Author: Paul Ratner / Source: Big Think
- Giving gifts results in longer happiness from the act, says new research.
- We can sustain the pleasure of a new experience every time we give to others.
- Hedonic adaptation makes it hard to continuously enjoy spending money on ourselves.
Just in time for the holidays, comes new research that says you get more satisfaction from giving gifts than receiving.
Usually, a phenomenon known as hedonic adaptation is responsible for us feeling less happiness every time we experience some event or activity again. We get used even to the best things and want more. But when we give to others, something different happens.
Psychology researchers Ed O’Brien from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Samantha Kassirer of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management carried out two studies. They discovered that the happiness of the subjects declined much less or not at all if they repeatedly gave gifts to others as opposed to getting the same gifts themselves.
O’Brien attributes this effect to our desire for new experiences.
“If you want to sustain happiness over time, past research tells us that we need to take a break from what we’re currently consuming and experience something new,” says O’Brien. “Our research reveals that the kind of thing may matter more than assumed: Repeated giving, even in identical ways to identical others, may continue to feel relatively fresh and relatively pleasurable the more that we…
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