Maybe the Beatles were right when they said a diamond ring can't buy me love. But giving gifts – altruistic spending – could perhaps buy happiness. Although there is strong evidence for the small effect of income on happiness, recent research suggests that by spending money on others, humans can play an active role in their happiness, improving it at the same time. daily. In a 2008 study, researchers Dunn, Aknin, and Norton attempted to determine “if and how disposable income could be used to increase happiness” (Dunn et al., 2008). Their study used three tests to prove that spending money on others is essential. First, the researchers asked a representative sample of Americans to quantify their happiness, then estimate how much money they spend on anything – which the researchers divided into two categories: prosocial spending ( donations or charitable gifts) and personal expenses. The data demonstrated that personal spending was not linked to happiness, but higher prosocial spending was correlated with higher happiness. Based on this initial evidence, the researchers predicted that...