TITLE:
Ownership or Taking Action: Which Is More Important for Happiness?
AUTHORS:
Kohji Hayase, Mitsuhiro Ura
KEYWORDS:
Ownership, Taking Action, More Important for Happiness
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.6 No.6,
May
13,
2015
ABSTRACT: In two studies (2010 and 2011), more than
2000 respondents living in Japan were asked whether they gained more happiness
from ownership or from taking action. In the 2010 study, many more individuals
preferred taking action to ownership; this preference was greater in women than
in men and in older people than in younger people. Reasons for this preference
were plainly ex-pressed in respondents’ free writing, and a categorical
distinction between ownership and taking action was readily recognized and
widely shared. Social desirability concerns probably did not play a role in
responses. In the 2011 study, many individuals valued action more than
ownership as like as the 2010 study. The preference for taking action over
ownership was greater in women than in men, in older people than in younger
people, and in people with higher levels of education than in people with lower
levels of education. There was no relationship with annual income. The
correlations with gender and level of education were similar to results of
comparable studies conducted in the USA, although in the US studies,
experiential purchases were evaluated, rather than taking action; however, the
correlation with age was uncertain in the US studies. Further studies with US
respondents will be necessary to examine this correlation. Possible reasons why
many more people preferred happiness gained from taking action to happiness
experienced from ownership were discussed.