(WebMD) Want to feel happier? Spending money on other people or charities may make you feel better than splurging on something for yourself.
Researchers report that news in tomorrow's edition of Science.
The happiest people were the biggest givers, no matter what they earned
"Regardless of how much income each person made, those who spent money on others reported greater happiness, while those who spent more on themselves did not," Dunn says in a news release.
Next, Dunn's team asked 16 employees at a Boston company to rate their happiness one month before receiving a bonus from their company, and again six to eight weeks after getting the bonus.
The workers also reported how they spent the bonus. Those who gave more of their bonus money to other people or charities were happier after getting the bonus.
Big bonus, small bonus - that didn't matter. It wasn't about the size of the check; it was about how it was spent.
clipped from: www.cbsnews.com