Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff, Lauren bogelbam here want to cultivate a sense of gratitude and thankfulness, spend your money on experiences, not material goods, say researchers. It isn't necessarily a groundbreaking idea, but a newly revealed connection may have implications that stretch far beyond individual attitudes. Researchers conducted six experiments to explore the impact of material consumption versus experience consumption on feelings of gratitude.
In one experiment, for instance, they asked participants to selectively remember either a significant purchase or a significant experience. Those who chose to reflect on an experience were more grateful overall as expected. That's an idea borne out in previous research, including a study from San Francisco State University that found people who bought experiences were happier and more satisfied with how they spent their money than those who bought material items.
And yet other studies show that engaging in new experiences not only makes you feel happier, but also leads to
increased confidence and self esteem and can lead to improved health. However, the current research team and at Kumar, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, along with researchers Jesse Walker and Thomas Jilovich of Cornell University, took the concept one step farther by giving participants the power to allocate money to themselves and to someone they
would never meet. The people who remembered spending money on experiences more than they did on things allocated a larger portion of the money to others. This altruistic attitude can ripple from individuals to entire communities, opening an entirely new way to consider the benefits of experiential behavior. Kumar study Cultivating Gratitude and Giving through Experiential Consumption was published in the journal Emotion and outlined findings that described the role
of experiences in healthy communities. People become socially connected when they reflect on experiences, according to the research, but not when they think about possessions, Kumar said in a press release announcing the papers publication, if people feel closer to other humans, they end up treating others better. The sense of community and how to better achieve it could change the way policy makers and civic leaders bring people together.
Public projects such as interactive parks and libraries could make people more likely to engage in experiences together and in turn treat others with greater care. Today's episode was written
by Laurie L. Dov and produced by Tyler Klang. If you love our show and want to wear your heart on your sleeve, check out our new shop te public dot com slash brain Stuff for shirts and other merchandise, and of course, for more on this and lots of other healthy topics, visit our home planet, how Stuff Works dot com