The joy of giving really does last longer than the joy of receiving, researchers report. Experiments with hundreds of participants found their happiness did not decrease, or decreased much slower, if they repeatedly gave small amounts of money to others instead of repeatedly receiving money. The findings suggest that “repeated giving, even in identical ways to identical others, may continue to feel relatively fresh and relatively pleasurable the more that we do it,” said study co-author Ed O’Brien, of the University of Chicago School of Business. In one experiment, university students received $5 a day for five days. They were told to spend the money the exact same way each time — either on themselves or on someone else, such as tipping at the same cafe or making an online donation to the same charity every day. The 96 participants reported their happiness levels each day, and a clear pattern emerged. While all had similar levels of happiness at the start of the study, those who spent money on themselves had a steady decline in happiness over the five days. But happiness was sustained among those who gave their money away. In another experiment, more than 500 participants played 10 rounds of an online word puzzle game. They won 5 cents a round, which they either kept or donated to a charity of their choice.…  read on >

The hangover is bad enough. But for binge-drinking young people, embarrassing social media posts can be another headache. College students often show signs of social media “addiction” and can suffer significant consequences, according to the authors of a new study. “During these times when young students are feeling disinhibited by alcohol, they may be even more likely than usual to post inappropriate material without considering the future impact,” said lead researcher Natalie Ceballos. “In some cases, these sorts of mistakes have even influenced college admission and later job applications,” said Ceballos, an associate psychology professor at Texas State University. The study included 425 undergraduate students, ages 18 to 25. Compared with students who’d never gone on a drinking binge, binge drinkers were more likely to have made social media posts while drinking or drunk. Binge drinking was defined as having five or more drinks at one time for men and four or more for women. Binge drinkers were also more likely to use more social media platforms, to feel that social media was part of their identity, and to have experienced negative fallout from their social media use, something the researchers referred to as social media addiction. The study is published recently in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. “These findings suggest that in terms of common brain reward mechanisms, perhaps when students…  read on >