Money & Happiness Quizzes | Personality Tests

The scale you completed was the Experiential Buying Tendency Scale developed by Dr. Ryan Howell at San Francisco State University.

The scale measures your overall tendency to purchase material things versus life experiences. Numerous studies have demonstrated that spending money on life events and activities (such as concert tickets, travel, outdoor activities, etc.) makes people happier than spending money on material items.

The graph below shows your score in comparison to others who have also completed the experiential buying tendency scale. Your score is shown in green (1st bar). People who are considered to be "less happy" based on the U.K. Happiness Index are shown in red (2nd bar) and people considered to be "more happy" are shown in blue (3rd bar).

As the graph above shows, happier people tend to spend more of their money on life experiences. Also, the graph below shows how you answered on this survey (in green) compared to liberals (in blue), moderates (in orange), and conservatives (in red).

How do I compare to my friends?

The graph below shows your score (in dark green) compared to your friends (in light green) , liberals (in blue) , conservatives (in red) , women (in pink) , and men (in light blue) .

Note: if not all bars are showing, click here to refresh graph - Share on Facebook

Research has shown that people can be divided into three buying styles based on their scores on this scale:

5.5 and above - Experiential Buyers
Between 3.51 and 5.49 - Balanced Buyers
3.5 and below - Material Buyers

The tendency to purchase experiences has been linked with specific personality traits. People who are more extraverted and open to new experiences tend to spend their money on experiences, while people who are more prone to experience negative feelings tend to purchase material objects. Does your purchasing style match your personality? Take the Big 5 Personality Scale to find out.

You also completed the Gratitude Quotient scale and can click here to see those results.

Spending choices are also indicative of what one values in life. Experiential buyers have been shown to place a higher emphasis on the pleasurable aspects of life such as sensation seeking, happiness, and the desire to establish warm relationships with others. You can find out where you score on values such as these by taking the List of Values Scale. To learn more about experiential purchasing, you can read this CNN article.

Do you have ideas on improving this study? Or did you encounter any difficulties in answering the questions? Click here to send a message to the creators of this study.

People who took this scale were also interested in the Experiential Preferences Scale and the Motivations for Experiential Buying Scale.

Learn more about your happiness and spending habits!

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