Many of us dream of having thousands and thousands of dollars to spend on anything we desire. We think if we had more money, we’d be happier.
But money really can buy happiness? While having some money does have an impact on our level of happiness, having a lot of money does not. People in United States whose income goes from US$20,000 a year to US$50,000 a year are more likely to be happy. But after US$50,000 happiness does not increase as salaries go up. In addition, if buying something new is what makes us happy, we will decide we need a different one.
‘‘The more you make, the more you want. The more you have, the more less it brings you joy,’’ Says Daniel Gilbert, a psychology professor at Harvard. Because we are never satisfied, it will become an endless cycle.
To really be happy, we should need to understand what makes us happy in the first place. Surveys have found good relationships have a far greater effect on happiness than large raises in salary. Those who have five or more close friends are 50 percent more likely to describe themselves as ‘‘very happy.’’
So let’s invest our time and energy in people. The payoff is much bigger in term of happiness.
[文摘]Money really can buy happiness?
refers to the article of Studio Classroom 2007 November 7,8
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生字
survey (民意)調查;調查報告