Being happy is as easy as buying that new pair of sneakers you've been starving yourself to cop, studies have previously shown, disproving that money can't buy happiness. Just last week a study revealed traveling leads to more sex, feeling younger, and, yes, feeling happier. You'll probably need money to do that. Now Cambridge University reports the key to buying happiness is specifically spending on things that match your personality.
Researchers at Cambridge University looked at almost 77,000 bank transactions from the study's participants reportsITV.
These transactions were divided into spending categories that were then matched to the "Big Five" personality traits, a set of traits that help determine someone's personality. The traits are: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
According to the study "eating out at the bar" was an example of an extroverted activity that fell under the low conscientiousness category, meaning it was impulsive.
Once researchers matched the spending categories they looked to see what participants were actually buying to compare it to participants' personalities, thus concluding people mostly spent money on things corresponding to their personality therein making them happier.
Splurging extra money on guac at Chipotle because your job is killing you and you think you deserve it is actually good for you Cambridge researchers would agree.
One of the authors of the study, Sandra Matz, a PhD candidate in Cambridge's Department of Psychology, wrote:
