They say that happiness is not in money. But scientists are in no hurry to agree with this statement and conduct serious many years of research to check if this is actually so. If it is still true, then what makes us really happy?
If you believe the joint study of specialists from the Scottish University of Stirling, as well as the University of Manchester and the University of Nottingham, the increase in earnings does not make most people happier. At the same time, the loss of money is much more important, as it makes you feel more unhappy – however, this applies to a certain type of people.
The head of the study Christopher Boyce claims: “It is often believed that our satisfaction with life is growing with the growth of income, but we found that this is not so.”.
The study was attended by over 18 thousand people, who were observed for more than nine years. Scientists have found that, regardless of personality types, the increase in earnings did not increase the degree of satisfaction with life. On this indicator – naturally, negatively – only the loss of money affected.
Boyce is sure: “For most people living in economically developed countries, constantly growing income are not an important factor for the growth of well -being and a sense of happiness. Instead, we should strive for financial stability to help and protect those who are in a difficult financial situation – this will make us happier ”1 .
This is far from
the first study devoted to the issue of the relationship between the income level and the level of happiness. For example, in 2012, Psychological Science magazine published evidence that human well -being does not depend on the state of his bank account, but on respect and admiration that he causes other people 2 .
The author and head of the study by Cameron Anderson of the University of California in Berkeley explains: “We are interested in this issue, since there are many evidence that a high socio-economic status-a high salary or a great fortune, a good education-in no way affects the growth of well-being andSatisfaction with life. But at the same time, many are still convinced that the high status is the key to happiness. “.
In order to verify this statement, they collected data on 80 college students: income level, social status (according to their peers and themselves), the level of social activity, as well as the level of happiness. The not those students who are richer, but those who had better “social status” were happier.
This is the so -called “local staircase effect”, that is, the dependence of life satisfaction on how the “local community” perceives us. Researchers three times in different ways double -checked this assumption and each time came to the same conclusion.
