It's the Recipient That Counts: Spending Money on Strong Social Ties Leads to Greater Happiness than Spending on Weak Social Ties

Lara B. Aknin; Gillian M. Sandstrom; Elizabeth W. Dunn; Michael I. Norton

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0017018

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

It's the Recipient That Counts: Spending Money on Strong Social Ties Leads to Greater Happiness than Spending on Weak Social Ties

Lara B. Aknin ,

* E-mail: laknin@psych.ubc.ca

Affiliation Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
⨯
Gillian M. Sandstrom,

Affiliation Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
⨯
Elizabeth W. Dunn,

Affiliation Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
⨯
Michael I. Norton

Affiliation Marketing Unit, Harvard Business School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
⨯

It's the Recipient That Counts: Spending Money on Strong Social Ties Leads to Greater Happiness than Spending on Weak Social Ties

Lara B. Aknin,
Gillian M. Sandstrom,
Elizabeth W. Dunn,
Michael I. Norton

Published: February 10, 2011
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0017018

About the Authors

Lara B. Aknin

* E-mail: laknin@psych.ubc.ca

Affiliation Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Gillian M. Sandstrom

Affiliation Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Elizabeth W. Dunn

Affiliation Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Michael I. Norton

Affiliation Marketing Unit, Harvard Business School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: GMS LBA EWD MIN. Performed the experiments: GMS LBA. Analyzed the data: GMS LBA. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools. Wrote the manuscript: GMS LBA EWD MIN.

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Happiness
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Interpersonal relationships
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Prosocial behavior
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Behavioral and social aspects of health
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Emotions
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Human families
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Social networks
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Sociology
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