Money Buys Unhappiness

August 31, 2010, 10:00 am by Scientific American: Mind and Brain

“ ’Tis the gift to be simple,” the Shakers sing. Catholic nuns and Buddhist monks take vows of poverty. Why? A new study published online in May in Psychological Science offers a hint. Money--even the thought of it--reduces satisfaction from life’s simple pleasures.Studies have shown that a person’s ability to savor experiences predicts their degree of happiness. Savoring is defined as the emotions of joy, awe, excitement and gratitude derived during an experience. Psychologist Jordi Quoidbach of the University of Liège in Belgium and his colleagues divided 374 adults, ranging from custodians to senior administrators, into two randomly assigned groups. The first group was shown a picture of a stack of money; the control group was shown the same picture blurred beyond recognition. Then the participants were given psychological tests to measure their ability to savor pleasant experiences. The results showed that people who had been shown the money scored significantly lower. [More] Psychology - Belgium - Happiness - Scientific control - Jordi Quoidbach

Read the full article

More from Scientific American: Mind and Brain

#SciAmBlogs Monday - Coelacanths, Lake Vostok, neuronal transplants, #scio12, San Diego Demonoid, and more....
Scientific American: Mind and Brain : February 7, 2012, 12:10 pm
Welcome back from the weekend. Check out the new Image of the Week first! Then see what the bloggers have published lately: - Lucas Brouwers – Coelacanths

How Emotions Jump from Face to Face
Scientific American: Mind and Brain : February 7, 2012, 11:15 am
Disability advocates were seeing red after two elderly women with medical conditions were allegedly strip-searched by TSA agents at New York’s JFK airport last December. You’d have to have a pretty thick

Editor's Selections: Blood Tests for Depression, the Axolotl, Dopamine, and The Bachelor
Scientific American: Mind and Brain : February 7, 2012, 11:00 am
Here are my Research Blogging Editor’s Selections for this week. [More]

Neuronal transplants for treatment of obesity
Scientific American: Mind and Brain : February 6, 2012, 12:58 pm
There are many different factors which go into whether animals (or humans) develop obesity and diabetes. Different sensitivity to different chemicals, in different areas of the body and brain, can cause

The Brain is one Awesomely Complicated Piece of Meat
Scientific American: Mind and Brain : February 6, 2012, 11:29 am
Image of the Week #29, February 6th, 2012: [More]