Don’t expect shopping to lift your mood or boost your sense of self-worth

People who put more weight on money and things feel less happy themselves, but the link is weak and you cannot tell which causes which. Other research finds that spending on an experience makes people happier than buying stuff. So for the same spend, putting it toward going out once is more likely to make you happier than filling a shopping cart.

Cost

No cost at all. The real challenge is resisting the urge to buy things when you’re feeling down.

Benefit

One meta-analysis (combining findings from many studies) examined 259 separate samples and 753 effect sizes. The results showed that individuals who prioritized material possessions reported lower happiness levels. On the most commonly used multi-dimensional scale, the correlation coefficient was r = -0.19 (adjusted ρ = -0.24). On scales that measured only “material valuing,” the link was even weaker, with r values ranging from -0.08 to -0.11. The strength of this association varied depending on the outcome measured: it was strongest with risky health and spending behaviors and negative self-evaluations (r = -0.28 to -0.44), and weakest with life satisfaction and negative emotions (r = -0.13 to -0.15). Mediation analyses suggested this negative link may arise because unmet psychological needs drive it. Another study found that across two separate surveys, respondents consistently reported greater happiness from spending on experiences than on material goods. Subsequent lab experiments also showed that recalling a positive mood after spending on an experience led to higher happiness ratings than recalling a similar positive mood after a shopping spree. Both studies used samples from outside China.

Notes

Caveats: Most of the included studies asked participants at a single point in time whether they valued material goods and how happy they felt, so they cannot determine which factor comes first. The authors themselves note that further experiments and long-term follow-ups are needed to clarify this directionality. Therefore, this finding should not be interpreted as “shopping makes people unhappy”; rather, it means “relying on shopping to improve your mood is unlikely to work.” Moreover, the association is quite weak: an r value of -0.19 explains only a few percentage points of variation, and individual differences are substantial. Both studies used foreign samples, so there are no comparable data available for Chinese populations. This does not mean you shouldn’t spend on things you enjoy; rather, it warns against using shopping as a way to regulate your emotions, as doing so makes impulse buying your first reaction when you’re feeling down. Specific money-saving tips are covered in Section 5. Evidence-based ways to improve your mood when you’re feeling low are outlined in the latter part of Section 22 and in Section 29. Advice on budgeting for the goal of “keeping up with peers” is provided in Subsection 24 of this section.

Sources · 2

1. Dittmar H, Bond R, Hurst M, Kasser T (2014). The relationship between materialism and personal well-being: A meta-analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 107(5), 879-924. doi.org/10.1037/a0037409
2. Van Boven L, Gilovich T (2003). To do or to have? That is the question. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(6), 1193-1202. doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.85.6.1193