Elizabeth Dunn, associate professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia, has been in the news recently for her work on happiness. In a recent opinion piece in the New York Times, she reminds her readers of research that connects greater feelings of satisfaction from the purchase of experiences rather than things--and from helping others. I've always felt this. It's nice to see research specifics. I hope these ideas continue to get press--Daniel Gilbert's great book, Stumbling on Happiness didn't get nearly the press it deserved. That said, I did hear him on the Ted Radio Hour episode "Our Buggy Brain." While you're there, be sure to look up the other relevant episode, "The Pursuit of Happiness."
Even Vanguard touts her work (not too surprising actually, when one realizes that founder and retired CEO, John C. Bogle's recent book is titled Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life). I like "Five Ways to Enjoy Your Money More" for its straightforward advice.
That said, Dunn, Gilbert and Schwartz are not "self-help" gurus offering mantras to make people feel better. These are researchers whose experiments may actually reveal fairly depressing things about the ways we think and behave--but at least we'll understand why we're miserable.
The title of this post comes from a Weird Al Yankovic song, "This is the Life."
Just thought you should know.
No comments:
Post a Comment