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A good
holiday scores over material possessions
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A new study
suggests that a good holiday keeps us happier for longer than buying material
possessions.
Psychologist Professor Thomas Gilovich, of Cornell University, New York, and
colleagues carried out the research into why people get more enduring happiness
from experiences than possessions.
They found that memories of trips away bring us greater joy because they are
more individual and harder for us to compare with the holidays of others.
Meanwhile, the gloss is often taken off shiny, new purchases when we see newer,
better models owned by other people.
“Your experiences are inherently less comparative,” the
Daily Express quoted Gilovich as saying.
“They’re undermined much less by invidious social comparisons. Imagine you buy a
flat-screen TV. You’re very happy with it and then find I have a TV with a
bigger, clearer picture than yours. That makes you feel a bit disappointed and
annoyed.
“But suppose you go on a vacation to the Caribbean instead. You may find out
I’ve done the same, and my holiday sounds better than yours. But your unique
connection to the Caribbean is less comparable to mine, so your enjoyment isn’t
undermined as much,” Gilovich added.
ANI / Times of India
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