In tough economic times, we often turn inwards for answers to our elusive happiness, for happiness is a big-ticket issue. Psychiatrists sell it by the bottle, clergymen offer it in the hereafter and stock brokers dangle it like a carrot in the form of tempered retirement funds. There’s that old bit of wisdom that says, wine will make you merry, but money answers all things. Studies conducted over this last decade show that money, to a certain point, makes people happier because it lessens the burden of basic necessities. Yet, certain psychologists are now turning their attention to what is called “emotional efficiency,” that is, how people get the most happiness for their dollar.
“‘Go out and buy yourself something nice.’ That’s the consoling advice we often give to friends who have just gotten bad news from their employer, their doctor, or their soon-to-be-ex spouse,” writes Timothy D. Wilson, a UVA professor of psychology. Wilson, along with Elizabeth W. Dunn of the University of British Columbia and Harvard’s Daniel T. Gilbert, recently completed a research paper titled “If Money Doesn’t Make You Happy Then You Probably Aren’t Spending It Right” for The Journal of Consumer Psychology. “Although the advice is well-meant,” continues Wilson & Co., “research suggests that people are often happier when they spend their money on experiences rather than things.”
In the face of a recession that boasts close to 10 percent unemployment, 1.5 percent personal bankruptcy per annum, mass foreclosures and little sign of letting up anytime soon, the question of mental health, and in particular, happiness, seems more vital than ever.
When it comes to Charlottesville, the commercial districts here brag of all manner of experiential purchases, from the intellectual to the aesthetic to the escapist. Yet for most, the pinch is tangible and what little excess people have for consumer spending is not as important to Wilson and his fellow researchers as how they spend it. “It’s better to go on a vacation than buy a new couch is basically the idea,” says Professor Dunn summarizing their research.
With my girlfriend and I a mere four days out from a 10-day trip to Ireland that we’ve planned for the better part of two years, I head over to Globe Travel, just off Emmet Street near UVA, to see how the travel industry has been affected by the financial crisis, and what the stress-heavy consumer expects to get out of the vacation.
“People are not planning as far out these days,” says Jane Dorrier, the owner of Globe Travel, who has been in business for 30 years. “I think a lot of it has to do with less savings built up. Middle class families are definitely spending less on domestic travel, but by and large, the travel industry has not suffered near as much as many retail businesses have during this recession.”
Why is that? “When you purchase travel, you purchase a memory,” says Dorrier. “With less discretionary spending, you want to make it count. Memories are important. When an experience can enhance a family or a couple, that is more important for health—mental health —than anything else.”
Professors Dunn’s, Gilbert’s and Wilson’s research seems to affirm this notion: “We are more likely to mentally revisit our experiences than our things in part because our experiences are more centrally connected to our identities,” they write.
Vacations have long been seen as the antidote to the high anxiety of daily life—a chance to take a break from work, see the world and enjoy time with family. But do they make you inherently happier?
In 2007, researchers from the Netherlands set out to measure the effect that vacations have on overall happiness and how long it lasts. Published in the journal Applied Research in Quality of Life, the study revealed that the largest boost in happiness comes from the simple act of planning a vacation. The anticipation boosted happiness for about eight weeks.
After the vacation, however, happiness quickly dropped back to baseline levels for most people. The only vacationers who experienced an increase in happiness after the trip were those who reported feeling “very relaxed” on their vacation. Among those people, the vacation happiness effect lasted a mere two weeks post-trip before returning to normal levels.
Yet for Wilson and his team, the real issue is not necessarily a tour of exotic foreign lands or a beachside veg-out. Experience, according to their research, can mean a multitude of pro-social things.
“Experiences make us happier than [material] things [because] experiences are more likely to be shared with other people,” they write, “and other people are our greatest source of happiness.”
“Given how deeply and profoundly social we are,” the research paper continues, “almost anything we do to improve our connections with others tends to improve our happiness as well—and that includes spending money.”
Indeed, despite the desperation felt by many Americans today, consumer behavior expert Philip Graves suggests that low-cost indulgences, such as a movie night out, or an evening at mid-level dining and liquor-based venues, are on the rise. These simplest forms of social experience compare to the image of Great Depression era breadlines juxtaposed with post-Prohibition swing dances with Lindy Hoppers going nuts. As the old saying goes: “Nero fiddled while Rome burned.”
“It’s true, I don’t think club life and social soirees have taken much of a downturn here in Charlottesville,” says Robin Tomlin, who DJs soul music at the Box on the Downtown Mall each Thursday night.
What’s the street-level assessment?
“There seems to be more homeless people these days than I can ever remember,” says a middle-aged male who wishes to remain anonymous.
“I think being rich would make things easier,” says Susan Shrum, a wife and mother of two who likes to jog pushing her youngest son in a three-wheeled stroller. “But I don’t know if it would necessarily make me happier.”
“I can’t say whether the wealthy are any happier than anyone else per se,” says Hugh Gildea, a retired military engineer, “One thing I’ve noticed, though, is that some of the wealthy are being less conspicuous about their high-end spending nowadays, because it seems rather tasteless when you see people losing their homes.”
“Psychologists have spent decades studying the relation between wealth and happiness,” writes Harvard University psychologist Daniel Gilbert in his best-selling Stumbling on Happiness, “and they have generally concluded that wealth increases human happiness when it lifts people out of abject poverty and into the middle class, but that it does little to increase happiness thereafter.”
“Wealthy people don’t just have better toys,” writes Professors Wilson, Dunn and Gilbert, “they have better nutrition and better medical care, more free time and more meaningful labor—more of just about every ingredient in the recipe for a happy life. And yet, they aren’t that much happier than those who have less.”
Why doesn’t wealth bring a constant sense of joy? “Part of the reason is that people aren’t very good at figuring out what to do with the money,” says George Loewenstein, an economist at Carnegie Mellon University.
“Wealth promises access to peak experiences, which in turn undermine the ability to savor small pleasures,” concludes Wilson & Co.
|
Money can buy almost any of the things that make people happy, and if it doesn’t, then we, and not our finances, are to blame, says Tim Wilson. |
If we look at examples of retail spending here in Charlottesville, one storefront offers a product that promises both experiential and retail value. Sex sells according to traditional wisdom, and what better place to take the pulse of sex-related retail items than Derriere de Soie, the lingerie shop on the Downtown Mall, which aims to put a little spark back into the romance department.
“Retail stores are usually down during the summer, in general,” says Susan Tracy, who opened Derrier de Soie five years ago. “I feel like what I do is to try and find lingerie that makes women feel sexy about themselves. Will it make them happy in the long run? That’s a hard question to answer.”
That still doesn’t answer my question of whether money makes people happy, but north of the Mall there might be an answer. On the northeast side of the intersection at Third and Jefferson streets sits the Beth Israel Synagogue adjacent to Holy Comforter Catholic Church on the southwest side. With nothing to lose, at this point, I sit down for a chat with the local rabbi and priest. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
“Well, my feeling is that time a family spends together is a good thing,” says Rabbi Dan Alexander. “All the better if they are aware that they can go on a vacation when many cannot, generating a deeper appreciation for the things they have.”
“To the notion of wealth, you’re either possessed by your possessions or you use your possessions to make an impact,” says Dennis McAuliffe, priest at the Holy Comforter.
“There is a wonderful Jewish teaching from the Pirkei Avot which addresses happiness,” notes Alexander. “Who is happy? The person who is satisfied with his portion.”
“In the end, dust we become,” reminds McAuliffe. “I would tell the person looking for answers on how to spend their money: Connect yourself with things that have a greater permanency, like family, friends and community. Because in the bad times, who knows what your portfolio will do?”
Unsurprising as these altruistic answers might sound, the truth is, most people still look to their own changing fortunes as the answer to all their problems. From purchasing lottery tickets to political campaign contributions to charitable donations, the hopes that good deeds, a political regime change or just plain numerological hunches will somehow pay off in the near-future are clear indications of just how deeply Americans feel about money and happiness. Indeed, heavyweight champ Joe Louis, despite years of being hounded by the IRS, said: “I’ve been poor and I’ve been rich, and rich is better.”
“When asked to take stock of their lives,” write Professors Dunn, Gilbert and Wilson, “people with more money report being a good deal more satisfied. But when asked how happy they are at the moment, people with more money are barely different than those with less. This suggests that our money provides us with satisfaction when we think about it, but not when we use it. That shouldn’t happen. Money can buy many, if not most, if not all of the things that make people happy, and if it doesn’t, then the fault is ours.”
