Money Can t Buy Happiness - 928 Words

It is often said that, â€Å"Money can’t buy happiness.† In Cass R. Sunstein’s Yes, Money Can Make You Happy, Sunstein provides a summary and review of Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton’s Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending; he declares that money, when spent wisely and with the right attitude, can provide the most elusive of all human experiences: happiness. In a changing social climate with advances in technology offering unmatched convenience, and a culture in which diverse people with equally diverse sets of values come together, the study of what truly makes us happy is especially relevant now more than ever. While money can certainly be spent in a manner which will create happiness, what Sunstein neglects to address in his writing is that more money does not always equate to more happiness, regardless of how and when it is spent. In Sunstein’s first argument, he asserts that an experience, such as a vacation, provides a lasting memory which can be reflected upon for years to come; whereas a purchase, such as a new car, evokes a temporary happiness to which we become desensitized very quickly. Secondly, he contends that using money to create special treats, combined with a third argument of delaying gratification, will create an anticipation of the future that allows us to be happier in the present. Further, Sunstein insists that spending money to buy time used to spend with friends a family will enhance our abilities to be happier; lastly, that the act of spendingShow MoreRelatedMoney Can ´t Buy Happiness1181 Words   |  5 PagesMoney can’t buy happiness (but it is an acceptable deposit) Is there some minimum amount of wealth needed to maintain a happy life. Once basic necessities are met is happiness largely due to other factors such as a person’s virtue. Well before we know whether or not money can buy happiness, we must define what is happiness. Happiness to Plato and Aristotle was not simply a state of mind. Not just the reaction in us after we enjoy a cool drink on a hot day, its not a fleeting emotional momentRead MoreMoney Can t Buy Happiness1326 Words   |  6 PagesA 2010 study conducted by Princeton University’s Center For Health and Well-Being threatens to discredit the age-old adage that â€Å"money can’t buy happiness† because, as it turns out, money can buy happiness...at least to an extent. The study isolated a so-called â€Å"happiness benchmark† for annual income, at or above which research subjects reported higher levels of overall life satisfaction. A possible ramification of the study is that because certain groups of people have more difficulty finding andRead MoreHow Money Can t Buy Happiness?1116 Words   |  5 Pagesto question how much money you need to be happy — not at all. But you may be surprised to discover how much happiness your money will buy. The idea that money can’t buy happiness has been around for a long time. Not surprisingly, people with a comfortable standard of living are happier than people who live in poverty. But how much money do you need to make you happy? Will a million or even a billion dollars buy us happiness? Or, is there more to this life than money? Happiness is internal, but thereRead MoreWhy Money Can t Buy Happiness And Hustvedts My Mother1287 Words   |  6 PagesHappiness’ False Promises The articles for the week, Shermer’s â€Å"Why Money Can’t Buy Happiness† and Hustvedt’s â€Å"My Mother,† offer perspectives on happiness informed by theories of evolutionary psychology. Shermer and Hustvedt examine what it means to be happy and how our brains can fool us into believing we enjoy something when we actually don’t. These readings come at a crucial pinnacle in the semester for me when introspection is often ignored. 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My friends are rich, so they do not care about spending their money for anything because their parents will give them more. I am from Middle class family and I collect all my money for the week to spend it with them at the coffee shop in the weekend. When IRead MoreMoney Can Buy Happiness : Happiness1653 Words   |  7 PagesMoney Can Buy Happiness Happiness, has long been an estate that huge numbers of individuals endeavor to create a path, that seeks to find it. Extensive research, surprisingly enough, does not have definitive answers on the concept of what makes one happy. As a matter of fact; there are as many attempts to define happiness, as there are the many scholars, theologians, psychologist and philosophers, curious enough to research it. Many ¬Ã‚ ¬; are unsuccessful in comparison to the ready definition ofRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. 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Yet he is missing something, he is missing the only thing that could make him truly happy, to live a life with Daisy Buchanan. He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mindRead MoreThe Desires Of Being Rich1118 Words   |  5 PagesThe Desires of Being Rich â€Å"Money can’t buy happiness† is one of the most well known saying commonly heard throughout the world. Money is one of the most important things in our lives, next to, food and water, shelter and transportation but will all of those things, you need money. That is where the phrase â€Å"Money can’t buy happiness† comes in because people think that since money can buy everything else, it can easily buy happiness as well. Money can not make people love you for who you are, having