People value experiences more than anything

Peoplevalue pleasant experiences more than worldly possessions, a new study hasfound According to the new study led by University ofColorado at Boulder psychology Professor Leaf Van Boven, individuals who pursuehappiness through material possessions are liked less by their peers than peoplewho pursue happiness through life experiences "We have found thatmaterial possessions don’t provide as much enduring happiness as thepursuit of life experiences," Van Boven said The "take.home"message in his most recent study, which appears in this month’s edition ofthe Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, is that not only will investingin material possessions make us less happy than investing in life experiences,but that it often makes us less popular among our peers as well. "The mistake we can sometimes make is believing that pursuing materialpossessions will gain us status and admiration while also improving our socialrelationships," Van Boven said "In fact, it seems to have exactly the oppositeeffect This is really problematic because we know that having quality socialrelationships is one of the best predictors of happiness, health andwell-being "So for many of us we should rethink these decisionsthat we might make in terms of pursuing material possessions.versus lifeexperiences," he said. "Trying to have a happier life by the acquisition ofmaterial possessions is probably not a very wise decision" In thestudy, Van Boven and his colleagues conducted five experiments withundergraduate students and through a national survey They sought to find out ifpeople had unfavorable stereotypes of materialistic people and to see if thesestereotypes led them to like the materialistic people less than those whopursued life experiences In one experiment undergraduates whodidn’t know.each other were randomly paired up and assigned to discusseither a material possession or a life experience they had purchased and werehappy with. After talking for 15 or 20 minutes they were then asked about theirconversation partners by the researchers "What we found was thatpeople who had discussed their material possessions liked their conversationpartner less than those who had discussed an experience they had purchased," VanBoven said "They also were less interested in forming a friendship with them,so there’s a real social cost to being associated with materialpossessions rather than life experiences" In another.experimentusing a survey, the researchers told people about someone who had purchased amaterial item such as a new shirt or a life experience like a concert ticket.They then asked them a number of questions about that person They found thatsimply learning that someone made a material purchase caused them to like him orher less than learning that someone made an experiential purchase "We have pretty negative stereotypes of people who are materialistic," VanBoven said "When we asked people to think of someone who is materialistic anddescribe their personality traits, selfish and self-centered come up prettyfrequently However, when we asked people to.describe someone who is moreexperiential in nature, things like altruistic, friendly and outgoing come upmuch more frequently.