Buying Happiness

A TED Talk by Michael Norton demonstrates that happiness can be purchased. There are ways of spending money that do make us happier. First, having sufficient money correlates to a moderate increase in happiness, independent of how the money is spent. But Dr. Norton’s study found something very interesting: Spending money on oneself does not increase happiness, but spending on others does. Listen to the TED talk at the first URL; read an abstract of the study and its results at the second URL. TED Talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_norton_how_to_buy_happiness.html Study results ((note that the link to the study results in an Adobe Acrobat document. You must have Adobe Acrobat installed to read it. Download free at: www.adobe.com) http://drfd.hbs.edu/fit/public/facultyInfo.do?facInfo=pub&facId=326229 Title of study: Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness Dunn, Elizabeth W., Lara B. Aknin, and Michael I. Norton. " Science 319 (March 2008): 1687-1688.