You may have heard that "it is better to give than to receive," but you may not believe it. Well, now scientific studies show that it’s true, so listen up.
Although much research has shown that income is related to reported happiness, the relation is weak. Could what a person does with his wealth affect his or her happiness?
A team from Canada and the U.S. surveyed a nationally representative group of 632 U.S. adults and found that spending money to satisfy one’s needs and desires (buying consumer goods, for example) had no correlation with that person’s reported level of happiness. Spending money on others, however, was significantly correlated with reported happiness. The team then longitudinally followed 16 employees who received a bonus: Spending the bonus money on themselves was not correlated with reported happiness, but spending on others was. Finally, the team gave 46 people money, asked them to spend it that day, found out how they spent it, and measured their levels of happiness: Spending on others, but not on oneself, was correlated with happiness.
Comment: What do these studies by social scientists have to do with medical practice? Because both we and our patients seek happiness and because our patients sometimes report "unhappiness" as their chief complaint, the insights from these studies may be valuable. For example, for some time, in appropriate situations, I’ve advised patients who appear to be unhappy without specific and understandable reasons to get involved in donating time and money to a charitable organization — and that often seems a helpful suggestion.
— Anthony L. Komaroff, MD
Published in Journal Watch General Medicine May 27, 2008
Dunn EW et al. Spending money on others promotes happiness. Science 2008 Mar 21; 319:1687.