"This one's on me!" : effects of self-centered and recipient-centered motives for spending money on others

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rochester. Dept. of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, 2012.Past research reliably shows that spending money on others (termed prosocial spending) makes people happier than spending money on oneself (Dunn, Aknin, & Norton, 2008). The present research tested whether the happiness benefits of prosocial spending may be reduced when spending money on others for self-centered reasons--to benefit the self--than when done for recipient-centered reasons--to benefit the recipient. Across seven studies, self-centered prosocial spending was shown to make people less happy than recipient-centered spending. Specific forms of self-centered and recipient-centered motives--including self-enhancement, obligation, other-support, and other-enhancement--affected happiness in different ways, and a scale was developed and validated to measure these effects. Qualities of the relationships between givers and recipients influenced determining on whom to spend as well as predicting affective outcomes. The definition of happiness also mattered. When happiness was defined as trait-level well-being, the effects of self-centered motives were less consistent but seemed to operate through reduced positive affect and not through increased negative affect. When happiness was defined as specific to the spending episode itself or as eudaemonic fulfillment, the effects of recipient-centered motives were more robust. Finally, there was little evidence for two proposed mechanisms for the effect--perceived gratitude and self-focused attention--although gratitude was a reliable predictor of happiness, independently of people's motives for spending. The results are discussed in terms of theoretically situating prosocial spending as an interpersonal process

Buying Life Experiences for the Right Reasons: A Validation of the Motivations for Experiential Buying Scale

Although numerous studies have demonstrated the hedonic benefits of spending money on life experiences instead of material possessions, there has been no attempt to determine how different motivations for experiential consumption relate to psychological need satisfaction and well-being. Across five studies (N = 931), guided by self-determination theory, we developed a reliable and valid measure of motivation for experiential consumption-the Motivation for Experiential Buying Scale-to test these relations. Those who spend money on life experience for autonomous reasons (e.g., because they are an integral part of my life ) report more autonomy, competence, relatedness, flourishing, and vitality; however, those who spend money on life experiences for controlled (e.g., for the recognition I\u27ll get from others ) or amotivated reasons (e.g., I don\u27t really know ) reported less autonomy, competence, and relatedness. These results demonstrated that the benefits of experiential consumption depend on why one buys life experiences. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V

Damned if they do, damned if they don\u27t: Material buyers are not happier from material or experiential consumption

Numerous studies have demonstrated that experiential purchases lead to more happiness than material purchases. However, prior research suggests that some characteristics of the purchase and person may moderate this experiential advantage. Our goal was to determine if the happiness gained from experiential purchases varies for individuals with different buying tendencies. The results of three studies (N=. 675) demonstrated that material buyers, unlike experiential buyers, report equal levels of happiness from experiential and material purchases. Two mediated moderation models showed this is because material buyers report the same level of identity expression from their experiential and material purchases. The discussion focuses on why material buyers\u27 consumption appears inconsistent with predictions from various personality theories (e.g., self-concordance, authenticity, and overall congruence). © 2014 Elsevier Inc

Are you happy for me? How sharing positive events with others provides personal and interpersonal benefits

10.1037/a0018344Journal of Personality and Social Psychology992311-329JPSP

CNS Myelin Wrapping Is Driven by Actin Disassembly

Myelin is essential in vertebrates for the rapid propagation of action potentials, but the molecular mechanisms driving its formation remain largely unknown. Here we show that the initial stage of process extension and axon ensheathment by oligodendrocytes requires dynamic actin filament assembly by the Arp2/3 complex. Unexpectedly, subsequent myelin wrapping coincides with the upregulation of actin disassembly proteins and rapid disassembly of the oligodendrocyte actin cytoskeleton and does not require Arp2/3. Inducing loss of actin filaments drives oligodendrocyte membrane spreading and myelin wrapping in vivo, and the actin disassembly factor gelsolin is required for normal wrapping. We show that myelin basic protein, a protein essential for CNS myelin wrapping whose role has been unclear, is required for actin disassembly, and its loss phenocopies loss of actin disassembly proteins. Together, these findings provide insight into the molecular mechanism of myelin wrapping and identify it as an actin-independent form of mammalian cell motility