New
Service for TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com
readers...roll mouse over, click on
highlighted links in stories to review items
from Amazon
Now, keep up to date
with daily feeds of newly posted stories
about America's Seniors...click on the box
to the left
Is
happiness having what you want, wanting what
you have, or both?
Newswise — Some argue that happiness is not
having what you want, but wanting what you
have. This maxim sounds reasonable enough,
but can it be tested, and if so, is it true?
It turns out it can be tested. Texas Tech
University psychologist Jeff Larsen and Amie
McKibban of Wichita State University asked
undergraduates to indicate whether they
possessed 52 different material items, such
as a car, a stereo or a bed.
Their results, which appear in the April
issue of the Association for Psychological
Science’s journal, Psychological Science,
suggest people can grow accustomed to their
possessions and thereby derive less
happiness from them.
They also suggest, however, that people can
continue to want the things they have and
that those who do so can achieve greater
happiness.
“Simply having a bunch of things is not the
key to happiness,” Larsen said. “Our data
show that you also need to appreciate those
things you have. It’s also important to keep
your desire for things you don’t own in
check.”
If the students owned a car, the researchers
asked them to rate how much they wanted the
car they had. If they didn’t have a car,
they were asked to rate how much they wanted
one.
Larsen and McKibban then calculated the
extent to which people want what they have
and have what they want. Their findings show
that wanting what you have is not the same
as having what you want. While people who
have what they want tend to desire those
items, the correlation between the two was
far from perfect.
The researchers found that people who want
more of what they have tend to be happier
than those who want less of what they have.
However, people who have more of what they
want tend to be happier than those who have
less of what they want.
...
...
...