How to buy happiness? The effect of purchase type on happiness

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1042.2019.02133

Abstract

Abstract:

Some studies demonstrate that there is no significant relationship between purchase and well-being. Other studies, however, demonstrate that purchases can increase well-being depending on ‘how to buy’. For example, several studies have found that consumers derive more happiness from experiential purchase rather than material purchase and that there are boundary conditions. The present review study aims to (1) explore the underlying mechanisms of the ‘purchase type-well-being’-relationship from the perspectives of hedonic adaptation, social benefit, anticipative benefit, and unsymmetrical regret; (2) identify boundary conditions of the main effect from three aspects, namely, personal factors, situational factors, and the types of well-being; and (3) provide an outlook of the probable future research directions of this area.

Key words: material purchase, experiential purchase, eudaimonia, hedonia, well-being

CLC Number:

B849: F713.55

YU Ying, JING Feng-Jie, YANG Yan. How to buy happiness? The effect of purchase type on happiness[J]. Advances in Psychological Science, 2019, 27(12): 2133-2140.

Figures/Tables 3

References 45

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		购前	购后
个人层面	正面效价	①预期利益视角	②享乐适应视角
个人层面	负面效价		③非对称后悔视角
社会层面	正面效价		④社会利益

		购前	购后
个人层面	正面效价	①预期利益视角	②享乐适应视角
个人层面	负面效价		③非对称后悔视角
社会层面	正面效价		④社会利益