More money (and choices), more problems

Prada-clad Paris and Nicole parade across the TV screen, rappers and pop stars show off their multi-million dollar pads on MTV's "Cribs," and Rolling Stone and Forbes magazines put out annual "rich lists" that catalog the assets of the country's wealthiest entertainers and entrepreneurs.

With the multitude of media products focused on the rich and famous, it's no wonder that Tufts students -- and the American public in general -- are envious. "Who doesn't follow the lives led by rich people and wish that they, too, could have that financial security and leisure time afforded by such wealth?" senior Rosalyn Chi said. "Well, with the notable exception of Paris Hilton. I truly doubt any sane person wants to be like Paris Hilton."

Hilton's notoriety notwithstanding, the glut of media coverage of the well-to-do suggests that America's current culture is one in which, in the words of E!'s popular show, "it's good to be" rich and famous -- but not so good to be anything else.

According to New Republic magazine Senior Editor Gregg Easterbrook's new book, "The Progress Paradox: How life gets better while people feel worse", Americans have more material wealth and choices than ever before, but are less happy -- due in part to the media's slavish coverage of the upper crust. Thanks to media treatment of the wealthy, Easterbrook says, "people can see, in agonizing detail, all the expensive things they will never possess."

Tufts students seem to agree with Easterbrook's commentary. "The media constantly focuses on the rich and famous and the lives that they lead," sophomore Austen Eadie-Friedmann agreed, citing "Cribs" as an example of a TV show in which "the opulent life of the host is shoved so far down your throat...."

"How could you not feel inadequate?" asks Eadie-Friedmann.

According to ExCollege Program Director Julie Dobrow and Assistant Psychology Professor Sam Sommers, the idea that media coverage of the wealthy contributes to the dissatisfaction of the "average" is plausible but unproven.

"One theory, called cultivation, suggests that people who expose themselves the most to messages of mainstream primetime media are more likely to espouse its ideas than folks who are not such heavy consumers," Dobrow said. "I'm not aware that anyone's [tested] whether the materialism on TV makes people feel like they need to have things in order to be happy, but you certainly could use the theory [of cultivation] to hypothesize this."

Sommers agreed with Dobrow that while no specific research exists, the idea is certainly possible. "There is research that suggests the media has a profound impact on our self-concept, self-esteem, mood, and general life outlook," Sommers said.

"For example, the unrealistic body type norm portrayed in the media has been linked by some psychologists to lowered self-esteem," Sommers continued. "I don't know of research looking at portrayals of wealth per se, but it wouldn't be a huge leap to suggest that [they could be similarly influential]."

According to Easterbrook, the media's focus on the rich is just one of the reasons that Americans, though wealthier, remain dissatisfied. Another is that the very amount of wealth accumulated by Americans can contribute to their feelings of wealth-related dissatisfaction: in short, having more makes people want more.

"I think there is much truth to the fact that American consumers have more but are less happy," said Arnold Worldwide Advertising Agency Chief Strategy Officer Barry Silverstein. "It starts at a young age when children are exposed to every type of toy imaginable, it continues through the teenage years particularly with brand-name clothing, and it extends into adulthood with an emphasis on ever-increasingly expensive cars and 'adult toys.'"

Silverstein teaches a course on brand marketing at the ExCollege.

Modern Americans have more opportunities to make choices than they did in the past, Easterbrook says. He suggests that the anxiety caused by making these choices is another reason that happiness and wealth levels haven't risen concurrently.

Tufts students -- a decidedly option-riddled bunch -- agree with Easterbrook's assessment. "I felt that way about the college application process, the class registration process, [and] the post-graduation plans," Chi said. A psychology major, Chi has often felt that "the consequences of making a wrong choice would somehow reverberate throughout the rest of my life...I would always look back and imagine how much more satisfaction the other alternative would have provided."

"There are so many options available that it's almost dizzying," Eadie-Friedmann agreed.

Due to the stress involved with making countless decisions in their daily lives, some students wish that they did not have such an overwhelming number of options -- or that, as in earlier eras, someone else could just make their decisions for them.

"There are so many options that it really would be much easier to have someone decide for me," Eadie-Friedmann said.

"Those with fewer choices have an increased sense of security in knowing exactly what they'll experience and without regret, since there is no alternate choice [for] comparison," Chi said. "They don't have to agonize over multiple choices and later regret the [consequences] of any single choice."

"In some respects, materialism is like an addiction -- and as with any addiction, the more you have, the more you want," Silverstein added. "So it's hard to be happy when you always want more ... there is a sense of decreasing satisfaction, simply because the thrill is gone."

Sommers agreed. "Social psychologists often talk about relative deprivation, which is essentially the idea that 'the grass is always greener on the other side,'" he said.

"Research suggests that many of the achievements, possessions, and events which we believe will make us permanently happy often fail to live up to expectations," Sommers said. "As our standing in life increases, our standards for happiness often go up as well, so we find ourselves no happier than we were to begin with."

With this in mind, then, it's not surprising that, as Easterbrook points out, the average person's income has doubled since the 1950s but the number of Americans classifying themselves as "happy" has remained the same. It's also not surprising that even winning the lottery -- one of the culture's most exalted feats of instantaneous "success" -- doesn't guarantee long-term satisfaction: "Contrary to intuition, people who win the lottery are not found to be any happier years later than others who didn't win," Sommers said.