Respect of peers more important than money: Study

TODAY Online:

The respect of friends and colleagues makes people happier than being wealthy because the enjoyment we get from money fades, a study has found.

The admiration and respect of our peers has a greater bearing on our overall happiness in life than our bank balance or the status associated with being rich, researchers found.

Psychologists from the University of California, Berkeley carried out four studies to observe the connection between various types of status and our overall happiness in life, the Daily Telegraph reported.

In one study, the researchers carried out a survey of 80 university students who between them were involved in 12 different social groups such as sororities.

For each student, they estimated their sociometric status – or their standing in the group – by combining self-reported ratings, reports from peers and any senior role they had within their group. The researchers also asked about their income.

They found that sociometric status was directly linked to students’ psychological wellbeing, while their socioeconomic status – how wealthy they were relative to the group – was not.

Read the whole story: TODAY Online