A new study suggests that a good holiday keeps us happier for longer than buying material possessions. Psychologist Professor Thomas Gilovich,of Cornell University,New York,and colleagues carried out the research into why people get more enduring happiness from experiences than possessions. They found that memories of trips away bring us greater joy because they are more individual and harder for us to compare with the holidays of others. Meanwhile,the gloss is often taken off shiny,new purchases when we see newer,better models owned by other people. Your experiences are inherently less comparative, the Daily Express quoted Gilovich as saying. Theyre undermined much less by invidious social comparisons. Imagine you buy a flat-screen TV. Youre very happy with it and then find I have a TV with a bigger,clearer picture than yours. That makes you feel a bit disappointed and annoyed. But suppose you go on a vacation to the Caribbean instead. You may find out Ive done the same,and my holiday sounds better than yours. But your unique connection to the Caribbean is less comparable to mine,so your enjoyment isnt undermined as much, Gilovich added.
