Topic 6. Can Money Buy Happiness?

1. They say money ‘can’t bring you happiness’ but some researchers of Britain and the USA have proved the opposite. Acquiring a large sum of money can be enough to change a person’s outlook on life. Professor Andrew Oswald has found a strong link between financial windfalls and being happy and having much better psychological health. A small amount of money is not going to solve a major health problem. ‘The more income you earn …, the cheerier you will become. Large sums are better than small sums’.

2. Indeed, the more new things you purchase, the more you want and willingly make sacrifices to get it. But once you get basic human needs met, a lot more money doesn’t increase happiness. There are two reasons for it. Firstly, humans are never satisfied for long when a good fortune comes their way, they get a thrill at first, but soon they adapt to the new things. Secondly, more money can lead to more stress that is why a big salary may not buy everyone.

3. Scientists looked at 9,000 families in Britain at the end the 1990s to measure the levels of happiness. The research has found out that women tend to be happier than men, and that people in their 30s are least likely to be content. Professor Oswald says that happiness follows a U-shaped pattern, with people beginning life happy but becoming discontented in the early 30s, before their happiness recovered and continued, increasing into their 60s.

4. Harvard economist Erzo Luttmer has learnt that happiness can depend on a number of other factors. According to his research, a secret of happiness is people. Those with five or more close friends are 50% more likely to describe themselves as ‘very happy’, than those with smaller social circles. Besides, people in happy, stable, committed relationships tend to be far happier than those who aren’t. When asked what gives them the most pleasure, happy people favour robust health, home of their own, children, and an interesting job.

5. Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert emphasizes that applying yourself to something hard makes you happy. People are addicted to challenges, and they are often far happier while working toward a goal than after reaching it.

6. Sonya Lyubomirsky, a psychology professor at the University of California, has defined a profile of a happy person: a happy person doesn’t waste time dwelling on unpleasant things, tends to interpret ambiguous events in positive ways and is not bothered by the success of others. In a series of studies Professor Robert Emmons has stated that those who did exercises to cultivate feeling of gratitude, ended up feeling happier, more energetic and optimistic. His happiness list includes such things as romance, a dozen roses, guitar lessons, pets, gratitude, memories, small pleasures and … sociability.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-20