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Rethink “Awesome Stuff”

Rethink “Awesome Stuff”


Invest in experiences rather stuff


Boven & Gilovich (2003). To Do or to Have? That Is the Question. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(6), 1193–1202.


This paper tells us it is better to do than to have - experiences make people happier


Kumar et al. (2014). Waiting for Merlot: Anticipatory Consumption of Experiential and Material Purchases. Psychological Science, 25(10),1924-1931.


This paper tells us experiences have a longer-lasting effect on happiness


Pchelin & Howell (2014)The hidden cost of value-seeking: People do not accurately forecast the economic benefits of experiential purchases. The Journal of Positive Psychology,9(4), 322-334.


This paper tells us when looking at future purchases we’re more likely to value material purchases over experiential purchase but when looking at past purchases we’re more likely to value experiences over material goods


Boven et al. (2010). Stigmatizing materialism: On stereotypes and impressions of materialistic and experiential pursuits. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36(4), 551–563.


This paper tells us we are socially driven to avoid materialism



This paper tells us experiential purchases make you feel more alive and are less susceptible to social comparisons


Thwart Your Adaptation


Savoring


Jose et al. (2012). Does savoring increase happiness? A daily diary study. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 7(3), 176-187.


This paper tells us savoring positive experiences makes you happier


Lyubomirsky et al. (2006)The costs and benefits of writing, talking, and thinking about life’s triumphs and defeats. Journal of personality and social psychology, 90(4), 692.


This paper tells us thinking about life’s positive moments makes you happier-- and so does writing about life’s negative moments


Negative visualization



This paper tells us thinking about how something good in your life might not have happened actually makes you happier


Make this day your last



This paper tells us you enjoy things more when you think it’s going to end soon


Gratitude


Emmons et al. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of personality and social psychology, 84(2), 377.


This paper tells us that gratitude - counting the good things in our lives - makes us happy


Seligman et al. (2005). Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5):410-21


This paper explores several happiness interventions and tells us gratitude interventions can increase happiness



This paper tells us being grateful can help us through difficult times (as seen in the case of marriage)


Grant & Gino (2010). A little thanks goes a long way: Explaining why gratitude expressions motivate prosocial behavior.Journal of personality and social psychology, 98(6), 946.


This paper tells us receiving gratitude makes us feel valued and motivates us to be more generous


Reset Your Reference Points



This paper tells us how we predict how happy something will make us in relation other standards either inferior or superior. The example in lecture is thinking about how much you will enjoy eating potato chips in comparison to chocolate and then in comparison to sardines.


Interrupt consumption


Nelson & Meyvis (2008). Interrupted consumption: Adaptation and the disruption of hedonic experience. Journal of Marketing Research, 45(6), 654-664.


This paper tells us that despite not wanting them, breaks actually make us enjoy positive experiences more


Nelson et al. (2009). Enhancing the Television-Viewing Experience through Commercial Interruptions. Journal of Consumer Research, 36(2), 160-172.


This paper tells us that commercials actually make watching TV more positive

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