At some point, money stops making life better and starts making it worse

Time, Money, and Happiness

Background: This article explains how time and money are valuable resources that can bring more happiness to one’s life if it is managed efficiently. Although the article concludes that they are both important, it explains how focusing more on one’s time rather than money will lead to greater happiness. It also discusses how one could spend their money and time individually to maximize their happiness. It states that spending money on experiences rather than time will make you happy and spending your time on acquiring different experiences helps you learn and makes you happier.

How I intend to use: I intend to use this to highlight the importance of money. I want to use this article to show how spending money in other ways can hurt oneself in the long run rather than highlight the ways that spending money and time can make you happy. Not only does the article help me explain how to spend money the right way to have a better happier life but it mentions how spending additional income will not increase happiness.

What’s the use of happiness? it cant buy you money

Background: This source is a journal of consumer psychology and it tries to answer why money doesn’t bring us happiness per se. In the journal, they discuss how although what you are feeling isn’t happiness money does help you solve problems and avoid suffering. They explain how money makes people feel powerful. they also talk about how you don’t have to rely on others when you have money.

How I intend to use: Although the article explains how money is a good thing and how it helps people avert suffering, I intend to use some of the points that they use because I don’t think they are all good things necessarily. They explain how money makes people feel powerful and makes them feel as though they don’t have to rely on people; I don’t see what’s very good about either of those things. No one likes someone who thinks they are better than someone and not having people around that you know you can rely on can be lonely.

From wealth to well-being? Money matters but less than people think

Background: This source is a study that compares laypeople’s assumptions about people from different economic classes’ happiness and those people’s own happiness. The results from the study show that they greatly overestimated the effect that lower wages had on people’s happiness and that in fact, the study showed that there wasn’t much correlation between happiness and one’s income.

How I intend to use: I Intend to use this study to show that even though people may be from different classes or have less money than others they can still live happy lives which can be more fulfilling than having too much money.

Money Giveth, Money Taketh Away: The Dual Effect of Wealth on Happiness

Background: This source is a study that shows that money impairs one’s ability to savor positive feelings. They tested a sample of wealthy adults and found that they had shown less time savoring their positive emotions than less wealthy people. They also found that the participants who were more wealthy didn’t enjoy chocolate bars as much and didn’t savor them as much as the people with less wealth. They came to the conclusion in this study that money may take away from the simple pleasures in life.

How I intend to use: I intend to use this study to show that in the long run, money may cause more dissatisfaction than satisfaction. Enjoying the small things is a big part of life and helps people in many different ways like coping. Having this impaired and being more neutral to these little experiences of objects in life seem dull and something that can make someone less happy.

Merely Activating the Concept of Money Changes Personal and Interpersonal Behavior

Background: This final source is another study that shows what happens to a person’s work ethic and just their mood in general when money is just brought up. They show two different results that lead to one conclusion. One result shows that people who were reminded of money worked less and didn’t have as much drive as those who were not reminded of money. It also showed that those people liked to work alone rather than together. The other result was that people who were reminded of money took leadership and encouraged others to work harder. In the end, they concluded that money did have a big effect on behavior

How I intend to use: I intend to use this article by showing that just the mention of the word money made people immediately change the way they were thinking and acting for themselves and toward others. Although some of the changes in attitude helped the people in the end the others became more bitter and concealed from help and relying on others.