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Would you be happier if you were rich?

Eric Barker
January 13, 2012
Focus

Probably, but not nearly as happy as you’re guessing.

In his paper “Would you be happier if you were richer?” Nobel prize winner and author of “Thinking, Fast and Slow” Daniel Kahneman explains that we often fall prey to “focusing illusions.”

He eloquently defines the term: âNothing in life is quite as important as you think it is while you are thinking about it.â

So when we think about money, it looms large and we overestimate its affect on our happiness.

Check out the chart above.

When asked how often people who made 100K+ were unhappy and how often people who earned <20K were unhappy, subjects predicted a 32% difference between the two.

They were correct that the richer people were happier — but the difference was only 12%.

For all four of the questions asked those interviewed overestimated the effect of the key variable.

This isn’t academic trivia, it’s something we all do every day and it creates a lot of unhappiness and poor decision-making in our lives.

How often do you get stuck in the tunnel vision of focusing illusions?

One more time: âNothing in life is quite as important as you think it is while you are thinking about it.â

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Related posts:

More on the subject from Kahneman himself, here.

How to make yourself happier in just a few seconds

At what annual salary does money stop making us happier?


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TheRedArchive is an archive of Red Pill content, including various subreddits and blogs. This post has been archived from the blog bakadesuyo.

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Post Information
Title Would you be happier if you were rich?
Author Eric Barker
Date January 13, 2012 6:50 PM UTC (12 years ago)
Blog bakadesuyo
Archive Link https://theredarchive.com/blog/bakadesuyo/would-you-be-happier-if-you-were-rich.14791
https://theredarchive.com/blog/14791
Original Link https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2012/01/would-you-be-happier-if-you-were-rich/
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