Money Creates Happiness When You Give it Away

From The Money Student.

As Christmas season descends upon us like a swarm chattering reindeer, news becomes scarcer and scarcer. Universities close up shop until the new year, so researchers have fewer and fewer studies to release. I've had to scrounge extra hard to find the news today, and I suspect that this trend will continue over the next few weeks. I may have to take a break, simply because I have nothing to post!

That's why today's news is a little bit on the stale side, but what the heck, let's post it anyway:  the Marblehead Reporter reports on a 2008 study by Harvard and the University of British Columbia that shows people are happier when giving money away. This effect happens across all income levels.

The Marblehead goes on to say that, on average, Republicans give more than Democrats, women give more than men, and the Bible belt gives more than other parts of America.

Hmm, that's about it for today's news. I told you it would be skimpy! Maybe in the next few days I can figure out something to post when there's no news. Until then, you can check out my more comprehensive post on the link between generosity and happiness.

iPhone App Tracks Happiness, Finds Out Sex is Number 1!

From cnet.

Today in obvious news:  cnet reports on results from the iPhone app Track Your Happiness. It turns out that people are happiest during sex and moments of intense focus. Both rated 90 out of 100 on the app's happiness scale...BUT there's no indication of when people gave their ratings (i.e.:  if they waited or if they interrupted their activity to fiddle with the app).

This app comes from Harvard researchers Daniel Gilbert and Matthew Killingsworth. You may have heard about it recently because of its implications to mind wandering, but the other results are new. The app features a basic happiness survey like the ones used by many positive psychology researchers. The study gathered around 250,000 happiness responses from 2,200 people.

These iPhone happiness apps are a somewhat-new phenomenon. You can sign up for Track Your Happiness here. If you're in the UK, you can also try Mappiness, which maps the location and time of your happiness ratings. If you have an iPhone (and you don't mind being interrupted throughout the day), give 'em a try!

Whoops, Looks Like Money CAN Buy Happiness (Even Beyond the Poverty Line)!

Scrooge McDuck:  happiest duck in the universe?
From Joshua Kennen.

Science is a fickle mistress. Sometimes she merely confirms what we already think we know, and sometimes she turns common wisdom on its head. According to a new study linked in the Harvard Crimson, “money can buy many, if not most, if not all of the things that make people happy.” The study comes from one of my favorite people, Daniel Gilbert, along with Elizabeth Dunn and Timothy Wilson.

The researchers hypothesize that money's traditional inability to provide happiness comes not from money itself, but from humanity's general lack of knowledge about longterm happiness. In other words, if consumers actually knew the best way to spend money, it would make them quite happy. Instead, people base their purchasing decisions on price and superficial factors that won't matter to them as time goes on.

This story holds sentimental value for me, because my very first post on this blog was about different salary-based thresholds for happiness. Seems like only yesterday! (Actually it was only a bit less than two months ago.) If this new Daniel Gilbert study is true, it would overturn that previous study, as long as people spend their money more wisely. Which they probably won't, but oh well.

Weekend Viewing: Tal Ben-Shahar's Happiness Class

Hey, let's watch Tal Ben-Shahar teach a class! You may remember me writing about Tal in my very first Casual Friday. As a quick refresher, he is the author of the excellent book Happier, as well as being the professor of the famously popular happiness class at Harvard. This video shows him on the first day of a new semester, but after he had already become famous.

For some reason, I was only able to find this video on a Chinese version of YouTube, but don't worry--it's all in English. I haven't watched the whole thing yet, but he starts by talking about one of my favorite topics:  the difference between the popular notion of outgoing cheeriness and real happiness. After a few notes on the class itself, he goes on to talk about the importance of silence in our lives. He is an engaging and informative speaker, so give it a try! (Embedding seems to stop working periodically. If that happens, use this link:  http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTE5MTAzODgw.html)