People who earn more money think that they can acquire many benefits such as improved health and life satisfaction.
But can increased wealth buy them happiness?
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To investigate this, scientists from the University of California used a large nationally representative survey of 1,519 participants and asked them questions about their household income and their tendency to experience seven distinct positive emotions that are at the core of happiness – amusement, awe, compassion, contentment, enthusiasm, love, and pride.
People on the higher end of the socioeconomic scale reported a greater tendency to experience emotions associated with themselves specifically contentment, pride and amusement.
People on lower income tend to experience emotions associated with other people such as compassion and love. They also tended to experience more awe and Beauty of the world around them.
The researchers found no difference for enthusiasm.
The findings of this study indicate that wealth cannot unequivocally guarantee happiness but rather people with different income levels experience different emotions relating to happiness.
Wealthy individuals find greater positivity in their own accomplishments and status while poorer individuals seem to find more happiness and positivity in their relationship with others and in their ability to connect and care for other individuals.
The researchers believe that wealthy individuals’ self-orientated emotions may follow from their desire for independence and self-sufficiency while other-emotions help lower income individuals to form interdependent bonds with others which helps them cope with their threatening environment.
Money doesn’t buy you happiness, but it is experienced in a different form by wealthy people, while people with lower income have devised a way to cope with their circumstances by finding joy through their relationships and through other emotions.
Happiness is an emotion we associate with feeling good and science also tells us that we can hardwire our brain to feel happy despite our circumstances so that we can enjoy benefits of happiness which are far greater than just feeling good.
Source: Emotion
