An international study by Victoria University has revealed that freedom and personal autonomy are more important to a person’s well-being than money.
Dr Ron Fischer from the School of Psychology and Dr Diana Boer from the Centre of Applied Cross-cultural Research conducted the study to find out whether subjects felt that having money or a strong degree of independence and choice was more significant to their happiness.
“Across all three studies and four data sets, we observed a very consistent and robust finding that societal values of individualism were the best predictors of well-being,” Dr Fischer said. “Money leads to autonomy, but it does not add to well-being or happiness.’
Using psychological tests, the study looked at a sample of 420,599 people from 63 countries over 40 years.