Report: Exploring the Relationship Between Money and Happiness

This report explores the multifaceted relationship between money and happiness, addressing the central question: "Can money buy happiness?" It begins with an introduction that frames the discussion and then delves into the main body, presenting diverse viewpoints on the issue. The report analyzes the perspectives of various individuals and researchers, examining whether money fulfills basic needs, provides short-term satisfaction, or contributes to long-term well-being. The report also highlights the importance of how money is spent, the role of experiences versus material possessions, and the significance of emotional connections. The conclusion synthesizes the arguments, and while acknowledging money's role in providing certain types of happiness, ultimately posits that money alone cannot guarantee overall life satisfaction. Finally, the report includes a reflection on the team's collaborative process and individual contributions.

Academic Study Skills
1

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Views on the issue.......................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFLECTION.................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
.........................................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
The presented report is based on a discussion regarding the statement “Can money buy
you happiness?”. The report present a discussion against this statement as money is not much
important thing within the world and it is not any highway which lead someone to the destination
and not even it leads to eternal happiness. This is so because a person work harder to earn money
in day or even awake in night to struggle more and earn the money to fulfil all the wishes or buy
things of their choice (Matz, Gladstone and Stillwell, 2016). But on the other it spend all the time
in performing work and not be able to save time for themselves and at the end they only left with
money and not the happiness which they left behind while working harder to earn money. Hence,
money is said to be that materialistic thing which help a person in buying each and every thing
they want such as book, position, health, knowledge, respect, house etc. but it doesn't make a
person buy happiness. Money is the basic need of the an individual in order to fulfil the basic
necessity of everyday or sometimes even more. But this happiness is short term and also
temporary until and unless you have a person to share things with. Hence, in order to determine
the actual role of money in buying happiness or not this report is performed which represents the
argument over the statement form the view point of several persons for presenting the most
favourable side of the discussion. Under this investigation firstly there is a discussion regarding
views over this issue or topic by considering unbiased information presented by several persons
over this issue (Dunn, Aknin and Norton, 2014). After that a conclusion on the overall
discussion will be presented while presenting about the position of group while discussion. At
last there is a group reflection to represent the experience of each person throughout this
discussion and manner in which they contribute toward the accomplishment of assignment.
MAIN BODY
Views on the issue
Different people are different in term of their view point within the aspect that whether or
not the money can happiness as for many people money is everything but for some it is just a
basic need and not a priority. But as per the views shared by Daniel Kahneman and Angus
Deaton, 2019, money can't buy happiness though it is much easier to find happiness if the basic
need of an individual get fulfilled. As from several studies it has been found that the people feel
much more accomplished when they get their salary as an individual be able to buy things which
1

they want to and be able to gain a temporary or short term happiness. But on the other side they
don't be able to reap any kind of emotional benefit from their higher amount of salary as with
this people won't be able to achieve social connections as well as true relations within the society
(Dube and Dube, 2017). This is so because in modern era people are more business in earning
their income in order to afford a better life which make them more busy in their daily work and
they won't be able to maintain a relation within the society.
On the other side, according to Briana Meade, 2019, spending money may increase the
happiness of an individual if it get spend in right manner. This means that who you are, when
you make a purchase etc. these factors make a big difference to the outcome of one's spending.
This is because the spending habit of a person is get influenced by the personality they have and
if the money is being invested in the area or the things to which a person is planning to achieve
then it can buy more happiness to a person. There are number of ways in which the money can
spend to buy happiness such as, form up decision by own instead of taking decision by being
influenced by other people. Therefore a person must try to compromise between personalities
before a situation leads to unhappiness. Another action to be performed for buying happiness is
to learn the secret of giving other to make them happy. By providing fund to the charity or
gifting things to other also support a person to earn happiness by being socially moral person.
Despite of this as per the view point of Rachel DeCarolis, 2018, the money is consider to
be a biggest necessity of each individual which support them in making their life a little better
and fulfil their wishes up to a great extend. But still then money is not a thing that gives a person
happiness for longer duration but it make a person happy by fulfilling their current requirement.
This is because the happiness from the money is depend over the attitude that individual have
toward the money and manner in which an individual handles it (Yuen and Chu, 2015). As when
an individual remain stick to the belief that earning money directly brings happiness to door then
a person get stuck into the cycle of constantly trying to accumulate more. This is so because the
attitude that a person have toward the money tells a lot about their mental state, as when that
particular individual remain stick to earn more then they won't be able to buy happiness and on
other side when a person learn to spend the money in right manner then they become able to
remain happy. This means that when a person spend money in order to gain some memory or
experience like a trip, a celebration or something else then they would be able to get happier than
2

that of saving the fund, investing in earning more or purchasing the materialistic thing despite of
forming up the social relationships.
According to the view point of Leslie H. Tayne, 2018, money can't buy happiness as its is
considered as the emotional state in which a person move by performing certain course of
actions, thinking about a particular situation or even feel in a manner that trigger into a particular
happiness. These all are the things which can't be purchased and when the things that produce
feeling as well as emotion can't buy then no one is able to buy happiness. In addition to this the
happiness is come from within and there is nothing external as no one can buy the spirit of
someone (Mogilner and Norton, 2016). Hence, the happiness is a kind of feeling which actually
get created from within by conducting such practices which an individual enjoys. Therefore
happiness is something which is about practising the gratitudes and contributing within the lives
of other people in a way as possible. This is because it help in forming up the social connection
among the people and support them an inner feeling of accomplishment by doing better to
someone which in turn help in keeping a person satisfied and even happy with their conduct.
These all are the things that are not possible to achieve by earning or spending more and more
money.
In addition to this, Michael D. Brown, 2018, when an individual is earning enough which
is required by them in proportionate to their age, experience and education, person will no longer
be able to bring up happiness to the person with the help of money. This is because in order to
earn happiness a person is required to maintain a balance between the personal as well as
professional life this is because a person devote all his/her time to earn money which they can
spend with their family, themselves or in order to fuel their passion (Araujo, 2018). The long
term relationship as well as meaningful work take over all the money back with a wrong turn
within the life as these all are the happiness that remains in one's life for the temporary period of
time. Therefore, a person must try to learn maintaining a balance between their work life as well
as personal life in order to maintain a harmony between the money an individual earn and
intangible things that are present in one's life as a great way of achieving success.
CONCLUSION
In the given project detailed discussion regarding “can money buy happiness” is done.
Critically evaluating different opinions it has been concluded that even though money plays
important role in earning huge among of happiness then also it can not be said that money can
3

buy all the happiness that is required in life. This is one of the most dynamic statement that
provides different opinion because each individual possess different perspective towards life.
Happiness that is based on materialistic things can be fulfilled through money. For example- a
new car, new phone, new dress or new home all can be purchased through money and they
provides huge amount of happiness for an individual. Money can but material things but it won't
be able to fill the gap of self-esteem or the self-worth an individual wants to earn. Experience is
one of the concept that can not be earned through spending any amount of money. For example
expanding amount on a paragliding can provide an opportunity to get the experience but the real
experience will be received when it is done. The experience of travelling with friends and family
and the enjoyment that is done on the whole trip can not be earned through spending money.
Through money health and well-being of an individual can be managed but to have a fit or
disease free body one should needs to do continuous practice and no amount of money can earn
that. Creating positive memories that will be reflected in future will help in generating
sustainable happiness for future.
At certain point of time each individual in his or her life experienced that money can buy
happiness. This feeling is not permanent as far as that phase passes and an individual moves
towards pursuit of happiness it is noted that life experiences, achievements and memories do not
belongs with the stuff that is bought with money. Happiness that is provided through purchase of
material things is only once and with passage of time all happiness that belongs to money will
fade away. Experiences are the foundations for happiness as it can be earned through
accomplishing a wish that is due in the bucket list. All the happiness that belongs to an individual
is a feeling that comes with different emotions. Emotions are something that can not be bought
with money they are earned by performing certain activities that makes an individual happy.
Material things that are purchased with money are all external things and happiness is something
that belongs to internal feeling of an individual. Happiness comes with what an individual love to
do and enjoy completely . From above all the points that are considered it is analysed that money
can buy some amount of happiness but in real terms it can not buy all the happiness that an
individual requires in a lifespan. When happiness is earned through spending money then method
through which it is allocated to different experiences will help in earning some amount of
happiness that is important in human life.
4

REFLECTION
This reflection is all about the experience which we had while performing this project as
a team. We are assigned with a project title “Can money buy happiness” where a team of 4
people which was formulated by my teacher itself. After assigning the project we started
performing the work over this assignment but to start the work it is crucial to form up plan and
for this I decided to form up mutual planning by taking the concern of each of the people. But in
order to formulate an effective team I have decided to firstly work over strengthening the bond
among team members and for this I have implemented the Tuckman model which help in
forming up the team by step by step activities.
Under this, the first stage i.e. forming is to assemble the team mates and assign the task
in order to perform the operations in effective manner (Mogilner and Norton, 2016). For this I
arranged a meeting with team mates in order to have interaction with them and to decide over
who perform whom. Hence in order to perform the project in effective manner we firstly divide
the project into task and assign them to team mates as per their skills and capabilities where I
was appointed as a team leader as my communication and leadership skills are good . Among the
remaining team members one of the member is being assigned to write the project and other two
are being assigned with the responsibility of being investigate the information regarding the
assigned topic. Rest the planning was performed by all the member with a proper discussion so
that no issue of conflicts remains left.
After this the next stage is storming where the ideas is being shared among the team
mates in order to move toward execution of project. This was the planning stage of our project
where I asked each member to share their views regarding the procedure to be followed in order
to perform the project in effective or timely manner. But as each individual is different in term of
their view several conflicts are being arises but in order to resolving conflict I decided to
conclude with the plan which involve ideas of each and every person so that dynamics can be
strengthen among team mates.
Once the planning is being formulated the next is the norming phase where the team
members are being agreed with the rules as well as tasks that are being assigned to them and
started performing work with the mutual contribution (Araujo, 2018). Hence after being agreed
over the plan the team members who are assigned with the task to perform the investigation or
research over the topic started studying over this from the online sources. But this was to critical
5

and time consuming as there is large amount of data available which is required to adjust and
everything seems important in term of project. Hence to deal with this I also joined them and we
three together studied the investigated material by performing critical thinking to select the most
important information as per the view point of project.
After performing and arranging all the information for final creation of report, the next
stage is performing where the actual action of the report will take place i.e. writing of the
project. In this all the data we have selected for the project are being review and arranged in a
systematic manner in order to make it more meaningful so that it can be written in most effective
manner. After performing this I asked the another team mate to write it all together so that
project can get accomplished on timely manner and we perform a proofreading to improve the
mistake and be ready for its final presentation or submission.
From this project I identified that my time management skills are not much appropriate
which can be a bid disadvantage for me. Therefore in order to overcome this I have decided that
from now I perform a proper planning and scheduling of work in order to perform each task in
timely manner and learn to manage my time as per deadlines of activities. As timely completion
of work help in gaining self confidence to perform well .
6

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Araujo, C. M. L. D., 2018. 'As happy as money can buy: exploring antecedents of happiness
according to purchase type' (Doctoral dissertation).
Dube, S. and Dube, M., 2017. Basics first: Let money buy happiness and a central store that
provides essentials for all. John Hunt Publishing.
Dunn, E. W., Aknin, L. B. and Norton, M. I., 2014. Prosocial spending and happiness: Using
money to benefit others pays off. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23(1),
pp.41-47.
Matz, S. C., Gladstone, J. J. and Stillwell, D., 2016. Money buys happiness when spending fits
our personality. Psychological science, 27(5), pp.715-725.
Mogilner, C. and Norton, M. I., 2016. Time, money, and happiness. Current Opinion in
Psychology, 10, pp.12-16.
Yuen, T. W. K. and Chu, W. W. L., 2015. Happiness in ASEAN member states. International
journal of happiness and development, 2(1), pp.69-83.
Online
Kahneman. D and Deaton. A. 2019.High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional
well-being. [Online] Available through:
<https://www.pnas.org/content/107/38/16489.full>
DeCarolis. R. 2018. Why Money Can’t Buy Happiness. [Online] Available through:
<https://upjourney.com/why-money-cant-buy-happiness>
Brown. M. D, 2018. Why Money Can’t Buy Happiness. [Online] Available through:
<https://upjourney.com/why-money-cant-buy-happiness>
Tayne. L. H. 2018. Why Money Can’t Buy Happiness. [Online] Available through:
<https://upjourney.com/why-money-cant-buy-happiness>
Meade. B. 2019. YES, MONEY CAN BUY HAPPINESS. [Online] Available
through:<https://www.hermoney.com/save/banking/how-to-buy-happiness/>
7