Читать книгу Making Happy People: The nature of happiness and its origins in childhood - Paul Martin - Страница 35

Too many people in wealthy nations live their lives as though acquiring money and material possessions will bring them enduring happiness. In fact, as we shall see later, wealth has surprisingly little lasting impact on happiness. Acquiring more money or possessions can make us feel better for a while, but the rise in mood tends to be modest and short-lived. We soon get used to what we have and our expectations rise, leading us to want ever more.

More importantly, the process of trying to acquire wealth can actually make us less happy if it gets in the way of things that really do matter, such as personal relationships or a sense of purpose and meaning. As we will see in chapter 8, there is good evidence that highly materialistic people are less happy on average than those who have other priorities in life.