from Harvard and Yale Universities
Can money buy happiness? Presentations
during the Society for Personality and Social
Psychology Annual Convention raises
worthwhile points. Among them—
experiential purchases—money spend on
doing may provide more enduring happiness
than material purchases, and waiting for an
experience is more pleasant that waiting for
something material. People waiting in line
for an experience tend to be in a better mood
and better behaved than those waiting for a
material item. Pursuing wealth may not
bring happiness. Researchers at Harvard
and Yale say wealthy people report having
three to four times as much money would
make them happier, regardless of how much
money they already have. Finally, simply
reminding people that the future can be
unpredictable drives them to stop and smell
the roses.