Professor Leaf Van Boven from the University of Colorado, after spending ten years researching the topic, has concluded that material possessions don't bring happiness. In fact people like materialistic people less and poor quality social relationships make people less happy.

"We have found that material possessions don't provide as much enduring happiness as the pursuit of life experiences," Van Boven said.

"What we found was that people who had discussed their material possessions liked their conversation partner less than those who had discussed an experience they had purchased," claims Van Boven.

"They also were less interested in forming a friendship with them, so there's a real social cost to being associated with material possessions rather than life experiences."

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