Prosocial Spending and Well-Being: Cross-Cultural Evidence for a Psychological Universal

This research provides the first support for a possible psychological universal: Human beings around the world derive emotional benefits from using their financial resources to help others (prosocial spending). In Study 1, survey data from 136 countries were examined and showed that prosocial spendi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of personality and social psychology 2013-04, Vol.104 (4), p.635-652
Main Authors: Aknin, Lara B, Barrington-Leigh, Christopher P, Dunn, Elizabeth W, Helliwell, John F, Burns, Justine, Biswas-Diener, Robert, Kemeza, Imelda, Nyende, Paul, Ashton-James, Claire E, Norton, Michael I
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Altruism
Canada
Causality
Charitable Behavior
Charities
Consumer spending
Cross-Cultural Comparison
Data Collection
Developed Countries
Developing Countries
Expenditure
Female
Gift Giving
Happiness
Helping Behavior
Human
Humans
Male
Mental health
Mental Recall
Middle Aged
Money
Personal Satisfaction
Philosophy
Positive affect
Prosocial Behavior
Prosocial behaviour
Quality of Life - psychology
Reward
Social Behavior
Social costs
Social psychology
Social research
Socioeconomic Factors
South Africa
Statistics as Topic
Wealth
Well Being
Young Adult
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Summary:This research provides the first support for a possible psychological universal: Human beings around the world derive emotional benefits from using their financial resources to help others (prosocial spending). In Study 1, survey data from 136 countries were examined and showed that prosocial spending is associated with greater happiness around the world, in poor and rich countries alike. To test for causality, in Studies 2a and 2b, we used experimental methodology, demonstrating that recalling a past instance of prosocial spending has a causal impact on happiness across countries that differ greatly in terms of wealth (Canada, Uganda, and India). Finally, in Study 3, participants in Canada and South Africa randomly assigned to buy items for charity reported higher levels of positive affect than participants assigned to buy the same items for themselves, even when this prosocial spending did not provide an opportunity to build or strengthen social ties. Our findings suggest that the reward experienced from helping others may be deeply ingrained in human nature, emerging in diverse cultural and economic contexts.
ISSN:0022-3514
1939-1315
DOI:10.1037/a0031578