A study in the National Library of Medicine has shown that buying other people gifts brings greater long-term happiness to people than buying themselves gifts.
The study, conducted by the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago, gave participants an allowance to spend on either themselves or a charity of their choosing.
They were then surveyed, and the results showed that those who chose to spend the money on themselves had a small boost of happiness which quickly receded, but those who spent it on the charity had a continued boost to their happiness throughout the study.
The study found that happiness declined for the givers at about 50% of the rate as the ones who spent on themselves.
This study suggests that the happiness we get from giving to others sustains itself while we lose the feeling of happiness from buying for ourselves rather quickly.
