2006-09-21 21:06:10Cabnolen
Research finds money can’t buy happiness
Source: UPI
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- A new study finds personal wealth has little impact on true happiness, The Washington Post reported.
The study suggests that once personal wealth exceeds $12,000 a year, more money ceases to have an effect on overall life satisfaction. Researchers said that in Japan, income grew five-fold between 1958 and 1987. However, no corresponding increase in personal happiness was found.
Richard Layard of the London School of Economics has studied the phenomenon closely. He asserts that when one acquires more wealth by getting a pay raise or winning the lottery, the initial euphoria is short-lived, and levels of personal happiness often eventually revert to where they were before the money came in.
The journal Science reported last week another theory why wealth may not increase happiness -- that the notion that wealth increases good mood is illusionary.
"We argue that people exaggerate the contribution of income to happiness because they focus, in part, on conventional achievements when evaluating their lives and the lives of others," the researchers said.
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- A new study finds personal wealth has little impact on true happiness, The Washington Post reported.
The study suggests that once personal wealth exceeds $12,000 a year, more money ceases to have an effect on overall life satisfaction. Researchers said that in Japan, income grew five-fold between 1958 and 1987. However, no corresponding increase in personal happiness was found.
Richard Layard of the London School of Economics has studied the phenomenon closely. He asserts that when one acquires more wealth by getting a pay raise or winning the lottery, the initial euphoria is short-lived, and levels of personal happiness often eventually revert to where they were before the money came in.
The journal Science reported last week another theory why wealth may not increase happiness -- that the notion that wealth increases good mood is illusionary.
"We argue that people exaggerate the contribution of income to happiness because they focus, in part, on conventional achievements when evaluating their lives and the lives of others," the researchers said.
Copyright 2006 by United Press International