Articlegreen2018

Experiential or Material Purchases? Social Class Determines Purchase Happiness

Jacob C. Lee · Deborah L. Hall · Wendy Wood

117 citations0/0 files storedPsychological Science

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Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction

Abstract

Which should people buy to make themselves happy: experiences or material goods? The answer depends in part on the level of resources already available in their lives. Across multiple studies using a range of methodologies, we found that individuals of higher social class, whose abundant resources make it possible to focus on self-development and self-expression, were made happier by experiential over material purchases. No such experiential advantage emerged for individuals of lower social class, whose lesser resources engender concern with resource management and wise use of limited finances. Instead, lower-class individuals were made happier from material purchases or were equally happy from experiential and material purchases.

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References

2000Relationship of subjective and objective social status with psychological and physiological functioning: Preliminary data in healthy, White women.1999A Measure of Subjective Happiness: Preliminary Reliability and Construct Validation 1992A Consumer Values Orientation for Materialism and Its Measurement: Scale Development and Validation 2012Social class, solipsism, and contextualism: How the rich are different from the poor.2012Unseen disadvantage: How American universities' focus on independence undermines the academic performance of first-generation college students.2003To Do or to Have? That Is the Question.2009Social class, sense of control, and social explanation.2007Choice as an act of meaning: The case of social class.

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