Does Money Buy Much Happiness (2)?

Bicara lagi soal “Does Money Buy Much Happiness” Ada lagi referensi yang saya baca dengan pernyataan sebagai berikut :

“Psychologists and economist have found that money does matter to your sense of happiness, but it doesn’t matter that much. Beyond the point at which people have enough to comfortably feed, clothe, and house themselves, having more money—even a lot more money—makes them only a little bit happier. Recent other studies have suggested that merely thinking about money makes us more solitary and selfish, and steers us away from the spending that promises to make us happiest.“

Maksudnya apa? Maksudnya adalah bahwa kondisi finansial yang melimpah tidak mampu dan serta merta memberikan kebahagiaan. Jika ingin “membeli” kebahagiaan, pastikan Anda tidak mengeluarkannya untuk konsumsi barang-barang, mnamun sebaiknya untuk konsumsi pengalaman. Mengapa barang dan materi tidak bisa serta merta membuat kita merasa bahagia? Alasannya terletak pada salah satu dari sifat syaraf manusia: membiasakan diri (habituation). Ketika sensor kita dihadapkan pada data stimulus yang sama berulang-ulang kali, maka sel-sel tersebut akan jenuh, berhenti beroperasi dan akhirnya tidak menikmatinya lagi.

“Taking a friend to lunch, it turns out, makes us happier than buying a new outfit. Splurging on a vacation makes us happy in a way that splurging on a car may not. So one of the best predictors of happiness is a strong social network; spending money on others is the one thing sure to make us significantly happier. Money makes you most happy if you don’t spend it on yourself. Of course not giving it all away, but just reallocating as little as $5 on a given day can make a difference in happiness.“