Using luxury items you do not own dampens mood

London, May 1 (IANS) What makes you feel more happy: Your affluent buddy allows you to take that box of foreign-brand chocolates home or just lets you taste one when you visit his/her place?

Researchers have just read your mind.

According to a new study, ‘feel good’ factor is higher when you own, not just use, luxury items.

“Just using an affordable luxury item you do not own can, in fact, dampen the feel good factor that normally surrounds such products,” said Liselot Hudders and Mario Pandelaere from Ghent University in Belgium.

To test the link between luxury consumption and well-being, the researchers presented 307 study participants with luxury and ordinary versions of either a durable pen or a chocolate box.

The respondents who were able to keep the luxury versions of the products they tested were more satisfied with life than the participants who received the low-budget versions.

On the other hand, the well-being of participants who could not keep the luxury versions they evaluated was significantly lower than that of respondents who evaluated the plain versions.

Another interesting finding from the non-ownership category is that these participants were significantly more satisfied with their life after using the chocolate than after using the pen.

“The finding that people are more satisfied with life when they own luxury products than when they only get to use them is in line with prior research that equates consumption with ownership,” Hudders said.

“In contrast, the mere use or mere knowledge of luxury products seems to be detrimental for one’s satisfaction with life,” Hudders noted.

The research was published in Springer’s journal Applied Research in Quality of Life.