A new paper published in Personality and Individual Differences suggests that positive feelings can promote greater cash-control practices that can lead to a net wealth accumulation.
“Existing studies tend to show that cash leads to happiness,” says the paper’s lead author, Sarah Asebedo, of Texas Tech University. “Despite this favored interpretation, there is strong evidence that positive feelings actually create the behaviors necessary for other people to succeed in their monetary lives (e. g. , earning money, exercising control, avoiding debt, saving, etc. ). Our studies build on these charts, generating evidence that positive feelings also have a causal relationship with wealth creation.
To etest the hypothesis that “happiness leads to money,” Asebedo and his team analyzed knowledge from three waves (2008, 2012, and 2016) of the University of Michigan’s Health and Retirement Study, and the final pattern contained more than 10,000 observations.
The researchers tracked people’s emotional state (e. g. , determined, enthusiastic, active, attentive, inspired, hopeful, etc. ) and their wealth to see if positive feelings promoted a higher point in wealth creation.
They discovered it was a resounding yes.
“This finding expands our view of the relationship between happiness and money to arrive at the concept that cultivating a happy, fulfilling and meaningful life translates into a greater ability to earn and save money, manage expenses and increase wealth,” says Asebedo.
Although the researchers did not test whether certain personality characteristics were more important than others in wealth accumulation, previous studies have shown that conscientiousness and extroversion are linked to higher levels of monetary success. (And remember that personality characteristics are more malleable than many others people know. For example, one study found that maintaining a structured daily routine increases people’s level of awareness. )
You can apply the findings of this study, as well as the concept that cash can buy happiness, in your own life to expand and refine monetary behaviors.
“Consumers can shape their existing thought patterns, emotional states and habits, become aware and intervene to create meaningful change in monetary habits,” Asebedo says.
Studies also highlight the importance of maintaining a positive attitude during difficult economic times. The authors recommend that mental interventions, such as psychotherapy, can help protect your emotional state in the face of economic crises or general market fluctuations.
Asebedo has this to say about his long-term study projects:
“We would like to see the effects of social capital, mental capital and monetary capital on the relationship between human well-being and wealth creation be investigated longitudinally. “
You can discover a full interview with Dr. Sarah Asebedo about her news here: Why Positive Emotions Could Be the Key to Wealth Creation
A community. Many voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts.
Our network aims to connect other people through open and thoughtful conversations. We need our readers to share their perspectives and exchange ideas and facts in one space.
In order to do so, please follow the posting rules in our site’s Terms of Service. We’ve summarized some of those key rules below. Simply put, keep it civil.
Your message will be rejected if we notice that it appears to contain:
User accounts will be blocked if we become aware that users are engaged in:
So, how can you be a user?
Thank you for reading our Community Guidelines. Read the full list of publishing regulations discovered in our site’s terms of use.