8 secrets of happy shopping

Despite all the economic difficulties, the pre-holiday shopping season has started, and we all want these purchases to make us and those for whom we buy gifts happy. Leading psychologists are ready to help with advice.

Can you buy happiness? “If money doesn’t make you happy, you might just be spending it the wrong way.”* This is the title of an article by American psychologists Elizabeth W. Dunn, Daniel T. Gilbert and Timothy D. Wilson: based on many studies on the feeling of happiness, scientists have formulated the main rules that will help to get the maximum shopping pleasure. Here they are.

1. Buy experiences, not things

If you have to choose between an expensive item (be it a fur coat, a car, or the latest smartphone) and paying for a trip, choose the latter without hesitation. Psychologists have proven that positive emotions experienced bring us much more happiness than any new clothes. And the effect of their “acquisition” also turns out to be much more long-term.

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2. Try to please others

Man is an exclusively social being. And even if you yourself do not admit it to yourself, money spent on someone else can please you more than if you spend it on yourself. So, if you really like this wonderful scarf, stop sighing about the price already and buy it. And give it to your mother, beloved friend or sister. This gift will make you very happy.

3. Many small purchases are better than one big one.

We too quickly get used to everything new and good, psychologists explain. Therefore, even the largest and most expensive purchase very soon ceases to be a source of joy. And small pleasures continue to make us happy all the time. Let’s say a dinner at a fancy restaurant costs the same as 100 ice cream cones. Do you know who will feel happier? That’s right: not the one who went to a restaurant three months ago, but the one who treats himself to a serving of ice cream every day for three months in a row.

4. Don’t buy insurance or warranties if you have to pay extra for them

We also get used to bad things. Therefore, insurance or guarantees, if you have to pay extra for them, are a bad idea. A simple example: a great many iPhone owners break the screens of their devices in the first year of use. And they don’t go to change them under warranty for one simple reason: after all, a new model will be released soon and you will need to buy it. So why bother then? Moreover, our “psychological immune system” will surely find advantages in a smartphone with a broken screen: for example, no one will steal such and such.

5. Don’t rush to take advantage of shopping

Delayed gratification creates anticipation, and anticipation is one of the most important components of happiness. Therefore, there is nothing better than a Christmas tree with a mountain of gifts under it. And the longer these gifts lie there, the happier you will be when you finally open the package.

6. Pay attention to details

Psychologists remind us that not only big changes in life are “responsible” for the feeling of happiness. And sometimes not so much they as details and particulars. Imagine having to choose between a small cottage in good condition and a spacious mansion in need of renovation. The price is the same, and common sense dictates that buying a mansion is more profitable. Maybe. But the owner of a small cottage will be happier, who will be able to invite friends over next weekend. Whereas the owner of the mansion will have to spend many more weekends in the company of not friends, but plasterers, electricians and plumbers.

7. Don’t get carried away comparing prices and products

However, too much attention to detail will not help. In one experiment, subjects were asked to choose between a smaller heart-shaped chocolate bar and a larger cockroach-shaped chocolate bar. 46% of the participants in the experiment said that a cockroach-shaped chocolate bar would not give them any pleasure. However, as a result, 68% still chose her – because she is bigger. If you want to please yourself with a purchase, then do not go too deep into comparisons. Otherwise, there is a great risk that you will choose according to parameters that are not really related to your happiness and pleasure.

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8. Follow the choices of others

And one more reminder of our social nature. No matter how original and unique each of us is, the pleasure experienced by others is still a very important factor. So, the sources of this pleasure too. And if all your friends and acquaintances are already happy owners of some thing, then with a high degree of probability you will be happy by purchasing the same thing. Of course, if we are not talking about women who buy the same dresses.

* http://www.batten.virginia.edu/content/faculty-research/publications/if-money-doesnt-make-you-happy-then-you-probably-arent

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