Marla Martin

Professor Debra Jizi

UWRT 1102
3 March 2016

Double Entry Journal

Citation:
Lyubormisky, Sonja. "Can Money buy you happiness?" 2015. Pursuing Happiness: A
Bedford Spotlight Reader. Place of Publication Not Identified: Bedford Bks St Martin'S, 2015.
179-96. Print.

Source: Quote (Page# or Paragraph #)

Responses

Yes money buys happiness, but there are

important exceptions. (pp.160)

I dont think money can buy happiness

directly. Happiness is not an object

More money can help us get medical care

and a more comfortable retirement.
(pp.160)

Medical situations can be difficult when it

comes to paying the expenses for something
serious. However paying it may not lead to
overall happiness because the patient may
still have something wrong with him/her.

Money can be a help in attaining

psychological wealth, but it must be
considered in the bigger picture of what
makes people genuinely rich. (pp. 161)

Yes things may become easier when you

acquire more money for saving, spending,
and paying bills. Its important how you look at
this income though, it should not fill you with
happiness but more so gratitude.

However, poverty is still with us, and the

gap between rich and poor is growing in the
wealthiest nations. (pp.161)

If this statement doesnt prove a point, I dont

know what does. It seems overall very
unreasonable that there is such a big gap
between the poor and the wealthy.

It turns out that forty-seven of the forty-nine

rich people who responded to Eds survey
were satisfied with their lives, significantly
more than a control sample of average
Americans taken from the same geographic
location. (pp.161)

This is an interesting statistic. It proves that

maybe money can give you an overall better
satisfaction with life.. and maybe even a
better core well-being.

We found in past studies that once an

individual is earning a middle-class income,

I like this statement. It gives me hope that one

day when my life is on track with a balance of

money bought little additional happiness.

(pp.163)

family, a decent job, a place I can call home,

and friends that maybe I wont need more and
more to contribute to my happiness. Hopefully
what I get is all I need.

Folks earning $80,000 a year were more

satisfied than their counterparts earning
$60,000 and those earning more than
$20,000 were significantly more satisfied
than the middle class. (pp.163)

I believe this. Ive watched my mom go from

struggling with money, to never having to
worry about it again. This is all because of the
raise in income, it was easier to care for a
child, pay bills, and travel, increasing her
overall happiness.

When we later examine the happiness of

nations, we will see that all of the societies
with the highest life satisfaction are wealthy
ones, such as Ireland and Denmark, and
most of the unhappiest nations are
extremely poor ones, such as Sierra Leone
and Togo. (pp.163)

To me this is terrible. We read in class about

a story that a poor family in the Congo is
happier than most Americans. From this story
it has given perceptions that all the poor are
happy, which is completely unfair and untrue.
All of us need to wake up and realize how
grateful we should really be. We are not being
forced, threatened, and pressured, without
food/shelter/clothing/education. We have the
opportunity to obtain anything we want, and
still many of us are so unhappy with life and
ourselves.

There is no nation with an average income

of less than $2000 a year that has a life
satisfaction as high as a nation with an
income of more than $20,000 a year. (pp.
164)

This is a very good fact and statistic that I

would like to keep in mind. Its a good
reminder to think lightly when learning about
countries in poverty.

Her life became a series of drinking and

shopping sprees that, ultimately, landed
Nicholson in financial dire straits. (pp. 165)

This statement makes an equally good point

how money can have a negative effect. If I
were to win so much money I would be
scared that someone would come after it and
possible threaten my life. Money is a big
issue.

I can make any situation happy. (pp. 165)

This sounds a little bit ignorant to me, just

because I doubt anyone who says this has
been through any drastic circumstances prior
to saying this.

It might be argued that her lottery wins

cause her grief, or it might be said that they
ultimately led her to a place of satisfaction.
(pp.165)

Sometimes it takes the grief to get to the

satisfaction. Anything that comes easily
should be questioned on its authenticity.

Finally we know that materialism can be

toxic to happiness. (pp.166)

I know this from first hand experience. I used

to go shopping a lot thinking new things
would make me feel better and happier if I

looked a certain way. It never did in the end. It

made me happy that I had a bunch of new
items to look at, but they never boosted my
inner well-being.
The data showed, instead, that they were
slightly negative to slightly positive on scales
of life satisfaction. While this certainly isnt
the romantic notion of the joyful poor, it also
contradicts the idea of a legion of
despondent have-nots with an unmitigated
black outlook on life. (pp.167)

I like this study a lot. It shows that humans

are all within a certain range of well-being. I
know some situations are unimaginable and
horrific, but people who experience such
things as rape and a missing or child loved
one, do grow to lean on some sort of faith
after a while or mourning. There is hope for
all of us.