Thaindian News

Washington, April 15 (IANS) People who pursue happiness through material possessions are liked less by their peers than people who pursue happiness through life experiences, a new study says.
Leaf Van Boven, University of Colorado-Boulder (UC-B) psychology professor, spent a decade studying the social costs and benefits of pursuing happiness through the acquisition of life experiences such as travelling and going to concerts versus the purchase of fancy cars and jewellery.

“We found that material possessions don’t provide as much enduring happiness as the pursuit of life experiences,” Van Boven said.

The “take home” message in his most recent study is that not only will investing in material possessions make us less happy than investing in life experiences, but that it often makes us less popular among our peers as well.

“The mistake we can sometimes make is believing that pursuing material possessions will gain us status and admiration while also improving our social relationships,” Van Boven said.

“In fact, it seems to have exactly the opposite effect. This is really problematic because we know that having quality social relationships is one of the best predictors of happiness, health and well-being,” he said.

“So for many of us we should rethink these decisions that we might make in terms of pursuing material possessions versus life experiences,” he said.

“Trying to have a happier life by the acquisition of material possessions is probably not a very wise decision,” he added.

Margaret Campbell, UC-B marketing professor and Cornell University professor Thomas Gilovich co-authored the study.

Past studies have found that people who are materialistic tend to have lower quality social relationships. They also have fewer and less satisfying friendships, a UC-B release said.

The findings appear in this month’s edition of the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.