Study: Wealth and happiness across the world – material prosperity predicts life evaluation, whereas psychosocial prosperity predicts positive feeling
In this huge survey with 136,839 participants (who were a representative sample of the population of the world), Diener et al found:
‘Satisfaction with standard of living was a significantly stronger predictor of life evaluation than of feelings, whereas psychological need fulfillment significantly more strongly predicted positive feelings than evaluations of life.’
Which means that the more money you earn, the higher you are likely to rate your current life on a 0-10 scale (where 0 = worst possible life and 10 = best possible life). However, income is only moderately linked to positive feelings. Positive feelings (whether you smiled or laughed yesterday or felt feelings of enjoyment) are much more influenced by psychological prosperity.
Psychological prosperity is about whether you have family or friends you could count on in an emergency, and also, whether, when you think about yesterday, you:
• Felt you were treated with respect
• Learned something new
• Did what you do best, and,
• Chose how your time was spent