Money CAN buy happiness - study

Material things remind a person of the happiness they felt the first time they received or purchased them. Photo / Getty

You may not be able to buy love, but scientists are claiming you can buy happiness.

A new study suggests buying material things brings us more frequent joy over the course of weeks and months, compared with the happiness we glean from an experience.

Researchers say while experiences provide intense feelings that eventually fade, material things have the ability to remind a person of the happiness they felt the first time they received or purchased them.

Conducted by the University of British Columbia, the study measured people's happiness up to five times over a two week period following the purchase or receiving of something material or experiential.

One of the researchers concluded: "The decision of whether to buy a material thing or a life experience may therefore boil down to what kind of happiness one desires."

A portion of the participants were given US$20 to spend on a material item or an experience.

The rest were asked to use either an experiential or material gift they received for Christmas.

Participants then recorded their level of happiness with the purchase or gift.

The results

Experiential:Findings revealed experiential gifts gave people more intense happiness during the experience.

Material: For those who chose material things, their happiness was reported as a constant, more frequent feeling over the study's two-week period.

Researcher Aaron Weidman suggested considering "a holiday shopper deciding between tickets to a concert or a new couch".

He described the concert as providing "an intense thrill for one spectacular night, but then it will end, and will no longer provide momentary happiness, aside from being a happy memory."

In contrast, he says, "the new couch will never provide a thrilling moment to match the concert, but will keep the owner snug and comfortable each day..."

- nzherald.co.nz