Table of Contents
BEST IELTS Academic Reading Test 236
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST – PASSAGE – 3
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST
READING PASSAGE – 3
Happiness
Is spending money the way to find it?
At some stage, all of us have questioned the popular idea that money cannot buy happiness. Surely being able to pay off your mortgage, have more frequent holidays or give your kids an expensive college education would make you happy. There is a great deal of research that has gone into happiness, particularly the type money can or cannot buy. However, most studies are based on self-assessed levels of happiness. There is probably no easy way to measure something so subjective, though asking someone how happy they are on a scale from one to ten does seem rather inadequate. To begin with, people are not always aware of their own happiness. It is generally when they are feeling unhappy that they tend to notice it. If you were asked to pick a number from one to ten right now, what would you choose? If you were told that the average happiness level is a five, you might give a different answer. It depends on how the question is framed.
In any case, quite a few studies, most of them conducted using self-assessment, have shown that the higher the level of income, the happier a person is. However, one American study found that there was a limit to the difference in the level of happiness. Once the income got to about $30,000 higher than the average salary, the effect started to taper off. There was little difference in the happiness levels between, say, a New York high school teacher and a millionaire property developer.
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Wealthier people were not any more happy but no less happy either. There was just a happiness threshold which when people were below were less happy. It seems that once the immediate pressures of creating enough income to live comfortably are met, anything further than that has no impact. It would be very interesting to understand more about this. Furthermore, earning and spending are two different things, and how the money earned is spent is very relevant when researching levels of happiness. Spending money on experiences such as travel and activities rather than material goods can make people happier for longer, and if money is spent on a lot of small purchases rather than one big outlay, it has the same effect.
A paper from Cambridge University now suggests that happiness can be bought if we purchase products that suit our personality. This study was conducted by tracking the cheque accounts of customers of a UK bank. Researchers put the transactions into 59 categories, ranging from hairdressers to insurance premiums and clothes shopping to holidays.
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Each of these categories was allocated a score from personality trait measurements. For example, people who spent money on music were said to be more open and outgoing, those who spent it on charity tended to be more agreeable, while spending on health and fitness showed conscientiousness. The participants rated their satisfaction with life and were tested for personality type.
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The results showed that the people whose purchases matched their personality type were more satisfied with life even after being controlled for age, gender and income. These results were even stronger than previous research done purely on total income or total spending. The researchers say that this parallel of purchases and personality represents a true form of self-expression. The psychological fit allows people to express their basic preferences and needs, enabling them to convey their identity authentically. Past studies have shown that similar expressions of identity, such as type of job held or neighbourhood lived in, also increase happiness levels.
A further experiment was added by giving participants money and then instructing them on how they should spend it. When the spending matched the personality fit (when extroverts were sent to a bar and introverts to a bookshop) happiness levels went up. In the opposite situations, happiness levels either decreased or stayed the same. It is unclear why these exact categories of purchases were chosen for the experiment. Don’t extroverts read books too? In\ any case, the researchers reported that the difference in happiness was heightened for the introverts as they were much happier buying a book, while the extroverts were relatively content with either purchase.
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So levels of happiness may also be based on personality type. Perhaps extroverts are more likely to say they are happy than introverts are, or then again they could be more positive and flexible in their expectations of situations that do not fit their personality type. Extroverts tend to be favoured types in society, and this mightinfluence their happiness levels more than the availability of money.
Other studies have shown that contrary to participants’ expectations, greater happiness was achieved when money was spent on another person rather than on themselves. This variation in levels of happiness between giving and receiving is also true when no money is involved, for example, when doing someone a favour or giving someone your time.
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This may be the result of being seen by others in a positive light. People really do care what others think of them, despite many declaring this is not the case. Self-esteem and the possession of a positive self-image have been closely associated with self-assessed happiness in several studies.My thoughts are that when money gives you enough financial stability to build your self-esteem, and you are sure of your identity, happiness often follows.
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Questions 27-31
Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D.
27. In the first paragraph the writer states that the idea that money cannot buy happiness
A. has been shown to be true.
B. is not well-known among people.
C. is something people want to believe.
D. is often challenged.
28. The writer believes the self-assessment of happiness
A. is useful because people know how happy they are.
B. is the easiest method to use to measure it.
C. might not be enough to get accurate information.
D. should definitely not be used as a measure.
29. Research on income and happiness has shown that
A. extremely wealthy people are extremely happy.
B. income makes no difference to happiness levels.
C. high-income earners are happier than low-income earners.
D. people who have an income over a certain limit are more unhappy.
30. What does the writer say about the happiness threshold?
A. The data is probably flawed.
B. The source of income is important.
C. More research would be appreciated.
D. The results are very clear.
31. What is stated about the ways of spending money?
A. Happiness is greater the more that is spent.
B. It is more satisfying to buy tangible goods.
C. It’s better to buy a lot of small things than one big one.
D. Material goods and experiences are equally satisfying.
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Questions 32-37
Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN ONE WORD from the passage for each answer.
32. If we buy products that match our ………………… it can increase happiness.
33. Spending on ………………….. shows a person has the characteristic of being agreeable.
34. The study done on spending to suit character type had ……………. results than earlier studies.
35. If people can express themselves through spending they can show their true ……………
36. The second experiment involved ………………. participants how to spend money they were given.
37. The writer was not sure how the spending categories for the experiment were …………
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Questions 38-40
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-E, below.
38. The social position of extroverts might be more influential than
39. Spending money on others has been shown to have a greater influence on
40. Money is probably only important for measuring happiness
A when it functions as way of building self-esteem.
B the way introverts react to a situation.
C happiness than spending it on oneself.
D if the person has an enormous amount of it.
E their income when measuring their happiness
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ANSWERS ARE BELOW
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ANSWERS
27. D
28. C
29. C
30. C
31. C
32. PERSONALITY
33. CHARITY
34. STRONGER
35. IDENTITY
36. INSTRUCTING
37. CHOSEN
38. E
39. C
40. A
IELTS Academic Reading Test