The beneficial effects of prosocial spending on happiness: work hard make money and spend it on others?

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The beneficial effects of prosocial spending on happiness: work hard make money and spend it on others?

Previous research has shown that the way people spend their money is as important to happiness as how much money people earn. Specifically it has been shown that spending money on others contributes more to an individual’s happiness than spending money on oneself. In the present study we investigated this effect and examined the role of the money’s origin. Students were randomly assigned either to spend a small amount of money on themselves or to spend the money on others. Moreover half of the participants received the money as a wage whereas the other half received the money as a windfall. The results replicated previous research indicating that prosocial spenders report greater happiness than do selfish spenders. However the happiness effect was unaffected by the source of the money (i.e. wage vs. windfall). Implications for well-being and happiness are discussed.

Citation: 
The Journal of Positive Psychology , 2014 Vol. 9, No. 3, 204 – 208

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