Research and critical reflection †Money doesn’t buy you happiness. Essay

funds doesnt acquire you bliss. E genuinely wiz has heard the statement before and most studies of contentment and public assistance generally agree on it. However, even though currency does non barter for you comfort it is largely agreed that cash trick be a means to an end. Hence, m wizy chamberpot non buy you happiness, but it can provide you with financial security and fountainhead-being. If you asked a poor person if they were gifted most go out tell you they are non due to alimentation in poor conditions and having poor health. Their call for for safety and security outweighs their need for nice things and possessions. So if capital does non buy you happiness what does buy you happiness? What are the concomitantors in life that slang you happy? adept way to address this question could be looking at ones well-being. As such(prenominal) a deeper interpretation of well-being is necessary. When considering the concept of well-being, there are two major approa ches, objective well-being, and subjective well-being. Objective well-being looks at how healthy a person is and the access he has to resources. Subjective well-being on the other hand looks at the overall happiness of a person. In the same breath it is also argued that material well-being, that is the things we buy and want, does not lead to our overall happiness. Hence, money doesnt buy you happiness. (Williams, 2014).Considering this notion that money does not buy you happiness (Myers & Diener, 1995), Kawachi and Kennedy (2002, p.30 -31) sought out to summarise the important ingredients to happiness in ones life. They noted sex, ethnicity and age scarcely pee you happy. Rather it is the relationships and community you flummox around you that sires levels of happiness. Furthermore, enjoying ones knead and leisure is highly correlated with happiness. On the other hand, ones wealth and in rise does not have a straight correlation coefficient with happiness. Some poor slew are happy, some rich good deal are sad and vice versa. Nonetheless, millions of slew across the globe extend large amount of money consuming things they do not need. I myself-importance fall victim to marketing ploys and consume materialistic things that I do not always need, but want because I believe it will make me aspect in more in my community, or make me happier.People fol depressive disorder fashionable trends and want all the natural toys that come out thinking it will make them happy. This need of people to have nice fancy things has previously been coined the new consumerism. Back in the day, it meant charge up with others in your community, if your neighbour got a new flash car, you had to go get one. However, with the popularisation of television,and later on the rise of mass media, new consumerism meant people were now competing all over the globe. Furthermore, as we put out in a world of inequality in terms of income and wealth, the breakage among what we want a nd what we have largely depends on our income. Schor (1998), referred to this as the aspirational gap. If one cannot endure something, he can either be unhappy traffic with not having that harvest/want, or he chooses to take on debt in fix to afford it and have it then and there thus having to work more to cover the debt and the cycle continues. So if we look at happiness as the difference between what we have and what we want we suddenly sire unhappy (Williams, 2014, p.5).Largely, I agree with the statement the money does not buy you happiness. By societys standards I am definitely not a rich man but I consider myself to live a moderately happy life largely due to the fact that I am healthy, I have good friends and a pleasant family. According to several scholars (Benin & Nierstedt, 1985, Inglehart, 1990, Myers, 2000) it is indeed our favorable relationships that generate the highest levels of happiness. With that said, I quiesce consume definite things, materialistic thin gs, and go to certain places in order to construct my social identity. I want things in order to fit in or get praise from my peers. According to many scholars moreover this does not lead to my well-being but rather to unhappiness. This draws back to the aspirational gap, if I cannot afford to look a certain way or buy certain things and keep up with the times do I ultimately become unhappy? Personally I would like to rate it does not apply to me, but reflecting back to Schors (1998) study, it appears to point in that direction. As such, I do agree with the concept more so as a lot of people around me become unhappy when they cannot afford something they want.Or become unhappy because they got themselves into debt due to their unnecessary consumptions. Maslow (1943) devised a hypothesis of motivation which attempted to explain the hierarchical nature of peoples well-being. Firstly it is our basic psychological ask like hungriness and thirst that we have to satisfy. Next, it is our needs for security and protection, followed by our need for social bonds and love. The last two steps are ones self-esteem and self-actualisation. This is a very hierarchical view which means once a certain level has been satisfied one seeks to satisfy the next until you reach to the poll self actualisation. This will explain why people become unhappy when they cannot affordsomething reach self-actualisation. Moreover, identities are fluid. I constantly consume new trends, go to new places, and change my habits to fit societys norms. Social psychological science attributes this to peoples nature to conform. One study by Asch (1952, cited in Bond & Smith, 1996) shows the tendency of people to conform to the majority even when the force is clearly wrong. I agree with this as I buy certain clothes and go to certain places because I want to fit in with my surroundings.Zaichkowsky (1994) claims that peoples involvement with a product depends on a person unmistakable relevance of a product based on his inherent needs and values. Hence my values stem from my surroundings and my need for a product comes from my need to fit in to my surroundings. A lot of the above-mentioned concepts discussed were firstly investigated after WWII and throughout the 20th century. However, as the world is constantly evolving and ever-changing do these outlooks on happiness and well-being still apply right away? Have they gotten any better or worse? Early studies showed an gain in mental disorders and divorces throughout the late 20th century, as well as the increase need of people for bigger and better things. A study by Helliwell, Layard, and Sachs (2012) found that on average rich people are happier than poor people. However, they found that a countrys sparing growth does not indicate an increase in the overall happiness of its people. This is simply due to the fact that once people reach a comfortable/secure level of income further increase of it does not generate higher levels of happiness.Moreover, they found unemployment is highly correlated with low levels of well-being, whilst being utilize and satisfied with your short letter was correlated with higher levels of well-being. Finally, they noted in Maslows pyramid of human needs, love and belonging come just after basic physiological and safety needs. Clearly, the sources of individual happiness include the place of social interactions through which individuals are interconnected. (p.70). The aforementioned trends discussed appear to be in line with the current state of refreshful Zealand. Helliwell et. al. (2012) found New Zealand rank as the 13th happiest country in the world. This was attributed due to a low unemployment rate (6.2%), divorce number down (stats.govt.nz), and ranking high on education as well as freedom. (Helman, 2013). However, when looking at the top 50 richest countries in the world (aneki.com) New Zealand does not even make an appearance.However, it is safe to assume that newconsumerism and the aspirational gap still apply to New Zealand as the countries spending ($2,578 million) is higher than its GDP ($211,678 million). (stats.govt.nz). It certainly appears that money does not buy you happiness. Rather being poor is correlated with low levels of well-being. notes in itself can provide a person with security, but change magnitude income does not appear to have an effect on overall happiness. spirit at Maslows theory, a person could have all the money in the world but if they are alone and do not have a loving community of friends and family to share it with they are most always going to be unhappy. Rather, happiness is determined by a large number of factors with an emphasis on basic needs such as food and water, as well as friendships and belonging to a loving community. expenditure of materialistic objects and the aspiration for more money negatively affects our well-being.ReferencesBenin, M.H. and B.C. Nierstedt 1985, Happiness in sing le- and dual- earner families The effects of marital happiness, job satisfaction and life cycle, Journal of Marriage and the Family 47, pp. 975984. Bond, R. & Smith, P. B. (1996). 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