![]() ![]() ![]() So, next time you’re planning to buy something, take a moment to think about whether it’s something you’re buying because you feel it’s what’s expected of you-or whether it’s truly something that you want.Humans have long intuited that being in nature is good for the mind and body. If we’re spending money on trying to impress people or project a certain image (in other words, extrinsic goals), the purchase may not actually be worth it. However, this pressure to spend has a downside: In past research, Moldes Andrés has found that people who are exposed to more materialistic messages have lower well-being.īefore purchasing something, she recommends pausing to think about the reason for our purchase, and what use we will get out of it. So, what does this research mean for our spending habits? Olaya Moldes Andrés, lecturer at Cardiff University and the study’s author, points out that we’re under a lot of pressure to spend money these days just think about the number of targeted ads you see each time you open social media. However, when the researchers looked at both factors together, they found that how much a purchase reflected intrinsic goals explained more of the differences in well-being than whether something was material or experiential. As in past research, participants did report higher well-being from experiences. To compare this finding with past research, the current study also asked participants to indicate to what extent their purchase was an experience or a material item. In other words, the greatest well-being occurred when people spent money on something that was personally important to them. The researchers found that, the more a purchase reflected people’s intrinsic goals, the more they thought it improved their well-being. In the survey, extrinsic goals included gaining wealth or social status, whereas intrinsic ones included cultivating relationships, helping other people, and contributing to growth, learning, and development. Intrinsic goals, on the other hand, are ones that we have a strong internal motivation to pursue. Extrinsic goals are things that other people expect for us: for example, working hard at a job not because you’re passionate about the work, but because you need the money or want a high-status job to impress others. They also noted how much they felt the purchase contributed to their happiness and life satisfaction.Īccording to self-determination theory, goals reflect our intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. After describing it, people were asked to indicate the extent to which the purchase helped to fulfill different goals. They were asked to write about something they had spent money on in the last three months (ranging from about $60 to $1,200), excluding everyday expenses such as bills and groceries. In the study, researchers asked 452 participants in an online survey to describe a recent purchase. It turns out that there might be another factor at play beyond whether we spend money on an experience or a material item: According to a new study published in the British Journal of Social Psychology, it may also matter how our purchases align with our goals. From the GGSC to your bookshelf: 30 science-backed tools for well-being. ![]()
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