The study finds that a focus on what you want - and therefore don't currently have - makes it more difficult to appreciate what you already have, according to the Baylor University research.
The study, published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, recruited 246 people at a private university (Tsang et al., 2014).
The researchers tested:
- how materialist and needy they were,
- how satisfied they were with life,
- and their levels of gratitude.
Psychologists have consistently shown how important gratitude is for both life satisfaction and happiness.
The study's lead author, Jo-Ann Tsang, explains:
"Gratitude is a positive mood. It's about other people.In contrast to the positive power of gratitude, materialism tends to make people unhappy.
Previous research that we and others have done finds that people are motivated to help people that help them - and to help others as well.
We're social creatures, and so focusing on others in a positive way is good for our health."
As one of the study's co-authors, James Roberts, explains:
"Our ability to adapt to new situations may help explain why 'more stuff' doesn't make us any happier.The authors quote the words of Greek philosopher Epicurus, who said:
As we amass more and more possessions, we don't get any happier - we simply raise our reference point.
That new 2,500-square-foot house becomes the baseline for your desires for an even bigger house.
It's called the Treadmill of Consumption.
We continue to purchase more and more stuff but we don't get any closer to happiness, we simply speed up the treadmill."
"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for."By law, all credit cards should have this quote across the front in fluorescent pink.
To me this seems to be common sense stuff. People try to fill the void in their spiritual beings with physical satisfactions and they never realize that the only thing that will bring them true satisfaction is not physical in nature.
Society in general would be to blame for this. We are taught, in western society, that materialism is the only truth to be realized. That the acquisition of material objects is the ultimate goal in life.
When we fail to reach our desired level of satisfaction from material possessions we react by acquiring more of the same. What we should do is find a different path to satisfaction, a path that does not require any physical medium for delivery.
This is the inner path to ultimate satisfaction. The satisfaction of the willing submission to the rules of the Universe. The rules that state that all things must be explored, all aspects of existence need to be experienced, that one path is not better than any other and that all experiences in life hold merit as an opportunity for spiritual growth.
I judge my life by the experiences that I have acquired. I do not judge myself by how much stuff I have acquired or how much money is in my bank account, and I believe that makes me more confident and self-satisfied than most other people out there.