## Step 2 - Reading

Reading: How money can buy happiness
Read the article quickly. Match the dates to the findings.

by Graham Witcomb
Money can buy happiness, to a point. As a child, you were probably told that money doesn't buy happiness. It turns out that this wise advice is wrong, sort of. Many studies have found that wealth is significantly correlated with subjective well-being, but only up to a point.
In 2010, a Princeton study by Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton found that earning more than $US75,000 per year won't significantly increase your day-to-day happiness. But don't worry. The fact that your financial achievements no longer fill you with undiluted pleasure may mean something else – that you're spending it wrong.
Most of us make the seemingly logical assumption that as material things last longer than one-time experiences, they should also make us happier for longer. A weekend getaway, we reason, is only good for a few days. A new TV, however, will give us years of enjoyment.
It turns out we have it backwards. We quickly adapt to ever-present material goods so their ability to make us happy diminishes over time. That new TV quickly becomes a "new normal".
A 1978 study found that even lottery winners get used to their new wealth and eventually revert back to their pre-win level of happiness. So, scratch that scratchie? Not just yet.
A 2014 study by Thomas Gilovich found that spending money on experiences, rather than goods, provides a
much greater and longer lasting sense of wellbeing.
The reason, Gilovich concluded, is that: "(1) Experiential purchases enhance social relations more readily than
material goods; (2) Experiential purchases form a bigger part of a person's identity; and (3) Experiential
purchases are evaluated more on their own terms and evoke fewer social comparisons than material purchases.
" Gilovich is suggesting that buying "stuff" to keep up with the Joneses won't make you happy but buying
experiences might.
And it turns out that one of the most satisfying experiences is spending the money not on oneself but someone
else.
In 2013, researchers at Harvard University approached people on campus and gave them either $5 or $20 and
told them to spend it by the end of the day. Half the participants were asked to spend it on themselves; the other
half were told to spend it on someone else. When asked what would make them happiest, most participants
predicted that spending more money ($20 versus $5) and spending it on themselves would do more for them
than giving it away.
However, when the researchers checked up on their subjects that evening, those who had spent the money on
someone else or donated it to the homeless reported feeling significantly better.
But there's a final twist: no difference in mood was found between those who spent $5 or $20 – which reinforces
the idea that it isn't how much money you have to spend, but how you spend it, that has the biggest effect on
your happiness.
Source: www.smh.com

1978 | Giving an experience results in more happiness than giving an object.
2010 | People who gave presents were happier than those who received.
2013 | When you win money, you become happy but that feeling doesn’t stay with you forever.
2014 | If you earn more money than your friend, you won’t necessarily be happy.

1978 = ..... 2010 = ..... 2013 = ..... 2014 = .....

Read the article again and answer the questions.

1. Why was the childhood advice not quite true?
2. Why is a new TV not going to make you happy?
3. What point is being made about the 1978 study?
4. What three points are made about experience gifts?
5. What comment is made about the amount of money that was distributed at Harvard?
6. ‘Scratch that scrachie is a play on words. Explain what it means.

Read these questions and answer them together with a classmate.

1. Which of the findings surprised you? Why?
2. Have you ever received an ‘experience’ present? What was it? Did you enjoy it?
   Do you agree with the findings about ‘experience’ presents?
3. Have you ever given an experience present? What was it and who was it for?
   Did they enjoy it? (why?)
4. If you could choose an experience present for your parents from the following list, which would you choose?
   Give your reasons, and explain why you would not choose the other two.
   1. a hot air balloon ride
   2. a dinner for two in a very expensive restaurant
   3. a day of adventure activities.

Compare and discuss your answers with other classmates.