Was it Lil' Kim who rapped the lyrics "Money power respect... It's the key to life"? Turns out, she was only partly right. New research suggests happiness has a lot more to do with respect than it does with money,
Medical News Today reports.
In a series of studies, psychological scientist Cameron Anderson of the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, found that:
1) Respect and admiration, but not socioeconomic status, predicted students' social well-being. 2) The relationship between respect/admiration and well-being was partly due to the sense of power and social acceptance that the students felt in their personal relationships. And 3) Changes in respect/admiration corresponded to changes in MBA students' well-being. And respect/admiration predicted well-being more strongly than socioeconomic status.
"I was surprised at how fluid these effects were -- if someone's [social] standing in their local ladder went up or down, so did their happiness, even over the course of 9 months," said Anderson. What makes you happier: money or respect?
Thank God I have self respect and those who love and respect me do so because
of the good person that I am and not for the money that I have or what I own.
I choose respect because it is much more valuable to me than anything money can buy.
PS. Allowing your fear to dictate your actions, is the greatest denial of self respect...
Besides, if you've got money, you'll get respect, but not the other way around.