Kadiatou Diallo DB5

Source one: the ted talk “the Paradox of Choice”, by Barry Schwartz

Conclusion: Maximizing choices does not maximize welfare, more choices make people miserable.

Premises: Barry Schwartz stated that having many choices to choose from produce paralysis rather that liberation, people find very difficult to make choices with too many options to choose from. Even though we managed to overcome the paralysis and make a choice, we end up less satisfied with the result of the choice than if there were fewer choices. He also mentioned that the more options there are to consider the more attractive features of these options are going to be reflected by us as opportunity costs. Another consequence of having multiple choice to choose from is that we get high expectations, according to Barry adding options to people lives can not help but increase the expectation people have about how good those options will be which will result to less satisfaction even when the results are good. The secret to happiness is low expectations he added.

Source two: From the ‘perfect’ salary to keeping up with the Joneses, here’s how money really affects your happiness by Cory Stieg.

Conclusion: Money does not make us happier.

Premises: The author stated in the article that people tend to feel happier the more money they make, up until a point. People’s emotional well-being or how they felt on a daily basis didn’t improve as they made more than $75,000, but their life satisfaction. She added that when people earned more than $105,000, their happiness levels decreases. More money doesn’t make us happier but making “more relative to other people” does. According to Yale psychology professor Laurie Santos, whether you feel like you are happy or satisfied or not is entirely dependent on how you see other people doing around you and what they have. Other facts she mentioned to support her conlusion is that Purpose is more important than money to be happy,  it’s more important that your job provides a sense of meaning or purpose which will make you happier more than the salary you gets. Finally, how you spend your money is really critical to your happiness, spending money on personal growth, connecting with people and contributing to the community, do contribute to happiness. Studies also suggest that spending money on experience makes you happier than items.

Money contributes to happines but does not necessarily make us happier. Happiness is subjective, it varies from one to another one. Some already have a lot of money but are still unhappy because their life is missing something else this could be love, good health or kids. According to Barry Schwartz, more choices make people miserable. He meant by this that the more money or goods we get will not make us happy but having the right thing we need will.