The Ted talk above discusses the ideas of buying happiness. Narrator Michael Norton, a professor at the Harvard Business School and has his work published in many academic journals such as Science, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, guides us through the reasoning of why buying happiness is very possible.
In his presentation Norton makes a point to say that money makes people selfish and antisocial humans. He later goes on to say that in order to buy happiness you do not go and spend for yourself but for others. To back up his point norton went out and did an experiment on ac college campus. He people and amount of money told them to either spend on themselves or spend it on someone else. When the people were called back they said that when they spent the money on someone else they were happier, as for the people who spent for themselves they did not feel a change in mood.
This idea can also be seen in the Great Gatsby. The book Jay Gatsby throws Lavish Parties every Weekend and spends Enormous of amounts of money on others. Even though Gatsby may have not have been completely happy because the one who he was throwing these parties for, Daisy, never acknowledged his gestures of love. I still believe he was happy to see his guest bask in his wealth. Page 50 gives a great example of this “... My eyes fell on Gatsby, standing alone on the marble steps and looking from one group to another with approving eyes”(Fitzgerald 50).
Personally i feel as if the Ted talk breaks down the idea of not being able to buy happiness and sheds a new light on it. It construes the misconception of getting joy through material items and makes obtaining that feeling from charity work even more noticeable. To me spending on other does make me feel happy and as if i am doing the right thing. Whether it is giving money to help someone out or paying for someone else’s order, you are still buy your happiness but through another person. It is a concept that everyone should adopt into their everyday thinking.
In his presentation Norton makes a point to say that money makes people selfish and antisocial humans. He later goes on to say that in order to buy happiness you do not go and spend for yourself but for others. To back up his point norton went out and did an experiment on ac college campus. He people and amount of money told them to either spend on themselves or spend it on someone else. When the people were called back they said that when they spent the money on someone else they were happier, as for the people who spent for themselves they did not feel a change in mood.
This idea can also be seen in the Great Gatsby. The book Jay Gatsby throws Lavish Parties every Weekend and spends Enormous of amounts of money on others. Even though Gatsby may have not have been completely happy because the one who he was throwing these parties for, Daisy, never acknowledged his gestures of love. I still believe he was happy to see his guest bask in his wealth. Page 50 gives a great example of this “... My eyes fell on Gatsby, standing alone on the marble steps and looking from one group to another with approving eyes”(Fitzgerald 50).
Personally i feel as if the Ted talk breaks down the idea of not being able to buy happiness and sheds a new light on it. It construes the misconception of getting joy through material items and makes obtaining that feeling from charity work even more noticeable. To me spending on other does make me feel happy and as if i am doing the right thing. Whether it is giving money to help someone out or paying for someone else’s order, you are still buy your happiness but through another person. It is a concept that everyone should adopt into their everyday thinking.