Escape The Consumer Treadmill
The concept of ‘the rat race’ has been around for a while, at least since the 1930s. Almost 100 years ago, people in modern society had begun to suspect that there was something desperate, undignified, doomed and futile about their pursuit of happiness. A few decades later, behavioral economist Richard Easterlin asked the question — does our striving for economic success make us happy? His answer was that a certain point, data support the conclusions of the Notorious B.I.G.: More Money, More Problems. According to Easterlin, while escaping poverty brings welcome relief and major increases in happiness, people in wealthier societies are observably less happy than people in the middle. Easterlin replaces the rat race metaphor with a treadmill to represent a society of people who are always moving forward while getting nowhere. Would you prefer a hedonic treadmill, a satisfaction treadmill, or a positional treadmill? Or perhaps you would like to escape the treadmill altogether and roam free to find your own happiness? Read on to find out how.
The Easterlin Paradox
It is not truly a paradox that more money does not necessarily cause more happiness. If we have been paying attention for the last couple thousand years of western culture, we will see all kinds of myths and stories that tell us that. But for economists, the notion that more money equals more happiness was so ingrained that most of this community (the one that brought us the “rational actor” model) irrationally ignored the data refuting this notion for twenty-five years. Finally, Easterlin’s theories are beginning to get more attention. Easterlin noticed a U-shaped curve representing (self-assessed) happiness increasing as income went up from poverty, reaching a peak at a middle income level, and declining as income became very large.
Three Types of Treadmill
Easterlin posited three ways to explain why having more money may not make people happier after a certain income is reached. The hedonic treadmill describes a well-documented effect. When someone achieves some pleasurable state, the new pleasure initially brings happiness, but eventually they become accustomed to the pleasurable state and no longer gain as much happiness from it. A new car may be exciting for a few months, but then it is not a new car anymore — it is the car you are used to. The satisfaction treadmill describes increasing personal expectations of performance. Today’s income is a baseline from which one must always strive towards a larger future goal in order to be satisfied with personal progress. A third variety of treadmill posited by Easterlin, the positional treadmill, is simply a fancy name for the very familiar concept of “keeping up with the Joneses” — people define their expectations relative to their neighbors or perceived peers. In modern society, we are encouraged to consider celebrities our peers by the access we have to their private moments and the offers to consume the very same products that they do.
Income over $75,000 Does Not Change Happiness….Much
A more recent study (2010) by Kahneman and Deaton with over 450,000 participants documented the effect of income on moment-to-moment happiness as well as a more abstract concept of ‘global satisfaction.’ Increases in income over $75,000 resulted in only very small increases in reported moment to moment happiness. On the other hand, increasing income continued beyond $75,000 to produce increases in global life satisfaction. This suggests the effects of Easterlin’s satisfaction treadmill are mitigated; the striving does not bring day to day happiness, but achieving the goals brings a sense of satisfaction when we pause to reflect.
Economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that we would reach a point where we can meet all our economic needs. At this point, the challenge becomes how to enjoy our leisure. Simply accumulating more material wealth and displaying it through conspicuous consumption is a routine path, but a seemingly ineffective one. Several researches, Dunn, Norton, Aknin, Frank, et alia have suggested that better spending choices could increase the gains in happiness brought about by greater income.
Gilovich: Experiential Spending Brings Happiness
Psychologist Thomas Gilovich has studied the relationship between happiness and spending. He concludes: “Experiential purchases, such as vacations, concerts, and meals out, tend to bring consumers more enduring happiness than material purchases, such as high-end clothing, jewelry, and electronic gadgets.” People enjoy talking with others about experiential purchases more than material purchases. Experiential purchases make better stories. They help us cultivate personal identity and meaningful human connections both during and after the experience. The more you personalize your spending on experiences to create memories that are significant for you, the more happiness and satisfaction you can create. Perhaps money can buy happiness, if you spend it on meaningful experiences rather than things.
Explore The Art of the Good Life With Rascal
Please join us as we continue on our conceptual journey to the heart of the art of the good life. You can follow our articles here on Medium if you have an account, or simply bookmark our Medium page or follow us on Facebook.
We’ll tell you about the most popular course in the history of Yale, Psychology and the Good LIfe, and how you can take it for free. Find out how you can add years to your life in our article on the benefits of yoga and tell you about what meditation can do to make you more productive and less stressed. Consider our musings on the Midas myth and the common themes of behavioral economist Tibor Scitovsky and the myth of Eros and Psyche. Want to get inspired? We’ve got an article on defining your life project. For insight into the struggle between happiness and perfection, check out our article on satisficers vs maximizers and Bruce Lee’s theory of the top dog and the underdog. We also consider some more abstract topics, like John Maynard Keynes thoughts on the art of life, or non-being and its place at the root of luxury, or the conceptual art color the blackest black, Vantablack. If you are a gourmet, you might want to check out these fine dining restaurants in Bali that could be contenders for a Michelin star. Enjoy!
