The Lottery Syndrome
The effect on our emotional well-being after a major event such as winning the lottery may surprise you. The “Lottery Syndrome” affects winners with enough frequency that it has become a subject of more intent study.
We are likely to think that a financial windfall would automatically lead to happiness; however research disputes this. In a 2008 study of Dutch lottery winners, the authors found that people who won unexpected money did indeed report being happier. However, this phenomenon, according to psychologists, is significantly true up to the $75,000 threshold, but winning the lottery doesn’t ultimately make households any happier in the long run.
People appear to return eventually to their “set point” of happiness after life events that one would think would have a big impact on their feelings. This theory suggests that the emotional aftermath of wildly fantastic strokes of luck will eventually (generally about a year later) leave the person just about as happy as they ever were.
Still…we’d be willing to try it! 🙂
