To do or to have? That is the question

Do experiences make people happier than material possessions? In two surveys, respondents from various demographic groups indicated that experiential purchases—those made with the primary inten-tion of acquiring a life experience—made them happier than material purchases. In a follow-up laboratory experiment, participants experienced more positive feelings after pondering an experiential purchase than after pondering a material purchase. In another experiment, participants were more likely to anticipate that experiences would make them happier than material possessions after adopting a temporally distant, versus a temporally proximate, perspective. The discussion focuses on evidence that experiences make people happier because they are more open to positive reinterpretations, are a more meaningful part of one’s identity, and contribute more to successful social relationships. We live in a world of unprecedented abundance. Although few of us can live up to the advertising slogan that invites us to “have it all, ” a growing swath of the population in developed countries has more discretionary income than ever before. We devote a considerable portion of our resources to the pursuit of “the good life”—one of contentment, pleasure, and happiness. For many o