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WHAT THE RESEARCH FOUND

To do,
or to have?

57% vs 34% experiences vs things

  • Experiences make stories
  • Things give daily comfort
  • Waiting can be fun too
  • Doing and having

Happiness comes in different flavours.

Psychologists have spent twenty years asking whether doing things or having things makes people happier. Experiences usually come out ahead, but things have a quieter strength of their own.

Updated

Pick a moment

THE SHORT ANSWER

Experiences glow longer,
things show up daily.

Most studies favour experiences.
But the kind of happiness differs, and so do people.

MEMORIES

A wet hike, remembered well

Experiences are more open to positive reinterpretation: a rainy walk can become a story of a challenge met, said Leaf Van Boven of the University of Colorado.

Pick a moment

EVERYDAY

Things give little doses

A UBC study tracking people in the weeks after buying found material things gave more frequent moments of happiness, and experiences more intense ones.

See the numbers

TOGETHER

Shared and looked forward to

Experiences are often done with other people and are more fun to talk about. Cornell found that even waiting for them feels happier.

Ideas to try

A QUICK MOMENT CHECK

When does the
happiness happen?

Pick a point in the life of a purchase to see what the research found. The bar shows how strongly studies favour experiences over things at that point.

Moment check

Choose a moment
Looking forward to itExperiences

Cornell researchers found people anticipating an experience, such as concert tickets or a ski pass, were happier than those anticipating buying a thing.

The best single momentExperiences

In the UBC study, experiences gave a more intense but fleeting dose of happiness.

Day to day, in the weeks afterThings

Material purchases gave more frequent moments of happiness over the following weeks, like a sofa that is comfortable every evening.

Looking back weeks laterExperiences

Six weeks after Christmas, people felt more satisfied with their experiential purchases.

When money is tightestAbout even

In the 2003 US survey, people with the lowest incomes were equally likely to say a thing or an experience made them happier.

Sources: Van Boven and Gilovich, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (2003); Cornell Chronicle on Kumar, Killingsworth and Gilovich, Psychological Science (2014); PsyPost on Weidman and Dunn, Social Psychological and Personality Science (2016).

Based on Van Boven and Gilovich (2003), Kumar, Killingsworth and Gilovich (2014) and Weidman and Dunn (2016). General information about research findings, not financial advice.

TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING

Most people pick
the experience.

One survey of what people say,
one study of how they felt in the moment.

57% vs 34%

Said an experience made them happier

In a national telephone survey of 1,279 Americans, 57% said their experiential purchase made them happier and 34% said their material purchase did.

US SURVEY · VAN BOVEN AND GILOVICH

5× a day

Happiness check-ins per day

Weidman and Dunn asked buyers about their happiness up to five times a day for two weeks, then again later, to see how each kind of purchase felt in real time.

MOMENT BY MOMENT · UBC

Van Boven and Gilovich found women, younger people and those in towns and cities a bit more likely to favour experiences. People with the lowest incomes were equally likely to choose a thing or an experience.

FOUR IDEAS FROM THE STUDIES

Get more from
what you already do.

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None of these is about spending more. They use the research findings to get more happiness from plans and possessions you already have.

  1. Plan ahead and savour it

    Cornell found waiting for an experience is itself pleasant, so booking ahead gives you more time to look forward.

  2. Share the story

    Van Boven suggests experiences foster relationships because we do them with others and enjoy talking about them.

  3. Notice everyday things

    Things give frequent small doses of happiness. Choosing items you will use daily plays to that strength.

  4. Reframe the rainy day

    Experiences are open to reinterpretation. Remembering a hard day out as a challenge met is part of why they last.

WHY EXPERIENCES STICK

Part of who
you are.

Hands holding a folded, new knitted wool jumper beside a window, in soft morning light
AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

Van Boven offered three reasons experiences tend to win: they are more open to positive reinterpretation, they are a more meaningful part of a person's identity, and they help build relationships.

Possessions, he said, stay “out there”, separate from who we are. Cornell's Thomas Gilovich has added that places such as parks, trails and beaches support well-being by making experiences easy to have.

Questions

Questions people ask

Do experiences really make people happier than things?

Mostly, in the studies so far. In a 2003 US survey, 57% said an experience they bought made them happier, against 34% for a material purchase.

Are things ever better?

In some ways. A UBC study found material purchases gave more frequent moments of happiness in the weeks after buying, while experiences gave more intense ones.

Does it matter what I can afford?

It seemed to in the 2003 survey: people with the lowest incomes were equally likely to say a thing or an experience made them happier.

Why is looking forward to a trip so nice?

Cornell researchers found anticipating an experience brings more happiness than anticipating a purchase of a thing, and waiting in line for experiences was linked to better moods.

Is this advice on how to spend money?

No. It summarises published psychology research about happiness. It is not financial advice, and findings are averages that may not fit every person.

Sources

Where the facts come from

  1. Van Boven and Gilovich (2003), To do or to have? That is the question, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (PDF)
  2. CU Boulder Today: Experiences make people happier than material goods
  3. Cornell Chronicle: Doing makes you happier than owning, even before buying
  4. PsyPost: Study finds material purchases can bring happiness (Weidman and Dunn, 2016)

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