Will Giving To Charity Make You Feel Happier? — Prof. Stephen Knowles
Have you ever wondered whether donating money to charity makes you happier?
Lucky for us, there is a depth of research by experimental economists and social psychologists that might point us towards an answer.
Let’s first discuss the research that shows diving money away makes people happier…
Pro Happy — Giving Feels Good
Elizabeth Dunn, Lara Aknin and Michael Norton Dunn conducted a survey where they asked 682 Americas to (1) rated their level of happiness and (2) report how much they spent in a typical month on personal spending (that is bills and expenses, plus treats for themselves) and prosocial spending (gifts for others and donations to charity).
They found that people with a higher share of prosocial spending tended to be happier than those with lower shares of prosocial spending.
Sounds great right? The problem is, this isn’t cut and dry — It could be for example that people with different personality types are predisposed to spend more on others and are happier; they could be mutually exclusive of each other.
