A study by researchers at the University of Warwick and Cardiff University has found that money only makes people happier if it improves their social rank. The researchers found that simply being highly paid wasn't enough – to be happy, people must perceive themselves as being more highly paid than their friends and work colleagues.
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What a coincidence - the previous post talks about how class differences are harmful and the current one seems to say that class differences are sought after!
ReplyDeleteI have been wondering about that too. In general people seem to strive for status. Possibly, when the status is given by birth, lot of effort and practices are used to maintain it.
ReplyDeleteThis is not very surprising; in fact it is consistent with Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
ReplyDeleteSee this fascinating talk by Dan Kahneman on a related topic (http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/daniel_kahneman_the_riddle_of_experience_vs_memory.html); he mentions in passing that beyond $60K a year, people's happiness curve completely flattens out.