actually. At least not according to a new analysis of British voting behaviour in the 1997 and 2001 general elections. As part of the British...
- Fame, Success, And Money For Maniacs
Flavio Briatore The headline below is not offensive or anything, now is it? Maniacs often aspire for fame, success and money: study By Jyoti Pal London, March 2: Mania and depression sufferers are more likely to set higher goals in life. Success, money...