Chasing money and career at the expense of everything else – family, friends, personal time – devastates a person and does not lead to happiness. Whether this statement is true, a group of psychologists decided to find out.
A group of psychologists from the University of British Columbia (Canada) decided to find out how the choice of priorities (personal time or income) affects feelings of happiness. To begin with, they interviewed just over 100 students to find out what is more important for them – free time or money.
As an example, students were given descriptions of two people (same gender as the student): one of them values personal time more than money, and would rather work fewer hours a week for less money, if such an opportunity exists. The second, on the contrary, is ready to work more in order to earn more, despite the reduction in free time.
The students were asked about their own priorities twice, three months apart, and their answers were mostly the same. This shows that such priorities are quite stable and constant.
Psychologists did not limit themselves to this survey and subsequently conducted several more studies in which several thousand people took part in total – both students and adult working people (Americans and Canadians).
To assess the values of the respondents, they were asked to imagine how they would act in various imaginary situations. For example, participants in the study were asked what they would choose: an expensive apartment close to their place of work or a cheaper option, but far from the office.
Another question involved a choice between two hypothetical study programs – after completing one of them, one could get a job with high earnings and more working hours. After the end of the second, a job was offered with low pay, but requiring fewer hours per week.
On average, older people were more likely to value personal time over earnings
Those for whom personal time was more important (in general, slightly more than half of the respondents) rated their level of happiness higher than those who prioritized money. The researchers assessed levels of happiness and well-being in several different ways, and in all cases, the same trend was found.
On average, older people were more likely to value personal time over earnings. “As we get older, we begin to realize that there are more important and meaningful things than making money,” says study lead author Ashley Willans.
At the same time, gender and current income level had no effect on respondents’ answers (at the same time, it should be taken into account that none of the respondents was below the poverty line).
“Excess free time is likely more important to our happiness than extra income. For example, volunteering for a charity for a few hours can bring us more joy than paid work that we could do instead,” says Ashley Willans.
At the same time, scientists note that such life priorities have a relatively small but stable impact on happiness and well-being (the impact was about half that of factors such as marital status).