Aug 15, 2025 07:26 PM
People who choose to live with less report higher happiness and a stronger sense of purpose than big spenders. What is voluntary simplicity?
https://www.zmescience.com/science/psych...simplicity
INTRO: The modern world offers more ways than ever to acquire, upgrade, and accumulate material things. Yet a growing body of research suggests the opposite path—choosing less over more—may lead to a more fulfilling life.
A new study from researchers at the University of Otago in New Zealand suggests that people who deliberately choose a lifestyle of voluntary simplicity, such as embracing frugality, sharing resources, and resisting the pull of consumerism, report higher levels of wellbeing. Not because they shun possessions (which all people need to a degree), but because they gain something else: a sense of purpose, deeper social ties, and a more meaningful life.
Voluntary simplicity isn’t about poverty or renunciation and moving into a cabin in the woods. Instead, it’s a conscious choice to live with enough rather than more.
In the study, researchers surveyed over 1,000 New Zealanders representing a cross-section of age, income, and gender. Researchers asked participants about their spending habits, lifestyle choices, and sense of well-being, both hedonic (pleasure and satisfaction) and eudaimonic (meaning and purpose).
They found a clear connection: people who embraced voluntary simplicity were happier overall.
“It’s not directly the commitment to material simplicity that leads to wellbeing,” said Professor Rob Aitken, one of the study’s authors. “But the psychological and emotional need fulfilment that derives from relationships, social connection, community involvement and a sense of living a purposeful and meaningful life.”
The findings, published in the Journal of Macromarketing, build on years of research showing that the pursuit of wealth and material goods often fails to deliver the happiness it promises. Instead, the researchers say, people find joy in smaller, more communal things: time with loved ones, local gardens, shared tools, peer-to-peer networks, and the quiet dignity of living by one’s values... (MORE - details)
https://www.zmescience.com/science/psych...simplicity
INTRO: The modern world offers more ways than ever to acquire, upgrade, and accumulate material things. Yet a growing body of research suggests the opposite path—choosing less over more—may lead to a more fulfilling life.
A new study from researchers at the University of Otago in New Zealand suggests that people who deliberately choose a lifestyle of voluntary simplicity, such as embracing frugality, sharing resources, and resisting the pull of consumerism, report higher levels of wellbeing. Not because they shun possessions (which all people need to a degree), but because they gain something else: a sense of purpose, deeper social ties, and a more meaningful life.
Voluntary simplicity isn’t about poverty or renunciation and moving into a cabin in the woods. Instead, it’s a conscious choice to live with enough rather than more.
In the study, researchers surveyed over 1,000 New Zealanders representing a cross-section of age, income, and gender. Researchers asked participants about their spending habits, lifestyle choices, and sense of well-being, both hedonic (pleasure and satisfaction) and eudaimonic (meaning and purpose).
They found a clear connection: people who embraced voluntary simplicity were happier overall.
“It’s not directly the commitment to material simplicity that leads to wellbeing,” said Professor Rob Aitken, one of the study’s authors. “But the psychological and emotional need fulfilment that derives from relationships, social connection, community involvement and a sense of living a purposeful and meaningful life.”
The findings, published in the Journal of Macromarketing, build on years of research showing that the pursuit of wealth and material goods often fails to deliver the happiness it promises. Instead, the researchers say, people find joy in smaller, more communal things: time with loved ones, local gardens, shared tools, peer-to-peer networks, and the quiet dignity of living by one’s values... (MORE - details)
