Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2010 Jan;98(1):146-59. doi: 10.1037/a0017145.
When it comes to spending disposable income, experiential purchases tend to make people happier than material purchases (Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003). But why are experiences more satisfying? We propose that the evaluation of experiences tends to be less comparative than that of material possessions, such that potentially invidious comparisons have less impact on satisfaction with experiences than with material possessions. Support for this contention was obtained in 8 studies. We found that participants were less satisfied with their material purchases because they were more likely to ruminate about unchosen options (Study 1); that participants tended to maximize when selecting material goods and satisfice when selecting experiences (Study 2); that participants examined unchosen material purchases more than unchosen experiential purchases (Study 3); and that, relative to experiences, participants' satisfaction with their material possessions was undermined more by comparisons to other available options (Studies 4 and 5A), to the same option at a different price (Studies 5B and 6), and to the purchases of other individuals (Study 5C). Our results suggest that experiential purchase decisions are easier to make and more conducive to well-being.
当涉及到可支配收入的支出时，体验式购买往往比物质购买更能让人感到快乐（Van Boven & Gilovich，2003）。但为什么体验更令人满意呢？我们提出，体验的评价往往比物质财产的评价不那么具有比较性，因此潜在的恶意比较对体验的满意度的影响比对物质财产的满意度的影响要小。这一论点在 8 项研究中得到了支持。我们发现，参与者对物质购买的满意度较低，因为他们更有可能对未选择的选项进行沉思（研究 1）；参与者在选择物质商品时倾向于最大化，而在选择体验时满足于满意（研究 2）；参与者对未选择的物质购买的检查比对未选择的体验购买的检查更频繁（研究 3）；与体验相比，参与者对其物质财产的满意度更容易受到与其他可用选项的比较（研究 4 和 5A）、同一选项在不同价格下的比较（研究 5B 和 6）以及其他个人购买的影响（研究 5C）。我们的研究结果表明，体验式购买决策更容易做出，并且更有利于幸福感。
