Delprøve 2 - A:

The study in the relation between wealth and happiness is a rather complicated matter, as it is very difficult to precisely define personal happiness. The central question in this research and discussion is of course if being wealthy increases overall life happiness.

1.
Text 1 describes, with basis in several studies, how economical success is very insignificant when it comes to personal happiness. Nonetheless, an increase in wealth does undeniably influence happiness, but it is on a much more superficial level, where personal and social success influence overall happiness in a deeper and more important manner. The text also points out that money largely influences the level of happiness only when the basic necessities are being established, but after this point future increase in income and materialistic goods are not connected to overall happiness in a significant way. The last view in the text emphasizes how we tend to pay attention to the wrong things in life, as we overestimate the value of money, instead of valuing personal and social wealth higher.
The primary point in text 2 is that spending money on experiences instead of luxury goods is proved to produce longer-lasting satisfaction. The reason for this is that materialistic wealth tends to aim at outdoing others, as you would always want to have the bigger flat screen, the faster car and the newer cell phone, while it is less likely that you would compare your experiences in such a fashion.

2.
The author of text 1 David Brooks uses an example from the real world to engage the reader in the text, an example he calls The Sandra Bullock Trade. This introduction is an excellent example of a dilemma where Sandra Bullock first won an Academy Award, a great career accomplishment, but in the meantime news got out that her husband was being unfaithful with her. David Brooks hereafter asks a rhetorical question. “So the philosophic question of the day is: Would you take that as a deal? Would you exchange a tremendous professional triumph for a severe personal blow? (Text 1. l. 3-4).
This way of introducing the reader to the problem gives a great perspective from the start, and helps the reader, on a concrete level, to fully understand what the text and the matter is all about. Furthermore, as the author presents the dilemma as a rhetorical question, the reader is drawn into the text on a personal level, since it leaves room for individual discussion and own opinion formation. A little further David Brooks expands the perspective on the problem by underlining how impressive an achievement it is to receive an Academy award and he also points out: “Research by Donald A. Redelmeier and Sheldon M. Singh has found that, on average, Oscar winners live nearly four years longer than nominees that don’t win.” (Text 1. l. 7-9). By highlighting this he really creates many different angles to view this dilemma from.

3.
Of course one of the most crucial questions in this discussion is whether spending makes people happy. There probably isn’t any unambiguous answer to this as it is very individual, though we can seek a higher understanding of specifically what it is that makes us happy; what brings long-lasting happiness to our lives. Through the research in text 2 I agree that spending money on experiences is much more rewarding than buying some new television or even a new car. Even though such materialistic articles can be nice to have if you’ve got the means, they are not the things to strive for. So in a way we can actually answer the question with saying that spending money makes people happier, especially if the money is spent on exciting experiences, but there’s another aspect to this matter. To earn money one would normally have to work, and it is this element that can be biggest danger, because hard work is often associated with many negative feelings, and this can be very wearing thus decreasing overall happiness. Perhaps we can reach a partial conclusion, namely that you should aspire to acquire a reasonable balance between enough work to be able to afford basic necessities and occasionally some great experiences, while making sure that the amount of work is not enough to decrease overall happiness.
But as Text 3 implies, “…there is more to happiness than simply being in a good mood.” (Text 3. l. 51). This quote is based on the example of American investor and multibillionaire Warren Buffet, who worked his entire life to build a massive fortune, and ultimately donated most of it to charity. This shows how one can also achieve great happiness by aiming towards helping others. Even though Buffet probably may have worked day and night, while not being overall happy, he can now look back at all the hard work knowing that it helped feeding and curing the diseases of thousands of poor people. That must indisputably be the greatest satisfaction one can ever desire.