Maybe the Beatles were right that a diamond ring can't buy (me) love. But gift giving – altruistic spending – may be able to buy happiness. Although there is strong evidence of the weak effect of income on happiness, recent research suggests that by spending money on others, humans can play an active role in their own happiness, improving it on a daily level. In a 2008 study, researchers Dunn, Aknin, and Norton attempted to identify “if and how disposable income could be used to increase happiness” (Dunn, et al., 2008). Their study used three tests to demonstrate that spending money on others is critical. First, the researchers asked a nationally representative sample of Americans to quantify their happiness and then estimate how much money they spend on what, which the researchers divided into two categories: Prosocial spending (donations or charitable gifts) and personal spending. The data showed that personal spending was not related to happiness, but greater prosocial spending was related to greater happiness. Based on this initial evidence, the researchers predicted this...