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Date Posted: 14:13:59 08/16/02 Fri
Author: Weird_Enigma
Author Host/IP: 209.252.119.11
Subject: More stuff can't make us happier

Posted on Fri, Aug. 16, 2002

More stuff can't make us happier
We can only work so hard to buy the objects of our increasing desire
JOHN BALZAR
Los Angeles Times

Do material possessions really make us happy? Of course. So will more possessions make us happier still? Alas, no.

In fact, research on the topic tells us that despite our mighty show of "consumer confidence" -- that is, our willingness to purchase more and more things no matter what -- we're not getting any happier as a people.

At the University of Southern California, economist Richard Easterlin has pioneered studies on the relationship between materialism and happiness.

Happiness, he's concluded, is not like wisdom. We don't accumulate it as we go along in life. Neither is happiness like physical prowess. It doesn't normally deteriorate. What we start with as working adults is pretty much what we end up with at the finish line.

That is not to say we are all equally happy, of course. On average, well-to-do people are happier than poorer ones, Easterlin found. People with more things are generally happier than those with fewer. We're talking averages here, not specific individuals.

But, it turns out, the basic pattern is set early in life when we take our places in the economic hierarchy. After that, Easterlin explained to me, "material aspirations change over the life cycle roughly in proportion to income."

Social psychologists call it a "hedonic treadmill," which means we never get ahead of our material wants. We don't get happier even as our wealth increases and our possessions grow. The more you have, the more you need, especially if someone you know already has it.

The trouble is, an array of other studies shows an overall decrease in the happiness of Americans during the past 30 years. We're losing ground despite material gains and lengthening life spans.

At some point, our boundless desire for things smacks headlong into the fact that we can only work so hard to pay for them. Then we start depriving ourselves of time at home. Stress creeps up the backbone. We lose our hold on the other things in life that contribute to happiness.

I know hardly anyone who isn't nagged by doubts about materialism. I don't know a single person, me among them, who doesn't desire something more, something better, something new.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Balzar is a columnist for The Los Angeles Times.

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