One of the psychology research explained “Why Greedy People
Are Less Happy and Less Satisfied”.
New research explores the fact that materialistic people are
more likely to be depressed and unsatisfied with life.
The study finds that a focus on what you want — and
therefore don’t currently have — makes it more difficult to appreciate what you
already have, according to the Baylor University research.
The study, published in the journal Personality and
Individual Differences, recruited 246 people at a private university (Tsang et
al., 2014).
The
researchers tested:
·
how materialist and needy they were,
·
how satisfied they were with life,
·
and their levels of gratitude.
They found that people who were more materialistic also felt
less gratitude which, in turn, was associated with lower levels of life
satisfaction.
Psychologists have consistently shown how important
gratitude is for both life satisfaction and happiness.
Previous research that we and others have done finds that people
are motivated to help people that help them — and to help others as well.
We’re social creatures, and so focusing on others in a
positive way is good for our health.”
In contrast to the positive power of gratitude, materialism
tends to make people unhappy.
As one of the study’s co-authors, James Roberts, explains:
“Our ability to adapt to new situations may help explain why
‘more stuff’ doesn’t make us any happier.
As we amass more and more possessions, we don’t get any
happier — we simply raise our reference point.
That new 2,500-square-foot house becomes the baseline for
your desires for an even bigger house.
It’s called the Treadmill of Consumption.
We continue to purchase more and more stuff but we don’t get
any closer to happiness, we simply speed up the treadmill.”
The authors quote the words of Greek philosopher Epicurus,
who said:
“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not;
remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”
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