Why is it that happiness decreases exponentially in relation to increase of wealth?

Question

There are so many excelklent answers here that I think I am going to have to put it to vote! Thanks to all who participated.

Answer 1

~I will defer to your experience on that one, but if you need to be poor to be happy, you should spend a little more time in the ghetto.

Answer 2

Very good question.

Wealth by itself is inanimate and material and so it should have no role in our happiness. But it is our attitude and assumptions regarding wealth that make us feel unhappy. In other words, when we have more wealth, we begin to believe we are more superior, more powerful and even better off than earlier. Since these assumptions are not true, our corresponding expectations are not fulfilled and as a result we become less happy than before. On the other hand, when we become wealthier, others around us also view us differently and their expectations are also betrayed because once again their assumptions are not true either. They too become unhappy and show it in different ways which in turn makes us even more unhappier.

Perhaps that is why the exponential impact!!

Answer 3

Decreases exponentially? Not sure about that. I have heard that happiness levels off after a certain level of annual income ($40,000/yr or thereabout).

One interpretation is that after a person earns enough to cover basic needs (clothing, food, housing) and probably some basic entertainment and vacation, any additional spending on "wants" is not very effective in producing "additional happiness".

There are also other components to happiness besides material wealth. In psychology, they talk about the need for personal productivity: what is the "product" of your life and effort? If you feel that your work is meaningless (like pushing papers in a mega-corporation), you'll feel unfulfilled even if you're making $80,000/yr. In contrast, teachers making half that,or less, feel fulfilled because they feel that their work is very meaningful, to both the students they teach and to society.

Answer 4

As wealth increases, the challenge of earning it decreases, and many goals in life are surpassed, and then there isn't anything to work twords.
Many poeple set their sights on getting rich, but once they are there, they either get consumed with greed, or they lose their motivation and they don't have anything to work for.
If you think about it, if your always doing what you want to do, wouldn't it get kinda boring?

Answer 5

Wealth need not necessarily bring down happiness, not in all cases! Wealth plus a balanced, level head, wealth plus wisdom (the right sort!), helps to maintain happiness!It's when you 'lose' your head with wealth that makes you 'heady', that happiness begins to erode as you have suggested: a great fall and decline, then, that wealth cannot by itself arrest or repair! (A humourist said, people who say wealth cannot buy happiness, don't know where to go shopping! Seriously, it's true: when you lose your head, you don't know where to go and find happiness!). Finally, don't reject or refuse to accept wealth, but be wise, continue to be wise after wealth happens to you: keep the wealth, keep happiness, too: don't let go of either!

Answer 6

in many circumstances ability which you would be working with LN (organic Log) case in point, the a=pe^rt formula for continually compounded interest. case in point 12=4(e)^2x is an exponential equation. you're able to desire to transform to organic log which promises 12ln=2x. which might remedy to be 2.485=2x. remedy for x and you're able to get x=one million.242. you additionally can use this for Appreciaiton, Depreciation, 0.5-lifes, etc...

Answer 7

wealth is a nuisance. It has to be guarded from every other person.it has to be guarded from the government. The flow has to be maintained continuously. The effort to maintain takes the toll of health. This is the reason increase in wealth reduces physical fitness and and mental happiness.

Answer 8

It can be proved through an economics concept called “ diminishing marginal utility” i.e. the more you consume a product, the less satisfaction you will drive out of it. So it can be applied to most of the things around us.

Answer 9

Hoarding the wealth in the midst of a vast sea of have nots, does take away the leisure to enjoy it, snatching the remaining bit of happiness & peace of mind !

Answer 10

Money does awful things to people. For one thing, people are so caught up in having all the material crap of the century, and than they spend all of their time working to pay for those things that they are to busy to enjoy. Also, with money comes greed, and corruption. Hate and guilt. Glamour and lies.

Answer 11

thats just a defense mechanism u have for living in ur moms basement