💰 Money DOES = happiness? 🤡 Clown study 🗣️ Convo hack

💰 Money DOES = happiness? 🤡 Clown study 🗣️ Convo hack

In 2010, psychologist Daniel Kahneman published what became a hugely famous study on the link between money and happiness. Beyond $75K/year, incremental earnings yielded zero meaningful happiness boost, he found.
The best news, hacks, & facts from the past week!
March 10, 2023
Sign Up | Shop

Wanna win 1,000 doll-hairs?

On Tuesday, I launched a competition to crowdsource an IQBAR tagline on LinkedIn.

CHECK IT OUT HERE and throw your hat in the ring!

Some of the 400+ submissions have been...interesting. A few zingers:

  • "Fuel around and find out."
  • "Brains, Body, Battlestar Galactica."
  • "You’re an idiot if you don’t eat these."

As always, please forward IQNEWS to a friend if you're a fan!

📣
 
STORY OF THE WEEK

Turns out, money DOES makes you happy?

image: tenor

In 2010, psychologist Daniel Kahneman published what became a hugely famous study on the link between money and happiness. Beyond $75K/year, incremental earnings yielded zero meaningful happiness boost, he found.

Welp...he was wrong.

After research from other psychologists contradicted his findings, Kahneman teamed up with them to settle the matter. The group asked 33,391 working US adults with a median household income of $85K to answer questions about their sense of well-being.

Punchline: for most people, happiness improves with higher earnings, up to $500K/year.

The researchers also identified two notable sub-groups in their research:

  • The rich and miserable: for some, once they hit $100K/year, no incremental money moves the "happiness needle."
  • The happiest 30%: for roughly a third of people, feelings of well-being sharply accelerate once earnings exceed $100K.

There are, of course, massive caveats here! Other happiness studies have found that personal relationships, a sense of community, and hobbies are also critical "boosters."

And yet, the immortal words of actress Bo Derek do seem to ring true here: "Whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to go shopping."

📖
 
IN OTHER NEWS

Clown study, sickle cell cure, skipping school...

image: new scientist
Clown Fear
 

Scientists set out to understand why many of us are afraid of clowns. Portrayals in media play a role, but the #1 reason is we can't see their facial expressions or emotional intent.

Sickle Cell
 

Gene editing advances have made it possible to fully cure sickle cell diseases that affect millions. Problem is, at a $2-6M lifetime price tag, pretty much no one can afford it.

Left Handedness
 

Lefties extensively use both sides of their brain when completing language, writing, and arithmetic tasks. Righties are more left-brain-dominant. Result: lefties are more creative.

Mental Health
 

"Mental health in COVID-19 is more nuanced than people made it out to be," researchers say in a new study showing impact has been far lower than what was previously reported.

College Enrollment
 

A growing percentage of high school graduates are refusing to go to college for a variety of reasons (e.g., increased costs). College enrollment is down 8% from 2018 to 2022.

🛠️
 
HACK OF THE WEEK

Scenic walks yield deeper connections

image: bigstock

If you wanna have a deep convo with someone, there's really only one way to connect.

It isn't Zoom. It isn't FaceTime. It isn't meeting up at the steam room at Planet Fitness (although the Planet fitness one is the second-best move).

It's...nature!

Go on a long walk with this person in some sort of scenic environment (the woods, the beach, etc.). Here's why...

  • Not being face-to-face takes pressure off the interaction and reduces apprehension.
  • Beautiful scenery puts people in the mood to open up.
  • Walking increases blood/oxygen flow to the brain and promotes endorphins release.
  • You create a more memorable shared experience in addition to having a discussion.

Plus you get all the other benefits of exercise! So that's cool, too.

🚿
 
SHOWER THOUGHTS
  1. Parrots mimicking speech wouldn't be as adorable if they were 10 times bigger.
  2. Riding shotgun is a coveted spot when with friends, but in an Uber it’s a last resort.
  3. The voice in your head is always the same volume.
  4. Ginger Spice was the only real Spice Girl.
  5. It must be weird being a twin, getting hellos from strangers, and not being sure if they're people you've met and forgotten about.
💭
 
QUOTE / TIL / WORD / TRIVIA

Mahatma Gandhi: "Learn as if you will live forever, live like you will die tomorrow."

 

Today I learned that the word dumpster wasn't added to the Scrabble dictionary until 2022 due to it being a trademark before then. (more here)

 

factotum [ fak-toh-tum ] - noun
an employee who does all kinds of work
He was employed as the general factotum.

 

Q: Which country consumes the most chocolate per capita?
A: (see below next section)

🐤
 
TWEET OF THE WEEK
image: twitter

TRIVIA ANSWER: Switzerland.

Fan of IQNEWS? Forward to friends! 📩

By Will Nitze. Let's connect on LinkedIn!
Was this forwarded to you? Sign up here.

© IQBAR, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
444 E 3rd St. #115, South Boston, MA 02127
Unsubscribe