Abstract
Previous research has shown that spending money on others (prosocial spending) increases happiness. But, do the happiness gains depend on who the money is spent on? Sociologists have distinguished between strong ties with close friends and family and weak ties—relationships characterized by less frequent contact, lower emotional intensity, and limited intimacy. We randomly assigned participants to reflect on a time when they spent money on either a strong social tie or a weak social tie. Participants reported higher levels of positive affect after recalling a time they spent on a strong tie versus a weak tie. The level of intimacy in the relationship was more important than the type of relationship; there was no significant difference in positive affect after recalling spending money on a family member instead of a friend. These results add to the growing literature examining the factors that moderate the link between prosocial behaviour and happiness.
Highlights
If you found a $10 bill in the pocket of an old jacket, what would be the best way to spend this money in order to maximize your happiness? Past research has shown that people are happier after spending money on others rather than spending on themselves [1]
Given that the presence of weak ties in our social network affects our happiness, it seems reasonable to hypothesize that prosocial behaviour directed towards weak social ties can provide similar affective benefits. Extending these previous lines of research, the current study examines whether the happiness benefits that we garner from prosocial behaviour, and, in particular, spending money on others, differ depending on whether the target is a strong or weak social tie
We predicted that recalling a purchase made for a strong social tie would lead to higher levels of happiness than recalling a purchase made for a weak social tie
Summary
If you found a $10 bill in the pocket of an old jacket, what would be the best way to spend this money in order to maximize your happiness? Past research has shown that people are happier after spending money on others rather than spending on themselves [1]. Perhaps one of the most obvious and straightforward ways is to group people by relationship type and use categories such as ‘‘family’’, ‘‘friend’’ or ‘‘colleague’’ While this relationship-based labeling system seems intuitive, it is somewhat limited because individuals within a particular category are not necessarily equivalent on dimensions such as closeness. We would expect a relationship with a twin sister to be much different than a relationship with a rarely seen cousin, though both are family members Another common way to classify social relationships is by level of intimacy [2]. Sociologists label relationships that involve less frequent contact, lower emotional intensity, and limited intimacy as weak ties [3] These relationships are often considered in contrast to strong ties with close friends and family
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