Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness

By Elizabeth W. Dunn, L. Aknin, Michael I. Norton. Science, 2008

1,469 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Subfields: Applied Psychology, Health, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e3e09873cfa6d7a2b106bc0792e7d8de51c49f18

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Citations in the corpus

Effect of Changes in Living Conditions on Well-Being: A Prospective Top–Down Bottom–Up Model (2011, background): “A related explanation is that people falsely assume that well-being increases when they fulfill their own desires, whereas—ironically—their well-being actually increases when they fulfill other people’s desires ( Dunn et al. 2008; Van Boven and Gilovich 2003).”
Prosocial spending and well-being: cross-cultural evidence for a psychological universal. (2013, neutral): “Buss (1989) found that men and women seek distinct characteristics in mates: men seek chaste and attractive women, whereas women seek financially successful men.”
Doing good buffers against feeling bad: Prosocial impact compensates for negative task and self-evaluations (2010, background): “…impact, focusing on how their actions have benefited others can cultivate positive emotions such as empathic joy (Batson, 1990) and happiness (Dunn et al., 2008), which help to counteract the effects of negative feelings (Fredrickson, Mancuso, Branigan, & Tugade, 2000) and provide a…”
A fully automated conversational agent for promoting mental well-being: A pilot RCT using mixed methods (2017, background): “…and exercises that promote positive feelings, thoughts, and/or behaviours, such as expressing gratitude, practicing kindness (Parks et al., 2012a; Dunn et al., 2008; Sheldon et al., 2012), engaging in enjoyable activities (Fordyce, 1977) and replaying positive experiences (Fava et al., 1998),…”
Why Do People Give? The Role of Identity in Giving (2009, neutral): “Cryder & Loewenstein, 2008), and happiness ( Dunn, Aknin & Norton, 2008; Liu & Aaker,”
Positive psychology in a pandemic: buffering, bolstering, and building mental health (2021, background): “Being kind incidentally reaps dividends: People are happier when they do good for others rather than the self (e.g., Dunn et al., 2008); talking to strangers boosts mood (e.g., Sandstrom & Dunn, 2014); expressing gratitude increases others’ estimation of the grateful person (e.g., Algoe et al.,…”
Social Support and Money as Pain Management Mechanisms (2008, background): “If only people can find a way to transcend the buffering effect of money and reach out to others (eg, spending money on others), money may have the potential to increase happiness ( Dunn, Aknin, & Norton, 2008 ).”