New US research has found that we may get longer-lasting happiness by giving to others, rather than receiving for ourselves.
Carried out by psychologists from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, the new research involved a series of experiments to see which brought the longest-lasting joy – giving a gift to yourself or to others.
In one of the experiments, 96 participants received $5 every day for 5 days and were randomly assigned to spend the money on themselves or on someone else. This could be by leaving money in a tip jar at a café or making an online donation to charity every day, but they had to spend the money on the exact same thing each time.
The findings, due to be published in the journal Psychological Science, showed that when they repeatedly gave to others the participants’ happiness did not decline, and the joy they felt from giving to others on the fifth day was just as strong as on the first day.
In contrast, participants who spent money on themselves reported a steady decline in happiness over the 5-day period.