ABSTRACT
Among the questions that have long excited and perplexed philosophers, policymakers, religious scholars, and psychologists is the issue of whether happiness is an “inside-out” or “outside-in” phenomenon. That is, can we attribute individual happiness to objective life circumstances or to subjective attitudes and interpretations of those circumstances? A cursory examination of the topic yields an answer of “both.” People’s emotions and satisfaction are affected by the objective circumstances of their lives (Veenhoven and Hagerty 2006 Diener, Suh, Lucas, and Smith 1999), but their subjective experience of daily events is also important to happiness (Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, and Schkade 2005). Interestingly, many people intuitively focus on addressing externalities rather than attending to their own attitudes and aspirations in their individual pursuit of happiness. This is particularly true of the consumption of material goods, both basic and luxury. Most people assume that fulfilling basic needs, status needs, comfort needs, and experience needs are important elements of happiness. To fulfill these needs, people need to consume products and services that are grounded in the material world. This chapter reviews the potential benefits and pitfalls of consumption behaviors in the pursuit of happiness. It is argued that although it is important to satisfy physical, social, and psychological needs, the consumption of material items may only have short-term benefits as individuals adapt to their purchases and begin to desire more. However, experiential purchases and purchases that engage the consumer in enjoyable activities can have both short- and longterm positive impacts.
