The person who took the last biscuit? The one who grabbed the last size 12 on the rack? The colleague who sorted out their pay rise privately? Selfish… aren’t they?
But new research shows they’re probably happier than us.
The study shows that being selfish does actually make us happy, so long as we avoid the guilt.
Even though we’re taught that ‘sharing is caring’, it seems we are more content when we pursue our own self-interest.
Researchers found the key to contentment is feeling we have no choice but to be selfish.
The study, carried out by psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania, found that those who are ‘selfish’ usually have to battle with guilt. If we make a decision out of self-interest, we feel bad for prioritising ourselves over others.
So it makes sense that we often forgo the things that we know will make us happy, because we were taught the ‘sharing is caring’ rule when we were young.
Psychological scientists Jonathan Berman and Deborah Small of the University of Pennsylvania carried out tests to see when people feel happiest.
In one they recruited 216 undergraduates and gave them three dollars each.
Some were told to donate it to the charity UNICEF, some were told to keep the money and some participants were told that they could choose what to do with it.
Those students told to keep the money for themselves reported being far happier with the outcome than those who were told to donate the money and those who were free to choose.
Mr Berman said: “Often what people really want to do is act in a selfish manner.
“But they don’t do that, because they know they would feel selfish if they did.”
The research is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
So, the moral of the story….?
