guess the spirit . You ’re view your local news anchorman begin to announce the Powerball numbers and the first number is yours . The next two are yours , as well — suddenly , you’re able to get word your heartbeat — and then four , five , six … you ’ve just won the drawing ! Your head is racing , your fondness is pounding in your chest and you begin to concede your deathless love to everyone in the room . Would that make you glad ? Sure it would , right ? Not so fast .
For insight , let ’s review the findings of " the lottery study , " a pivotal study from 1978 that looked at data on whether beneficial or bad event have a long-lasting upshot on ourhappiness . The results showed that people who win the lottery were no happier than multitude who did not , and that lottery victor took less joy from mundane upshot [ reference : Brickman ] . In fact , felicity results for lottery achiever were corresponding to those of people who had been paralyzed in accidents [ source : Brickman ] .
One shortcoming of the drawing study is that it surveyed participant at only one point in time . A 2006 cogitation of Britons who won medium - sized lottery prizes suggests a dissimilar result . In this survey , researchers dog well - being scores at multiple points in time , including before the winnings and two years after . They found that monetary windfalls were positively connect with significantly improve mental health [ source : Gardner and Oswald ] .
A 2015 field offers extra support for increased happiness after a lottery win [ source : Apouey ] . However , it also found that drawing succeeder had high rates of drinking andsmoking .
An interesting additional twist on the link between financial windfall and happiness is the acquire body of data advise that it ’s not how much money you have , but how you expend it that weigh , with experience outperforming material point for highest felicity potential [ source : Pchelin ] .
In plus , it turns out that being openhearted is yoke with personal felicity . A 2008 study showed that citizenry who spent a gamey percentage of their income on charitable donations and gifts for other people see enceinte felicity [ source : Dunn ] . The author suggest that governments attempt to make taxation sense more like Greek valerian for foster a more convinced sense about it . ( Good luck with that . )
Regarding the question of whether people who win the drawing are any happier , the evidence may not be overwhelming , but it points to " yes . " However , it also appears likely that simply having a comfortable sum of money can boost felicity , no matter how quickly you take on it .
If you win the lottery — or get any large sum of unexpected money — keep these tips in creative thinker :
Also , be sure to portion out your honorable fortune with multitude and organizations that you wish about . The combining of the boom with deed of generousness will do wonders for your happiness .
